Expert Rev Vaccines. 2024 Aug 7. doi: 10.1080/14760584.2024.2389922. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The study objective was to examine national trends in patterns of under-vaccination in the United States.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The National Immunization Survey-Child (NIS-Child) is an annual cross-sectional survey that collects provider-verified vaccination records from a large national probability sample of children. Records from the 2011-2021 NIS-Child were used to assess receipt of the combined 7-vaccine series by age 24 months. Based on prior work, patterns indicative of hesitancy included zero vaccines, not starting ≥ 1 series, and consistent vaccine-limiting. Patterns indicative of practical issues included starting all series but missing doses. Up-to-date (UTD) was defined as receiving all doses in the combined 7-vaccine series.
RESULTS: The study population comprised 127,257 children. Over the observation period, patterns indicative of hesitancy significantly decreased (p-trend <0.0001), patterns indicative of practical issues significantly decreased (p-trend <0.0001), and UTD significantly increased (p-trend <0.0001). In 2021, the weighted percent in each category was: probable hesitancy 6.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.4%, 7.2%), probable practical issues 26.0% (95% CI 24.4%, 27.6%), and UTD 67.7% (95% CI 66.0%, 69.4%).
CONCLUSION: Over an 11-year period, vaccination coverage in the United States for the combined 7-vaccine series has improved, with patterns suggestive of practical issues or hesitancy declining.
PMID:39109453 | DOI:10.1080/14760584.2024.2389922
