Higher Pneumococcal Disease Vaccination Rates Needed to Protect More At-Risk US Adults
changing epidemiology; community-acquired; community-acquired pneumonia; conjugate vaccine; General & Internal Medicine; H1N1 influenza; invasive pneumococcal disease; meningitis; older-adults; pneumococcal disease; pneumonia; PPSV23; united-states
Pneumococcal disease, which includes pneumococcal pneumonia, meningitis, and bacteremia, is associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and health care costs in adults. Advanced age, chronic lung or cardiovascular disease, immunosuppressive conditions, and smoking increase the risk for infection. Despite the availability of an effective pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23), vaccination rates among adults remain suboptimal. This is of immediate concern given the current H1N1 pandemic, since secondary bacterial infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae is common and can contribute to morbidity and mortality. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently called for increased efforts to vaccinate recommended persons against pneumococcal disease. Long-term trends including the growth of the elderly population and an increase in the number of patients with chronic conditions also underscore the importance of improving pneumococcal vaccination rates. It is important for health care providers, public health officials, and policy makers to recognize the serious health impact of pneumococcal disease in adults and to ensure increased coverage; at present, this is the best way to protect against invasive pneumococcal infection and its consequences.
Rehm S J; Farley M M; File T M; Hall W J; Hopkins R; Levine O S; Nichol K L; Nuorti P; Zimmerman R K; Schaffner W
Postgraduate Medicine
2009
2009-11
Journal Article
<a href="http://doi.org/10.3810/pgm.2009.11.2069" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.3810/pgm.2009.11.2069</a>
Identifying Barriers to Adult Pneumococcal Vaccination: An NFID Task Force Meeting
adult vaccination; care; disease; General & Internal Medicine; influenza; pneumococcal disease; pneumococcal vaccine; pneumonia; Streptococcus pneumoniae; united-states
Pneumococcal infection is common in adults, and invasive disease is associated with a high mortality rate. Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine can prevent invasive pneumococcal disease and is recommended for people aged >= 65 years and for younger adults with high-risk chronic conditions; however, vaccination rates are suboptimal in all of these groups. A multidisciplinary task force meeting examined ways to increase vaccination rates in the target populations. Barriers to vaccination include lack of awareness of the disease or vaccine among vaccination candidates and health care providers, failure to assume responsibility for vaccination, competing priorities, incomplete or inaccessible documentation of previous vaccines, and health care system delivery challenges. Efforts to address these barriers should use appropriate methods. For example, potential vaccine recipients might be motivated by a message from a community leader, whereas health care providers are more apt to offer a vaccine when reminded that it is a recommended best practice. All health care providers need to accept responsibility for vaccination so that this preventive measure becomes a high priority in the care of patients at risk for serious pneumococcal infection.
Rehm S J; File T M; Metersky M; Nichol K L; Schaffner W; Natl Fdn Infect Dis Pneumococcal D
Postgraduate Medicine
2012
2012-05
Journal Article
<a href="http://doi.org/10.3810/pgm.2012.05.2550" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.3810/pgm.2012.05.2550</a>