Thousands of young US children get no vaccines, survey finds

Thousands of young US children get no vaccines, survey finds
This 1981 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows varicella-zoster virions from a patient with chickenpox. On Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018, the CDC says a small but growing proportion of U.S. toddlers have not been vaccinated against any disease. (Dr. Erskine Palmer/CDC via AP)

Worried health officials say a small but growing proportion of the youngest children in the U.S. have not been vaccinated against any disease.

They say an estimated 100,000 have not had a vaccination against any of the 14 diseases for which shots are recommended.

The numbers come from a last year of the parents of about 15,000 toddlers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the numbers Thursday.

The new estimate is based on finding that 1.3 percent of the children born in 2015 were completely unvaccinated. That's up from the 0.9 percent seen in an earlier assessment of kids born in 2011.

The researchers didn't ask why parents didn't get their kids vaccinated.

Young children are especially vulnerable to complications from vaccine-preventable diseases.

© 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Citation: Thousands of young US children get no vaccines, survey finds (2018, October 11) retrieved 24 April 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-10-thousands-young-children-vaccines-survey.html
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