Maryland leads the country in the rate of toddlers vaccinated, but state officials are still working to increase the numbers.
More than 91 percent of Maryland’s children ages 19 to 35 months receive the typical coverage of vaccinations, compared with the national average of 77.4 percent, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The national goal is 80 percent compliance for the complete series of vaccines.
State health officials attributed the high rate to strong local public health efforts and a program that provides free vaccines to eligible children.
Federal health officials have put particular focus on 2-year-olds following a measles outbreak in the early 1990s. This prompted the regular survey of vaccine rates in this age group, said Greg Reed, program manager for the Maryland Center for Immunization at the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Maryland allows parents to opt out of vaccines for medical or religious reasons, but not for philosophical reasons, which officials said helped keep the rates high.
“We are pleased with the rates” among toddlers, Reed said. “But we still have work to do.”
Only 25 percent of the state’s doctors use an immunization database that allows them to check a child’s vaccine status. Baltimore City requires doctors to use it, but the state does not.
“Immunization rates can be increased as more and more doctors use this tool,” Reed said.
The CDC doesn’t survey older children, and health officials rely on school data, Reed said. The state has a 99 percent compliance rate for school-age children, he said.
In Baltimore City, about 2,200 students were still not vaccinated as of Friday afternoon, but they have until next Monday to receive shots, said Tom DeWire, project manager for student immunizations at Baltimore City Public Schools
Most of the students are in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten and need measles shots. Other students in ninth, 10th and 11th grades need shots such as hepatitis B, DeWire said.
School officials have upped their outreach to get all students vaccinated and will be making door-to-door visits this week.
“We hope to have very few students on Monday the 15th that can’t attend school,” DeWire said.
