CDC report: CT ranks first in child vaccinations
Connecticut has the highest vaccination rate for its youngest children in the nation, according to a recent CDC report.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used data from the National Immunization Survey-Child to assess vaccine coverage among children born in 2017 and 2018 before they turned 2 years old.
Federal guidelines suggest children be vaccinated within their first 24 months of life against several diseases, including polio, hepatitis B, and measles, mumps and rubella.
The report found Connecticut’s coverage rate hovered around 80.2 percent for the recommended vaccine series, Gov. Ned Lamont announced on Monday. The national average was about 70.5 percent.
“This report reveals that once again, Connecticut is a national leader in childhood immunization,” Lamont said. “That is in large part due to the efforts of many professional, communitybased and private partnerships that have worked diligently with the state to raise awareness of this issue.”
The average for New England was an estimated 79.7 percent.
The report noted, however, that the survey reflects vaccines mostly administered before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in March 2020.
“Extra efforts are needed to ensure that children who missed vaccinations, including those attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, receive them as soon as possible to maintain protection against vaccine-preventable illnesses,” the researchers wrote.
Media coverage over the last year and a half has highlighted a drop in routine child vaccinations during the pandemic. Data showed 39,140 fewer vaccine doses were distributed by the state public health department to medical providers in April 2020 — a 43 percent decrease over that of the same month in 2019, the Connecticut Mirror reported.
Connecticut officials said this June that child vaccinations in the state were mostly bouncing back.
And in recent months, children ages 12 and above also became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. The latest state public health department data shows 69 percent of children ages 12 to 15, and 79 percent of children 16 to 17, have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
“As the COVID-19 pandemic vaccination response has demonstrated, vaccinations are a vital part of our public health strategy, protecting individuals from disease and communities from outbreaks,” said Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the state public health department.
Connecticut has made widespread youth immunizations a priority, including an end to religious exemptions from vaccine requirements for schools, colleges and child care facilities this spring. At the time, the Nutmeg State was the sixth state to do so, the AP reported.
And as federal regulators consider approving COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11, some state officials — including Juthani — have indicated they would support a mandate for K-12 students once the shot receives full authorization, the Connecticut Mirror reported recently.
“Today’s announcement is the result of years of hard work and collaboration among all of our partners, whose results protect us all,” Juthani said. “When it’s harder for disease to get a hold and run unchecked, all of our communities are safer.”