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The rate of young children not receiving vaccinations has increased for the third year in a row.
Young children are quite vulnerable to complications associated with vaccine-preventable diseases. Photo clipart.com
An increasing number of America’s youngest children are not getting vaccinated, reports the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). That means about 100,000 children age two or younger in the United States haven’t received any shots against 14 vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, whooping cough and rubella.
The CDC found that for a third consecutive year, the percentage of children reaching age two years without having received any vaccinations has increased gradually, from 0.9 percent for children born in 2011 to 1.3 percent for children born in 2015. A 2001 survey with a different methodology suggested the proportion of unvaccinated kids was around 0.3 percent, reports the Associated Press.
Although the current CDC study had some limitations, the trend is worrying health experts because young children are quite vulnerable to problems associated with vaccine-preventable diseases.
The reasons for why some parents aren’t vaccinating their children are not clear, and the CDC didn’t ask why parents aren’t getting their kids vaccinated. The majority who chose not to vaccinate were insured, but a significant minority didn’t have insurance. The government pays for vaccines for uninsured children, reports the Associated Press.
Fortunately, by the time U.S. children reach kindergarten, the overall vaccination coverage is better.
“Kindergarten vaccination requirements help ensure that students are fully vaccinated with age-appropriate vaccines upon school entry,” the CDC report says. “Although overall vaccination coverage is high, coverage could be improved in many states.”
About the Author
Robin Hattersley-Gray, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
