Children often get too many immunizations, study says

March 7, 2000
Web posted at: 5:22 p.m. EST (2222 GMT)

From staff reports

ATLANTA (CNN) -- More than 20 percent of American children are given immunizations they don't need, according to a study released Tuesday.

The vaccine to prevent polio was the most likely immunization given beyond medical need, said the report, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study found that among children 19 to 35 months old, 77 percent received appropriate immunization for polio. Meanwhile 9 percent received none or an inadequate amount, and 14 percent of the children were immunized beyond need.

A principal cause of extra immunization was parents taking their children to more than one health-care provider, said the report, prepared by officials of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Children seen only in public health department clinics were significantly less likely to be extra immunized," the report said.

The challenge now is to reduce extra immunization "without interfering with the more important efforts to combat under-immunization," the report said.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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