The rate of U.S. children getting their recommended vaccinations against childhood diseases has remained high over the past years. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2007 National Immunization Survey, which tracks vaccination rates for children between the ages of 19 and 35 months, found that 77.4 percent of children have been fully vaccinated with all the recommended vaccines.

Ninety percent of children got all but one of the six individual vaccines in the series, the CDC said. 84.5 percent of toddlers received the four doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis or whooping cough vaccine.

Vaccination coverage varied between the states from 91.3 percent in Maryland to 63.1 percent in Nevada.

The survey also found that 90 percent of children have been vaccinated against varicella and got the third dose of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). Coverage with four doses of the PCV vaccine has reached 75.3 percent. The vaccine protects against several types of meningitis, pneumonia, bloodstream infections and ear infections.

The percentage of children who received the varicella vaccine, which reduces the risk of chicken pox, rose to 90% in 2007 compared to 85% in 2003.

“Vaccines save lives and prevent suffering,” CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said during a Thursday teleconference, according to U.S News & World Report. “Over time, vaccinations have prevented about 14 million cases of vaccine-preventable diseases and 33,000 premature deaths.”

Vaccinations also save about $44 million over the lifetime of vaccinated children in direct and indirect costs, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases said.

Recommended vaccines include four doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine (DTaP); three doses of polio vaccine; one or more doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR); three doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (Hib); three doses of hepatitis B vaccine; and one or more doses of varicella, or chickenpox, vaccine.

Despite these results, more and more people are refusing vaccines due to fears about their safety. The measles outbreaks continue to spread as reports found that 91 percent of the children infected were not vaccinated. From January through July, 131 cases of the infectious disease were reported, the highest since 1996, the CDC said. Four outbreaks are ongoing in Arizona, New York, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Many parents refuse to vaccinate their children because they think the shots may cause autism or other health problems. A recent study published in the journal Public Library of Science One found no connection between the measles vaccine, gastrointestinal difficulties and autism.

Another problem was signalled by Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases who said that although routine immunization of children in the United States has saved hundreds of thousands of lives and prevented million of cases of disease, vaccines are not just for children. Only 69 percent of adults get an annual flu shot, just 66 percent have had a one-time pneumonia vaccine and just 44 percent had received a tetanus shot in the past 10 years, a report released earlier this year found.