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    Pediatrics. 2008 May;121(5):938-44.

    Underimmunization of American Indian and Alaska Native children.

    Groom AV, Washington ML, Smith PJ, Bryan RT.

    Immunization Services Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. amy.groom@ihs.gov

    OBJECTIVE: The goal was to determine whether disparities in childhood immunization coverage exist between American Indian/Alaska Native children and non-Hispanic white children. METHODS: We compared immunization coverage with the 4 diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, 3 poliovirus, 1 measles-mumps-rubella, 3 Haemophilus influenza type b, and 3 hepatitis B(4:3:1:3:3) series and its individual vaccine components (> or = 4 doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine; > or = 3 doses of oral or inactivated polio vaccine; > or = 1 dose of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine; > or = 3 doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine; and > or = 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine) between American Indian/Alaska Native children and non-Hispanic white children from 2000 to 2005, using data from the National Immunization Survey. RESULTS: Although immunization coverage increased for both populations from 2001 to 2004, American Indian/Alaska Native children had significantly lower immunization coverage, compared with non-Hispanic white children, over that time period. In 2005, coverage continued to increase for American Indian/Alaska Native children but decreased for non-Hispanic white children, and no statistically significant disparity in 4:3:1:3:3 coverage was evident in that year. CONCLUSIONS: Disparities in immunization coverage for American Indian/Alaska Native children have been present, but unrecognized, since 2001. The absence of a disparity in coverage in 2005 is encouraging but is tempered by the fact that coverage for non-Hispanic white children decreased in that year.

    PMID: 18450897 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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