Domestic Vaccination Prevalence among Refugee Arrivals in Texas

Teresa Lin, The University of Texas School of Public Health

Abstract

My research question is “How does the first domestic vaccination prevalence for MMR, Varicella, Hepatitis A, and Hepatitis B among refugees arriving in Texas between 2010 and 2015 compare to that of the general, non-refugee Texas population?” My hypothesis is that vaccination prevalence among refugee arrivals entering Texas is lower than that of the Texas population due to lack of vaccination requirements for refugees arriving in the U.S. I test significance by using the immediate forms of the tests for one- or two-sample tests of proportions and prevalence ratios; I determined that vaccination rates for MMR, Varicella, Hepatitis A, and Hepatitis B are lower for refugees than that of the Texas non-refugee population. It is unclear to what extent the low prevalence correlates to vaccine-preventable disease outbreak and transmission, but further studies should be done to better understand refugees’ vaccination trends and possible gaps in completion of vaccine series before and after arrival in the U.S. I also find that there were statistically significant differences between vaccination rates for refugees under 12 months of age when compared to refugees 12 months and older for the MMR and Varicella vaccinations, both of which can be administered as early as 12 months of age. These results suggest that county clinics are following CDC and ACIP age-based immunization recommendations for refugees who enter Texas with no prior evidence of immunity for these two immunizations. However, I don’t find as significant of a difference in vaccination rates between refugees under 12 months of age and 12 months and older for Hepatitis A, which can also be administered as early as 12 months of age. There was no significant difference between vaccination rates for refugees over 61 years old and refugees 1-61 years old for Hepatitis B, which can be given from birth until about 61 years of age (those born after 1957).

Subject Area

Public health

Recommended Citation

Lin, Teresa, "Domestic Vaccination Prevalence among Refugee Arrivals in Texas" (2018). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI10788651.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI10788651

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