Widening inequalities in MMR vaccine uptake rates among ethnic groups in an urban area of the UK during a period of vaccine controversy (1994-2000)

Jeremy Hawker, Babatunde Olowokure*, Annette L. Wood, Richard C. Wilson, Richard Johnson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We examined MMR vaccine uptake among ethnic groups in Birmingham, UK between 1994 and 2000, a period incorporating adverse MMR vaccine publicity. From 1994 to 2000 overall uptake: (1) fell significantly from 91.1% in 1994 to 89.8% (χ2 for trend p < 0.001) in 2000, (2) in Asian children significantly increased (χ2 for trend p < 0.001), and (3) in White children significantly decreased (χ2 for trend p < 0.001). Differences between ethnic groups with the highest (Asian) and the lowest (Black Caribbean) uptake rates increased from 2.1% in 1994 (p = ns) to 6.8% in 2000 (p < 0.001). This study suggests underlying ethnic inequalities in MMR vaccine uptake and differential response to adverse vaccine publicity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7516-7519
Number of pages4
JournalVaccine
Volume25
Issue number43
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Oct 2007

Keywords

  • Children
  • Ethnic group
  • MMR vaccine

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