Vaccination coverage among children enrolled in Head Start programs, licensed child care facilities, and entering school--United States, 2000-01 school year.
The implementation of state and local requirements for vaccination before entry to Head Start programs, licensed child care facilities, and school has resulted in high vaccination levels among preschool and school children. One of the national health objectives for 2010 is to maintain > or = 95% vaccination coverage among children attending licensed child care centers and kindergarten through postsecondary school (objective 12-23). National estimates of vaccination coverage among children in Head Start programs, licensed child care facilities, and those entering school have been published each year since 1997 on the basis of reports from federally funded immunization programs (IPs) in the 50 states, five cities, eight territories, and the District of Columbia. This report summarizes data reported by states, cities, and the District of Columbia for the 2000-01 school year. Although vaccination coverage for 2000-01 appears similar to that for previous years, the number of programs reporting and the completeness of the reports are lower than in previous years and do not permit precise estimation of coverage at the national level. IPs use school data to identify undervaccinated children enrolled in Head Start programs, licensed child care facilities, and those entering school; evaluate the success of prevention programs targeting these children; and document the proportion of children whose parents claim exemptions from one or more vaccines. Plans are ongoing to assist IPs in applying successful strategies for collecting, reporting, and increasing the precision of coverage estimates for these populations.
D002648:Child; D002656:Child Day Care Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*