Children of Military Personnel Appear More Likely to Miss Routine Vaccinations

By Amy Orciari Herman

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and André Sofair, MD, MPH

Children of U.S. military personnel may be at increased risk for missing routine immunizations, a Pediatrics study finds.

Using National Immunization Survey data from 2007 to 2012, researchers examined vaccination coverage for nearly 104,000 children ages 19 to 35 months. Roughly 3% of the children were military dependents. These children were significantly less likely than others to be up-to-date on their vaccination coverage (72% vs. 78%) — largely attributable to less diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) and polio vaccination.

The authors conclude that the lower vaccination coverage among military dependents "might be due to this population being highly mobile." They note, however, that "the lack of a military-wide childhood immunization registry and incomplete documentation of vaccinations could contribute to the lower vaccination coverage rates seen in this study."