TOPEKA ? Childhood immunization rates in Kansas have increased but still lag behind the national average, officials said today.

“This is really something to celebrate,” Dr. Howard Rodenberg, director of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Division of Health, said about the increased rate.

Rodenberg said more children were being protected from potentially devastating illnesses, but he added the state cannot be content until it surpasses the national average for immunizing children from a host of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Kansas’ immunization rate for children ages 19 months to 35 months in 2004 was 77.5 percent for the standard measurement of vaccination, compared with the national average of 80.9 percent.

Kansas’ rate represents an increase from 66.8 percent in 2002 and 75.7 percent in 2003.