The Colorado Children's Immunization Coalition (CCIC) and Children's Hospital Colorado (Children's Colorado) have released the 2016 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Colorado's Children Report.

Prepared annually by pediatricians and researchers from the Department of Epidemiology at Children’s Colorado, the report provides an analysis of the state of health of Colorado’s children based on the most recent National Immunization Survey, Colorado Hospital Association inpatient and emergency department data and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment data. The report examines vaccination rates, hospitalizations and costs associated with vaccine-preventable disease in children. For the first time, the report also includes emergency department visits for vaccine-preventable diseases, county-level rates and school exemption data. Findings show that, despite improvement, there are significant gaps in vaccinating Colorado’s children.

Key findings include: 

• Hospital and emergency department (ED) charges to treat vaccine-preventable disease in Colorado children totaled more than $35 million in 2015.
• Among children in Colorado who were hospitalized for vaccine-preventable disease, 66.5 percent were four years of age or younger.
• In 2015, 24.6 percent of children were missing one or more routine vaccines.
• In 17 of 64 Colorado counties, less than 50 percent of children were up to date on routine immunizations in 2015. Only five Colorado counties – Hinsdale, Kit Carson, Kiowa, Prowers and Baca – meet the Healthy People 2020 vaccination goal of 90 percent coverage.

The full report is available at childrensimmunization.org.