Four Lincoln Medical Partners practices have been recognized by MaineHealth for their commitment to childhood immunizations.

Lincoln Medical Partners Family Medicine Waldoboro, Lincoln Medical Partners Family Medicine Wiscasset, Lincoln Medical Partners Family Care Center and Lincoln Medical Partners Pediatrics in Boothbay Harbor, are among 30 practices in the MaineHealth system recognized for meeting standards outlined in the MaineHealth Childhood Immunizations Program Clinical Improvement Plan.

The plan was created to encourage practices that are part of the MaineHealth system to meet common goals on childhood vaccinations. Each of the recognized practices has received a plaque featuring a child-friendly work of art in recognition of their achievement.

To measure achievement, the program uses a number of measures, including whether young patients are up to date with the standard immunizations. For 2-year-old children, standard vaccinations include measles, mumps, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough). The measures also take into account additional vaccinations for 13 year-olds who are up to date on standard immunizations, including the meningococcal, tetanus, diphtheria and human papillomavirus immunizations.

Maine has the fourth-highest rate of parents opting out of vaccinating their kindergarten-age children, according to the most recent data available from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state also had the highest rate of increase in parents opting out of vaccinating their kindergarten-age children from the 2013 to the 2014 school year.

As the vaccination rate in Maine and some other states decreases, the chances of people catching childhood diseases that had been largely wiped out by vaccinations increases.

An outbreak of measles earlier this year linked to Disneyland in California has resulted in 130 cases of measles, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of people who got measles as a result of that outbreak had not been vaccinated, according to the CDC.

In 2014, the United States saw the greatest number of measles cases (644) since 2000. In 2012, Maine also saw its highest rate of pertussis in at least five decades, with 737 people known to be infected. While that number declined in 2013, it remained high by historical standards in both 2013 and 2014.