by Mike Stobbe--AP Medical Writer/BlackNews.com
Atlanta (AP)--For the first time in at least a decade, the vaccination rate for Black children in the United States has caught up to that of youngsters in other racial groups, the government reported Thursday.

"This is an important milestone. It shows you that racial and ethnic differences can be eliminated in health care," said Dr. Walter Orenstein, an Emory University vaccination expert.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a survey found no statistically significant difference in 2005 among Blacks, Whites, Asians and Hispanics in vaccination rates for children ages 19 months to 35 months.

In each racial group, about 76 percent to 79 percent of children received the entire recommended series of shots against whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type B.

Blacks have lagged behind Whites by as many as 10 percentage points in the past decade, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

In decades past, when the government recommended fewer immunizations, vaccination rates for different racial groups at times were roughly equal, Schuchat said.

But disparities became clear during measles outbreaks in the late 1980s and early ’90s. New public health efforts were started to close the gap, including the creation of the government’s Vaccines for Children program in 1994, which pays for immunizations for the poor.

The overall numbers in the new report indicate public health officials still have work to do, said Dr. Neal Halsey, director of John Hopkins University’s Institute for Vaccine Safety.

"Seventy-six percent is good, but it’s not great. We still have a quarter of the children in this country not getting all the recommended vaccines in a timely manner," Halsey said.

The study was based on an annual random-digit-dialed telephone survey with a response rate of 65 percent.

Researchers also reviewed vaccination records for about 17,500 children from households that took part in the survey.

Researchers found wide geographic variations. Massachusetts had the highest vaccination rate, about 91 percent. Vermont had the lowest, 63 percent.

But racial gaps, which have been narrowing significantly in the past five or six years, seem to have closed, at least for now.

"This is the first year overall rates didn’t vary" by race and ethnicity, Halsey said. "But next year there can be a difference."

Vaccination rates rose in all the racial groups, but rose most dramatically in Blacks. In 2002, the vaccination rate was 62 percent for Blacks, and 66 percent for Whites and Hispanics, according to CDC data.

Orenstein, who led the CDC’s immunization program until he left the CDC in 2004 for a position with Emory, deserves much of the credit for the closing of the gap, Halsey said.

Racial gaps persist for some vaccines, according to the report.

Chickenpox vaccination rates were higher for Black and Hispanic children than for White youngsters. But four-dose coverages of whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines were lower for Blacks and Hispanics than for Whites.

But there was additional good news: Overall vaccinations with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine have risen substantially since it was introduced in 2000, despite shortages.