A 1997 state requirement that all children in Illinois receive the hepatitis B vaccine series in order to enter the fifth grade has not only raised the rate of vaccination to more than 90% in a group of Chicago-area high school students but also has narrowed the vaccination disparity between white students and black or Hispanic students, according to results of a retrospective cohort study.
Ensuring that at least 90% of all students receive the complete vaccine is a goal of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2010 program, the authors noted.
The study analyzed vaccination data for the senior class of six Chicago high schools for each of the ...