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Nonetheless, the number of unaccompanied children in the U.S. continues to rise, according to a new report.
The percentage of children who were unvaccinated from 0.3 percent in 2001 to 1.3 percent in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Children by the age of 3 should have gotten several vaccines, including some follow-up shots and boosters. The CDC points to two reasons why vaccines have fallen away: lack of health insurance and access to doctors in rural parts of the country.
"While we know about parental choice plays a role," said Dr. Amanda Cohn, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a senior adviser for vaccines at CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "In particular, uninsured kids were highly represented in that group of kids who did not get vaccinated."
The CDC suggests that parents take advantage of their visits to a health care provider by asking the doctor to administer any missing vaccines to their kids. DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis), pneumococcal and influenza vaccines were below 90 percent.
The report also found a huge disparity in the number of uninsured kids who had received vaccinations – 7.1 percent of uninsured versus 0.8 percent of kids with private insurance.
Medicaid is a Vaccines for Children program, which is a program that provides vaccines to children who would not otherwise receive them, the CDC said, acknowledging that other barriers , such as VFC providers, child care and clinic hours, might still exist.
They suggest that even if they are not interested in the VCF program, they can not do it.
Vaccines are not only meant to protect kids from diseases. but also those around them. In a separate CDC report many kindergartners have not received the required vaccinations they have been vaccinated in the past, or because they have been exempted.
A median of 2.2 percent of kindergarteners had exemptions for one or more vaccines in the 2017-2018 school year – the third consecutive year school year, which was observed, according to the CDC.
Mississippi had the lowest amount of exemptions (0.1 percent of kindergartners) compared to 7.6 percent of kindergartners in Oregon.
That said, the number of states that had 95% went up. For example, the number of states with coverage of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine went from 20 to 23 states since the 2016-2017 school year. Likewise, the number of states with diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) vaccine coverage over 95 percent went from 23 to 25.
Cohn praised health care providers for these rising numbers in the U.S.
"Their strong recommendation for children in their practice to get vaccinated is incredibly influential on a parent's choice to get vaccinated," she said. "So just reiterating the importance of vaccination and helping parents understand the benefits of immunization and the severity of the diseases they are preventing is really important."
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