Questions and Answers About Vaccination Coverage in the U.S.

Questions answered on this page:

1. Why measure vaccination coverage?

   Data on adolescent vaccination coverage are used to identify groups of adolescents at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases like human papillomavirus (HPV), meningococcal disease, and pertussis (whooping cough); to determine what additional efforts are needed to increase coverage; and to evaluate the effectiveness of programs designed to increase coverage to protect adolescents.

2. What is the purpose of the NIS-Teen?

   The NIS-Teen was established to provide an ongoing, consistent data set for monitoring adolescent vaccination coverage in the United States. The NIS-Teen provides national, regional, state, and selected local area estimates of vaccination coverage for vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). It also helps CDC and immunization partners track progress towards Healthy People 2020 targets.

3. How are data for the NIS-Teen collected?

   We use random-digit-dialing to find households with adolescents 13 through 17 years. We ask parents or guardians about some of the vaccinations the adolescent may have received. We also collect demographic and socioeconomic information. At the end of the interview, we ask for permission to contact the adolescent’s vaccination providers. Providers are then contacted by mail to report each of the adolescent’s vaccinations. All vaccination coverage estimates are based on provider-reported vaccination histories.

4. What are the strengths of NIS-Teen?

   The NIS-Teen uses a nationally-representative sample to estimate vaccination coverage weighted to represent the entire population for the nation, each HHS region, state, and selected local areas. The large sample size allows us to stratify (that is, subdivide) the data so that we can examine vaccination rates among different groups, by income level, race, and other factors.

5. What are the vaccination coverage estimates for my local area?

   The NIS-Teen estimates vaccination coverage for the 50 states and selected local areas. Data are available on TeenVaxView Interactive!

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