Status report on the Childhood Immunization Initiative: reported cases of selected vaccine-preventable diseases--United States, 1996.

The Childhood Immunization Initiative (CII), a comprehensive response to under-vaccination among preschool-aged children, was initiated in the United States in 1993 (1). The goals of the CII were to eliminate by 1996 indigenous cases of diphtheria, tetanus (among children aged < 15 years), poliomyelitis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) invasive disease (among children aged < 5 years), measles, and rubella (1); reduce indigenous cases of mumps to < 1600; and increase vaccination coverage levels to > or = 90% among children aged 2 years for the most critical doses of each vaccine routinely recommended for children (except hepatitis B vaccine). This report presents provisional 1996 data about reported cases of selected vaccine-preventable diseases. In 1996, no cases of tetanus among children aged < 15 years or of polio caused by wild poliovirus were reported in the United States; the number of reported cases of indigenously acquired mumps was substantially below the disease-reduction target; and the numbers of reported cases of diphtheria, invasive Hib disease (among children aged < 5 years), rubella, and measles were at or near the lowest levels ever recorded and near the elimination targets.