National, state, and urban area vaccination coverage levels among children aged 19-35 months--United States, 1999.

Childhood vaccinations have a major impact on the reduction and elimination of many causes of morbidity and mortality among children (1). Monitoring vaccination coverage levels is necessary to characterize undervaccinated populations and to evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to increase coverage. The National Immunization Survey (NIS) provides ongoing national estimates of vaccination coverage among children aged 19-35 months based on data for the most recent 12 months for each of the 50 states and 28 geographic areas (2). This report presents the findings of the 1999 NIS, which indicate that vaccination coverage among U.S. children aged 19-35 months were at or near record high levels.