The CDC released the results from their survey of National, State, and Local Area Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 19–35 Months — United States, 2011
Have a browse for the situation in your State - be glad if you are not in the Virgin Islands, I guess. What strikes me indeed is the great inequality between States and also between demographics. Ironically (because anti-vaccine minded parents seem to be concentrated in this group), a white rich child's chance of having been vaccinated age-appropriately are still higher than the chance for a hispanic, black and/or poor child. I was recently discussing vaccine recommendations/mandates and someone argued that only "high risk" children should be vaccinated. The table is a great reminder of how big the United States are and how unequal access to health care is, even when there are uniform recommendations.
Have a browse for the situation in your State - be glad if you are not in the Virgin Islands, I guess. What strikes me indeed is the great inequality between States and also between demographics. Ironically (because anti-vaccine minded parents seem to be concentrated in this group), a white rich child's chance of having been vaccinated age-appropriately are still higher than the chance for a hispanic, black and/or poor child. I was recently discussing vaccine recommendations/mandates and someone argued that only "high risk" children should be vaccinated. The table is a great reminder of how big the United States are and how unequal access to health care is, even when there are uniform recommendations.
It's also interesting that Mississippi and West Virginia, the two states with the strictest vaccination requirements for public school enrollment, still have two of the lowest immunization rates. I guess the age range covered by this survey doesn't go high enough to include kindergarten.
ReplyDeleteHi VP - no, it only goes up to 39 months. That may be too early to catch the kids that go into kindergarten/pre-school. It would be interesting to see how many are caught up, say, by the end of first grade. That said, a lot of VPDs circulate in first grade (loads of kids come together for the first time, every day, in a large school environment), so really, they should ideally be covered by school entry.
ReplyDeleteMississippi and West Virginia do have age-appropriate immunization requirements for entry into day care and pre-school:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.msdh.state.ms.us/msdhsite/_static/14,0,71.html
http://www.dhhr.wv.gov/oeps/immunization/requirements/Pages/default.aspx
I assume that if you are a licensed day care operator, you would face penalties and/or loss of your license, if during an outbreak investigation, you were found to have babies and younger children in your program who were not age-appropriately immunized.
I'd love to see the data on older children as well. Whenever I take my two (fully vaccinated) kids to daycare at the Y while I'm using their track, I worry. My youngest (who thumb-sucks), about once out of every three or four times, seems to pick up something within a few days of daycare, without fail. Unfortunately, the gym/daycare has no vaccination policy--or at least none that is posted, in their handbook, or otherwise put into writing. I always wonder about who's vaccinated and not, too, when the kids have classes at the museum, Y, etc. (e.g., extracurricular activities or wherever lots of kids are congregating). ~Leigh~
ReplyDeleteNew York State has requirements for immunizations for children enrolled in licensed day care, Head Start and Pre-K programs:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2370.pdf
I believe all 50 states have requirements for entry into these programs, as well.
Try "Googling" "(You state) Day Care Immunization Requirements".
I don't know if a drop-in child care center that is set up at the "Y", for the convenience of parents who use the facility, could be considered a "licensed day care center"