Lowering the Burden of Adult Disease, One Shot at a Time

Due to a strong private-public pediatric immunization program coupled with the federal Vaccines for Children program, U.S. childhood immunization rates are high and vaccination of our children remains the social norm. However, the adult population has not received the same attention. As a result, many adults have not received CDC-recommended vaccinations for influenza, pneumococcal disease and tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, among others.

Adult immunizations are falling short of HHS' Healthy People 2020 targets, launched in 2010 for health promotion and disease prevention. For example, only 39 percent of the adult population 18 years or older receive influenza vaccinations, well below the 70 percent goal ,and only 60 percent of adults over 65 years of age have received pneumococcal vaccination, below the 90 percent goal.

The National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit's white paper, "Lowering the Burden of Disease, One Shot at a Time," examines barriers hospitals and health systems face when trying to increase adult immunization rates as well as opportunities for advancements, such as data transparency and immunization measures.

This report outlines:

• Contributors to the low U.S. adult immunization rate;
• Industry expert insight into key challenges pushing adult vaccination programs to the wayside;
• Examples of three health systems boosting adult immunizations; 
• And opportunities for accelerating vaccination efforts, with six action items for healthcare systems to leverage to boost adult immunization rates.

Fill out the form to see how your hospital or health system can work toward better adult immunization rates.