Daily Dose: Meningococcal Vaccination Coverage Disparities in the US

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Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

Last week, we reported on findings from a cross-sectional analysis presented at IDWeek 2023 that highlighted trends in meningococcal vaccination coverage across different age groups, geographic regions, and racial/ethnic populations in the US.

The study

Researchers used the 2016-2021 National Immunization Survey-Teen survey data on MenACWY (≥1 dose) in persons aged 13 years, MenACWY (≥2 doses) in persons aged 17 years, and MenB (≥1 dose) in persons aged 17 years. They collected data via phone interviews with provider confirmation and examined coverage throughout the calendar year for MenACWY (≥1 dose) and MenB (≥1 dose) after the interview date and for MenACWY (≥2 doses) at the interview date.

Findings

Results showed the following vaccination coverage trends:

• MenACWY coverage (≥1 dose) in persons aged 13 years increased from 82.71% in 2016 to 86.42% in 2021.

• MenACWY coverage (≥1 dose) in persons aged 13-17 years increased from 83.36% in 2016 to 89.82% in 2021.

• MenB coverage (≥1 dose) in persons aged 17 years increased from 5.63% in 2016 to 34.05% in 2021.

Geographic coverage for MenACWY (≥1 dose) among 13-year-olds ranged from 74.44% in the Pacific region in 2016 to 91.00% in the New England region in 2021. Coverage for MenACWY (≥2 doses) among 17-year-olds varied significantly, with 21.05% in the East South Central region in 2016 to 75.68% in the Mid-Atlantic region in 2021. MenB vaccination coverage (≥1 dose) among 17-year-olds increased from 2.34% in the Pacific region in 2016 to 45.29% in the South Atlantic region in 2021.

MenACWY coverage (≥1 dose) among persons aged 13 years was consistent across race/ethnicity, while Hispanic persons aged 17 years had lower MenACWY coverage (≥2 doses) in 2021 (50.63%). MenB vaccination coverage (≥1 dose) among 17-year-olds varied by race/ethnicity. MenB vaccination coverage in Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black populations increased from 5.55% and 7.55% to 33.58% and 42.33% over 5 years, respectively. In non-Hispanic White population, yearly coverage increased from 5.29% to 33.88%, whereas it progressed from 5.34% to 27.17% in other non-Hispanic and multiple race populations.

The authors point to enduring disparities in US meningococcal vaccination patterns, noting that differences increase with age and with type of vaccine, ie, MenB vs MenACWY.

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