Fewer kids are getting exemptions for vaccinations and infant vaccination rates are high across the nation, new data show.
The two reports released Thursday detail the state of youth vaccinations in the U.S. It comes after last year’s outbreak of measles in Disneyland that was attributed mainly to unvaccinated children.
The first report looked at vaccination coverage and exemption levels among children entering kindergarten for the 2014-15 school year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published the reports.
Nationally, kids getting an exemption to a vaccine were low, with an average level of 1.7 percent of all children.
“However, state exemption levels ranged from a low of less than 0.1 percent in Mississippi to a high of 6.5 percent in Idaho,” CDC said.
In addition, five states did not meet the reporting standards for providing exemption data.
States generally allow an exemption for medical, personal or religious reasons, but some have struck down certain exemptions in the wake of the outbreak. California, where the measles outbreak originated, passed a law earlier this year that repeals religious or personal exemptions to vaccinations.
The second report examined vaccination rates among children. More than 90 percent of children ages 19-35 months were vaccinated for measles-mumps-rubella, hepatitis B, polio and chicken pox in 2014.
“The percentage of children who do not receive vaccinations also remained low, at less than 1 percent,” the report said.
The agency found that the vaccination rate remained largely stable compared with 2013.
“Collaborative efforts are the reason our nation has been able to achieve such high coverage nationally, but much work is still needed to shield our schools and communities from future outbreaks,” said Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
The agency said it is pressing for more vaccinations since consistently high coverage rates can promote herd immunity to various diseases.
The data for the reports was culled from interviews with more than 14,000 children through the National Immunization Surveys, which check vaccination coverage in the U.S.
