Thousands of U.S. children have no vaccines, CDC finds

A small but growing proportion of the youngest children in the U.S. have not been vaccinated against any disease, a new national report found (Source: “Thousands of young US children get no vaccines, survey finds,” Associated Press via ABC News, Oct. 11, 2018).

An estimated 100,000 young children have not had a vaccination against any of the 14 diseases for which shots are recommended, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday.

Most young children — 70 percent — have had all their shots. The new estimate is based on finding that, in 2017, 1.3 percent of the children born in 2015 were completely unvaccinated. That's up from the 0.9 percent seen in an earlier similar assessment of the kids born in 2011. A 2001 survey with a different methodology suggested the proportion was in the neighborhood of 0.3 percent.

A separate CDC study found that overall vaccination rates for older, kindergarten-age children continue to hold about steady, with close to 95 percent fully vaccinated.

The researchers didn't ask why parents didn't get their kids vaccinated.