National Participation Trends, 1955-61 in the Poliomyelitis Vaccination Program

• Published in: Public health reports (1896) 1962-08, Vol.77 (8), p.661-670
• Main Author: Sirken, Monroe G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Administered dose; Age groups; At risk population; Humans; Immunization Programs; Inactivated poliovirus vaccine; Inoculation; Old Medline; Poliomyelitis; Poliomyelitis - immunology; Population aging; Population size; School age children; Vaccination
• ISSN: 0094-6214
• DOI: 10.2307/4591594

Between April 1955, when the national poliomyelitis vaccination program was started, and September 1961 about threefifths of the population of the United States under 60 years of age had received at least one inoculation of Salk vaccine, about one-half had completed the series of three inoculations, and one-thire had received the booster inoculation. By broad age groups, the levels of participation decline with advancing age, being highest for the age group under 20 years and lowest for the age group 40-59 years. School-age children, 5-14 years, had the highest levels of participation; about 93 percent had at least one inoculation, 87 percent had completed the series of three inoculations, and 60 percent had received the booster inoculation. Two factors affected the trends in the levels of participation: (a) the size of the uninoculated population has been decreasing annually, and (b) the rate at which the uninoculated population has been participating in the program has been decreasing also. Consequently, the absolute gains in the levels of vaccination have been smaller each year. In recent years, the gap between the age group under 20 years and the group 20-39 years has become smaller in the proportion that completed the series of three inoculations, and it has become larger in the proportion that received the booster inoculation. On the other hand, differences between each of these groups and the group 40-59 years of age have become larger each year in the proportion that completed the series of three inoculations and in the proportion that received the booster inoculation. These findings are based on estimates of participation levels derived from a series of five national household sample surveys conducted annually during the period August 1957-September 1961.