Skip to main content

Coverage for Routine Childhood Vaccines Remains Below Prepandemic Levels

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on March 26, 2025.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 26, 2025 -- Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage for selected routine childhood vaccines remained below prepandemic levels, according to a study published online March 26 in Pediatrics.

Malini B. DeSilva, M.D., from HealthPartners Institute in Bloomington, Minnesota, and colleagues examined rotavirus; diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis; and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine coverage among infants born between Jan. 1, 2018, and May 31, 2023, and assessed factors associated with vaccine uptake. Data were included for 395,143 infants.

The researchers found that at 5 months of age, coverage for two doses of all three vaccines was 87.8 and 80.8 percent in February 2020 and October 2023, respectively. At 12 months, vaccine series completion was highest in January 2020 and lower in October 2023 (92.3 and 89.6 percent, respectively). Having a caregiver whose primary language was not English or Spanish, non-Hispanic Black race, and Medicaid were factors associated with lower vaccine uptake.

"Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage for selected routine childhood immunizations remained below prepandemic levels," the authors write. "Although our findings highlight population groups for whom focused interventions are needed to improve vaccine coverage, further understanding of how these factors may be related to other sociodemographic and cultural factors, availability of care, structural barriers to accessing care, and vaccine confidence, is needed."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

Declining Childhood Vaccination May Increase Risk for Vaccine-Preventable Infections

WEDNESDAY, April 30, 2025 -- Declining childhood vaccination rates may increase outbreaks of eliminated vaccine-preventable infections within the United States, leading to a...

CDC Provides Update on Measles Outbreak in the United States

TUESDAY, April 29, 2025 -- Eight hundred cases of measles were reported in the United States as of April 17, 2025, representing the second highest annual case count in 25 years...

AACR: Incidence-Based Mortality Dropping for Young Women With Breast Cancer

TUESDAY, April 29, 2025 -- Incidence-based mortality (IBM) declined from 2010 to 2020 among women aged 20 to 49 years diagnosed with breast cancer, according to a study presented...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.