Public-sector vaccination efforts in response to the resurgence of measles among preschool-aged children--United States, 1989-1991

Abstract

From 1989 through 1991, in the United States, the incidence of reported measles increased sixfold to ninefold over the median annual incidence (1.3 per 100,000 population) reported from 1981 through 1988. In 1990, the peak of the resurgence, the incidence of measles among children aged less than 5 years was 15-fold higher than the median 1981-1988 incidence (4.8 per 100,000) (1). During 1991, approximately 9500 cases were reported (Figure 1), including 4662 cases among children aged less than 5 years (CDC, unpublished data). The measles epidemic is a consequence primarily of the failure to vaccinate preschool-aged children at appropriate ages (2); among children aged 16-59 months who developed measles during this resurgence, only 15% had received measles vaccine as recommended (CDC, unpublished data). This report compares the number of public clinic vaccinations* (i.e., all measles-containing vaccines [MCV], diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine [DTP], and oral polio vaccine [OPV]) for 1988 with that for 1989-1991 in response to the measles resurgence.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)