The 1997 OMB Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity provided standards for the collection and reporting of data on race and ethnicity. One of the key data elements allows for the reporting of multiple races. Data from the National Immunization Survey (NIS) provide an opportunity to examine the estimation of vaccination coverage under different race standards. The standards for the new classification of race were implemented in the NIS in July 1999. The NIS is a quarterly random-digit-dialing survey that collects vaccination information for children aged 19-35 months in the U.S. The NIS asked about race separately from Hispanic origin, and if more than one race was reported, the respondent was asked the single race that best described the child. This placed each child into one race category for weighting and analysis, and allowed bridging back to the old race standards. Data collected in the most recent four-quarter period will be used to compare estimates of vaccination coverage using the old and new race and race/ethnicity definitions. The differences in estimates of vaccination coverage for various racial/ethnic groups under the old and new standards will have implications for how the new race/ethnicity standards are applied to health data. It is essential to differentiate between real changes in vaccination coverage and differences that occur as a result of changes in classification of race.
Learning Objectives: Understand the impact of changes in measurement (race categories) on health estimates (vaccination coverage).
Keywords: Immunizations, Data/Surveillance
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