Vaccination coverage among adolescents aged 13-17 years – United States, 2007

Three new vaccines have been recommended for adolescents by the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) since 2005: meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4; 1 dose), tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap; 1 dose), and quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV4; 3 doses). ACIP also recommends that adolescents should receive recommended vaccinations that were missed during childhood. Since 2006, CDC has conducted the National Immunization Survey-Teen (NIS-Teen) to estimate vaccination coverage from a national sample of adolescents aged 13-17 years. This report describes the findings from NIS-Teen 2007, which indicated substantial increases in receipt of new adolescent vaccinations compared with 2006, including Tdap (from 10.8% to 30.4%) and MCV4 (from 11.7% to 32.4%), and increases in coverage with childhood vaccinations, including measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), hepatitis B (HepB), and varicella (VAR) (among those without disease history). An assessment of HPV4 coverage, which is reported for the first time, showed that 25.1% of adolescent females initiated the vaccine series (>/=1 dose) in 2007. To improve vaccination coverage among adolescents, health-care providers should take advantage of every health-care visit as an opportunity to evaluate vaccination status and administer vaccines when needed.