Study warns poor vaccination for children in us A new study warns that more than one in four young children have been under-or improperly vaccinated, posing threats to their health, according to media reports Wednesday.
This study, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at the history of vaccination for children in the United States more than 17,500 aged 19-35 months.
About 72 percent of children in this age group finished the standard vaccination series. It's 9 percentage points lower than if coverage was based on counting doses only, the researchers noted.
Immunization delays put children at risk for a variety of diseases preventable by vaccination such as measles, mumps and chickenpox. On the other hand, immunization rates in the United States are decent, experts reasoned.
doses, however, miss-programmed are also a problem, the study said. Nineteen percent of children have lost one or more doses of vaccine, 8 percent had received an "invalid" dose, meaning it was given when the child was too young or too close to previous dose.
"If children receive vaccines too close together or too early, they are not likely to be protected, and if you have a lot of that, then you are more likely to have outbreaks," Luman said.
Vaccinations are a ritual child and provide vital protection against diseases like measles, mumps, rubella and polio.
One reason for lack of strict adherence to schedule vaccine may be an awareness among parents fading now that these vaccines are protecting against children.
Parents and children face a complicated schedule of vaccinations in the first years of life. Some might even say that it is a logistical nightmare. This study was based on doses kids received in 2003 and 2004, when a young child of 18 months should have received about 14 shots related to several different vaccines. Today, there are more shots recommended.
"Opportunities for vaccination are missed a lot of times when children are present for one reason or another, and we do not look at the immunization record, Dr. Robert Frenck, a professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Cincinnati said. "We must continue to try to immunize kids whenever we have the opportunity."
Posted on February 10, 2010.
