MMWR

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

National, State, and Local Area Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 19–35 Months – United States, 2007

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According to the CDC′s 2007 National Immunization Survey (NIS), childhood immunization rates remain at or near record levels with at least 90 percent coverage for all but one of the vaccines in the recommended series for young children. More than 77 percent of children were fully vaccinated for the complete series of recommended vaccines, and there were no differences in coverage among any racial or ethnic group for the complete series. Importantly, less than one percent of children had received no vaccines by age 19 to 35 months. The NIS coverage data includes children born between January 2004 and July 2006. There were no statistically significant decreases in individual vaccine coverage from 2006 to 2007. For the first time in 2007, there was 90% coverage for varicella vaccine and for the third dose of PCV. One dose of varicella vaccine increased in 2007 to 90 percent compared to the 2006 coverage rate of 89.2 percent. There were also significant increases for pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Coverage of three or more doses of increased from 86.9 percent in 2006 to 90.0 percent in 2007, and coverage four or more doses rose from 68.4 percent in 2006 to 75.3 percent in 2007. Varicella vaccine and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine coverage among American Indian and Alaska Native children increased significantly. Varicella coverage increased from 85.4 percent in 2006 to 94.9 percent in 2007 and coverage with the fourth dose of PCV7 increased from 64.8 percent to 80.4 percent.

Laboratory Surveillance for Wild and Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus – Worldwide, January 2007-June 2008

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The Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN), comprising 145 laboratories serving all countries and territories of the world, continues to provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art virologic support to the WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN), comprising 145 laboratories in 100 countries, provides comprehensive virologic support to the WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Despite a steadily increasing workload (>230,000 stool specimens from patients with acute flaccid paralysis were analyzed over the past 18 months), proficiency remains high, and 99% of GPLN laboratories are fully accredited by WHO. By incorporating new technologies (e.g., PCR), reporting times have been cut in half. All Wild poliovirus (WPV) isolates from every polio case are sequenced, and global and local pathways of WPV transmission are resolved at high resolution. GPLN also screens for and characterizes genetically divergent vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) capable of causing outbreaks in areas of low poliovaccine coverage and prolonged infections in persons with primary immunodeficiencies.