Vaccination rate up, but so is measles incidence

There appears to be a rebirth of measles among unvaccinated children and adults, despite high immunization rates among children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Vaccination rates for many diseases are at or above 90 percent for children ages 19 to 35 months. But as of late August, the CDC noted there are reports of 159 known cases of measles this year. This marks the second-largest number of measles cases in the United States since the disease was eliminated in 2000, according to the CDC’s Sept. 13 update.

Three outbreaks make up most of the 2013 cases - 65 cases in New York, 23 in North Carolina and 20 in Texas. The disease has been detected in 16 states, and has targeted newborns to senior citizens. Thirty-six percent of patients were younger than age 5, and 11 percent younger than 1 year, the latter of which were too young to be vaccinated. No deaths have been reported this year. Most cases were among unvaccinated people or those with unknown vaccination status, the CDC reports.

According to the new data, vaccination rates for children born between 2009 and May 2011 for measles, mumps and rubella was almost 91 percent; for polio, nearly 93 percent; and for hepatitis B and varicella/chickenpox, about 90 percent.

Coverage was lower for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, at 83 percent; the full series of Haemophilus influenzae at 81 percent; and four doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine at less than 82 percent.

The CDC currently recommends that children get a measles/mumps/rubella vaccine at 1 year and again at ages 4 to 6.

Study findings were published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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