Increasing number of children not vaccinated, two reports find – By Shari Rudavsky (indystar.com) / Oct 23 2018
The percentage of children who go unvaccinated has increased in recent years, according to two reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One report found that the percentage of children who received no vaccinations whatsoever by age two rose gradually from 0.9 percent for those born in 2011 to 1.3 percent for those born in 2015. The increase translates into an additional 18,400 children, the report said.
In 2001, only 0.3 percent of all children ages 19 to 35 months had received no vaccines.
While the report suggested that multiple factors including access to vaccines and insurance lie behind the decrease, another report suggests that parent preference may also contribute.
That study found that last year was the third consecutive school year in which the number parents who requested an exemption for their school-age children increased slightly. Overall, however, that second study found, the percentage of children who had an exemption that would allow them to attend school unvaccinated was low.
During the 2017-2018 school year, coverage was nearly 95 percent for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, pertussis and chickenpox vaccines, the study found.
Past President of the Infectious Disease Society of America Dr. Thomas Slama said that the numbers of unvaccinated children did not surprise him.
“An increase from 0.9 to 1.3 percent of children who are inadequately vaccinated before the age of 2 is not exactly striking,” said Slama, an infectious disease physician with the Indiana University School of Medicine. “If 98.7 percent of the country was doing something well and correctly, I’d say that was pretty good.”
However, he added, if the numbers continued to rise that could prove concerning.
Health officials fear a return of a number of infectious diseases that vaccines can prevent, from whooping cough, or pertussis, to the measles. Recently an unvaccinated child died in Florida of the flu but the flu vaccine is not typically required to attend school or daycare.
The report that looked at younger children found that access rather than philosophy often explained why a child went unvaccinated.
Uninsured children and those on Medicaid had lower coverage rates than those who had private health insurance. Children who lived in more urban areas had higher rates of vaccinations than those living in more rural areas.
