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Background: One of two overarching goals of Healthy People 2010 was to eliminate health disparities.
Objectives: To evaluate trends in vaccination coverage disparities by socio-demographic characteristics among children in the United States from 2001 through 2010.
Methods: Disparities in the 4:3:1:3:3:1* vaccination coverage were assessed with 2001-2010 National Immunization Survey. The disparities and the significance status among population segments in 2001 were compared to those in 2010. The slopes of linear regression in disparities across 2001-2010 were used to examine whether each of the 12 disparities (child race white vs. black, Hispanic vs. white, 0 vs. ≥ 1 siblings, first born yes vs. no; family poverty above vs. low, suburban vs. urban/rural; mother >12 vs. ≤12 years education, married vs. not, age ≥30 vs. ≤ 29; private vs. public provider, 1 vs. ≥ 2 providers) were narrowed /widened over time.
Results: In 2001, 10 disparities were significant (p<0.05). By 2010, 10 disparities were lower, and disparities by child’s race, poverty status, suburban/rural locality, mother’s education, marital status, and age were reduced to levels below significance. In 2010, Hispanic children had significantly higher coverage than white; children who were first born, no siblings, and with private provider remained to have significantly higher coverage among the respective segments. Across 2001-2010, 8 disparities (child’s race, number of siblings, first born status, family poverty and locality, mother’s education and marital status) narrowed significantly in the range of 0.30% to 0.56% (P<0.05) per year. Vaccination coverage increased substantially among children in all socio-demographic segments from 2001 to 2010, although coverage has not reached the 80% target in all subgroups.
Conclusions: Significant progress has been achieved in reducing disparities in vaccination coverage for children in many socio-demographic subpopulations in the United States.