Vaccination Coverage by Race/Ethnicity and Poverty Level Among Children Aged 19-35 Months—United States, 1996

THE CHILDHOOD Immunization Initiative (CII), implemented in 1993, is an intensive program to increase vaccination coverage among preschool-aged children and to reduce or eliminate vaccinepreventable diseases.¹ In 1996, national coverage goals were achieved for 2-year-old children for the most critical doses of each routinely recommended vaccine.² Disparities in vaccination coverage have been documented previously among different racial/ethnic groups. This report presents findings from CDC's National Immunization Survey (NIS), which document progress toward achieving the 1996 CII vaccination coverage goals^* by racial/ ethnic groupt and by level of poverty. The findings indicate that, for each of five racial/ethnic groups, most of the national CII vaccination coverage goals were met and that, based on poverty level, all the goals were met for children living at or above the poverty level, and two of the five goals were met for children living below the poverty