Second study hails recall system for maintaining vaccination rates during shortage
WEDNESDAY, May 6 (HealthDay News) -- Positive results were seen with minimum interval vaccine scheduling during an outbreak of pertussis in Arizona, while recall systems appear to benefit influenza vaccination rates among high-risk children despite vaccine shortage in Colorado. These two studies are published in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
In one study, Daniel Bronson-Lowe, Ph.D., formerly of the Arizona Department of Health Services in Phoenix, and a colleague studied 45,129 children who received their first diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccination during a statewide pertussis outbreak. Compared to children who received vaccinations on a standard schedule, the researchers found that those on the minimum interval schedule were more likely to receive three doses of DTaP, three doses of inactivated polio vaccine, and three doses of pneumococcal conjugate
vaccine.
In a second study, Mandy A. Allison, M.D., of the University of Colorado in Denver, and colleagues studied influenza vaccination rates in pediatric practices with a system to identify and recall children with high-risk conditions. They found that rates of influenza vaccination among 1,166 children with high-risk conditions did not significantly decline between vaccine non-shortage and shortage seasons (66 and 62.3 percent, respectively).
"An electronic billing database or an electronic medical record is an important tool to efficiently identify and quantify children with high-risk conditions in a practice," Allison and colleagues write. "Pediatric practices with a system to identify and recall children with high-risk conditions can target these children for receipt of the influenza vaccine and maintain high vaccination coverage, despite a vaccine shortage that may result in decreased vaccine coverage in healthy children."
Abstract - Bronson-Lowe
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Abstract - Allison
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