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In an effort to prevent significant outbreaks of diseases such as RSV and COVID-19 this winter, the vaccination rate for children in the United States has fallen again by a quantifiable amount.
The rate of vaccinations toward measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) for kindergarteners dropped below the recommended target rate of 95 percent for the second year in a row, to 93 percent, according to latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Some factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic might be at play, but it is still too early to determine the exact cause of this decrease.
Elizabeth Williams, co-author of the brief and senior policy analyst for the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured, noted that vaccine hesitancy may also be a factor, but emphasized that more time will be required to determine the true cause.
Williams referred to a 2 percent decline as a “blip”; however, it still pushes the United States further from its Healthy People 2030 goal of 95 percent coverage, the rate deemed sufficient to establish herd immunity against community transmission.
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CDC Recommends First Dose Of MMR Vaccine for Children
Due to the highly contagious nature of measles, William’s report focused heavily on the importance of MMR vaccinations. In accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO), one infected person can infect nine out of ten intimate contacts who are unvaccinated.
The latest outbreak of measles in central Ohio last winter refocused attention on the dangers of not receiving all three MMR vaccinations. In a report released this week, the CDC affirmed that 94 percent of the 84 identified cases involved unvaccinated children under the age of five.
The CDC recommends administering the first dose of the MMR vaccine between 12 and 15 months of age and the second dose between 4 and 6 years of age.
In addition, as the new school year commences, additional immunization concerns are emerging.
This week, the CDC also approved a preventive treatment for RSV, another respiratory virus which typically begins to spread in the autumn. The monoclonal antibody called Beyfortus was approved on Thursday by the CDC.
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Source: WGNviaMSN
