Trends in vaccination coverage disparities among children, United States, 2001-2010

Introduction: One of two overarching goals of the Healthy People 2010 initiative was to eliminate health disparities. We evaluate trends in children vaccination coverage disparities by socio-demographic characteristics in the United States from 2001 through 2010. Methods: Disparities in vaccination coverage for the 4:3:1:3:3:1 vaccine series was assessed with National Immunization Survey (NIS) 2001-2010 data. The disparities between two categories of population were independently evaluated yearly from 2001 through 2010. Results: In 2001, 10 out of 12 disparities were significant (P-value <0.05). Six disparities were reduced from statistically significant in 2001 to not significant in 2010. Across 2001-2010,8 disparities narrowed significantly; the average change in disparities per year were negative and ranged from -0.30% to -0.64% (P-value <0.05). Conclusions: Significant success has been achieved in reducing disparities in vaccination coverage for young children among most of the major socio-demographic subpopulations in the United States by 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd.