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Routine childhood and adolescent immunizations declined in Michigan between 2017 and 2023, notably amongst counties with decrease family revenue and better uninsurance charges, a brand new research suggests.
For a lot of key pediatric vaccines, completion charges dropped sharply in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and haven’t but recovered, based on Michigan Drugs-led findings in Pediatrics.
“Our findings show that progress toward increasing childhood and adolescent immunizations is stalling in Michigan, increasing the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases,” mentioned senior creator Kao-Ping Chua, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatrician and researcher at College of Michigan Well being C.S. Mott Youngsters’s Hospital and the director of the Susan B. Meister Youngster Well being Analysis and Analysis (CHEAR) Middle.
Researchers analyzed county-level information from Michigan’s immunization registry between 2017 and 2023. Through the research interval, completion charges of a really useful group of childhood immunizations amongst toddlers (together with vaccines for pertussis, polio, and measles–mumps–rubella amongst others) fell from practically 76% to 67%.
In the meantime, completion charges of a really useful group of vaccinations amongst adolescents (together with vaccines for meningitis, pertussis, and tetanus) declined from about 81% to 75%.
The research additionally assessed adolescent completion charges of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination collection—which may forestall a number of forms of cancers, together with cervical and throat most cancers. Though completion charges rose modestly—from 35% to 42% for males and 43% to 45% for females—the will increase have been smaller than anticipated primarily based on pre-pandemic developments, partly as a result of the speed of enhance slowed after the COVID-19 pandemic started.
“Our findings suggest that the pandemic interrupted the progress that was being made in increasing HPV vaccination rates in adolescents,” Chua mentioned.
The researchers examined developments in immunization completion charges by county socioeconomic components, together with revenue and insurance coverage protection. The decline within the completion charges of the really useful group of childhood and adolescent immunizations was larger in counties with decrease revenue and better uninsurance, whereas the rise within the price of the male HPV vaccination collection was slower.
“These changes often resulted in the creation of new gaps in immunization completion rates by county income or uninsurance rate or the widening of pre-existing gaps,” mentioned Chua, who notes that this is without doubt one of the first research to look at latest modifications in childhood and adolescent immunizations by county traits.
Vaccines have lengthy been one of the crucial efficient instruments in public well being. In 2019, childhood immunizations have been estimated to forestall over 24 million circumstances of vaccine-preventable illnesses nationwide. But in 2025, the U.S. reported its highest variety of measles circumstances in 33 years—a illness that had been declared eradicated within the nation in 2000.
Michigan additionally noticed a spike in measles with greater than a dozen circumstances reported in 2025, in addition to pertussis (whooping cough), with 855 circumstances reported the identical yr, together with 152 in youngsters beneath two.
“Reversing the declines in childhood and adolescent immunizations is crucial to preventing further outbreaks of measles and pertussis, both in Michigan and in the U.S. more broadly,” Chua mentioned.
“To achieve this goal, broad-based efforts to increase immunization rates in all counties should be coupled with targeted efforts focused on counties with lower incomes and higher uninsurance rates.”
Extra data:
Modifications in Childhood Immunization Charges by County Traits in Michigan: 2017-2023, Pediatrics (2025). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2025-070781
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College of Michigan
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Routine childhood and adolescent immunizations declining in Michigan (2025, August 11)
retrieved 11 August 2025
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