CDC switches emphasis to track adolescent vaccination rates

Some public health officials worry this change will undermine the monitoring of immunization rates for urban children.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Nov. 27, 2006.

Local public health officials are warning that a change in the type of data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Immunization Survey may hamper efforts to get young children vaccinated, particularly in large cities.

"This is a step backwards," said Jeffrey S. Duchin, MD, chief of communicable disease control, epidemiology and immunization for the Seattle and King County Public Health Dept. in Washington state.

While the CDC tracks childhood immunization rates by state, it also has done separate tracking for 22 large cities. But budget limitations, combined with a new emphasis on adolescent immunizations, are prompting the CDC to reduce that number to six. Resources will in turn be redirected to chart the teens who are receiving the growing number of shots recommended for their age groups.

The agency's National Immunization Survey has paid particular attention to cities since 1994 because urban areas tend to be home to a higher number of unvaccinated children.

Some experts maintain these data are vital to keeping vaccination rates high, assessing whether campaigns are working and determining what populations need increased attention. They also say the information provided by the statewide surveys, which are continuing, will not provide enough detail to be useful at the local level.