Routine Childhood Vaccinations in the U.S. Slipped During the Pandemic

Some states showed dramatic declines in coverage, while others held steadier. Maryland, for instance, reported a roughly 10 percent drop in coverage with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine from the 2019-20 school year to 2020-21 among kindergartners. Wisconsin, Georgia, Wyoming and Kentucky all reported declines of around 5 percent.

Idaho had among the lowest levels of coverage during the 2020-21 school year with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, at 86.5 percent.

The C.D.C. said that coverage had fallen in a majority of states. Virginia, Kansas and Alabama were among a small number of states reporting higher levels of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine coverage during the last school year.

C.D.C. scientists emphasized that extra barriers to reporting vaccination data during the pandemic, including reduced staffing and difficulties collecting information from parents, could also have artificially lowered recorded coverage levels in some places.

Nationally, vaccination coverage fell slightly below 94 percent for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine; the diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccine; and for the varicella vaccine, the C.D.C. said. The United States had already very nearly lost its status as a country that had eliminated measles in 2019. During that year, the country experienced an unusually high number of measles outbreaks in communities where vaccination levels had dropped.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/health/pandemic-childhood-vaccines.html