Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 19-35 Months – United States, 2015

Sustained high coverage with recommended vaccinations among children has kept many vaccine-preventable diseases at low levels in the United States (1). To assess coverage with vaccinations recommended for children by age 2 years in the United States (2), CDC analyzed data collected by the 2015 National Immunization Survey (NIS) for children aged 19-35 months (born January 2012-May 2014). Overall, coverage did not change during 2014-2015. Coverage in 2015 was highest for ≥3 doses of poliovirus vaccine (93.7%), ≥3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) (92.6%), ≥1 dose of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) (91.9%), and ≥1 dose of varicella vaccine (91.8%). The data were also examined for potential vaccination coverage differences by race/ethnicity, poverty status, and urbanicity. Although disparities were noted for each of these factors, the most striking differences were seen for poverty status. Children living below the federal poverty level* had lower coverage with most of the vaccinations assessed compared with children living at or above the poverty level; the largest disparities were for rotavirus vaccine (66.8% versus 76.8%), ≥4 doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) (78.9% versus 87.2%), the full series of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (Hib) (78.1% versus 85.5%), and ≥4 doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) (80.2% versus 87.1%). Although coverage was high in some groups, opportunities exist to continue to address disparities. Implementation of evidence-based interventions, including strategies to enhance access to vaccination services and systems strategies that can reduce missed opportunities, has the potential to increase vaccination coverage for children living below the poverty level and in rural areas (3).