Abstract
Current Immunization Status and Barriers to Immunization in the Elderly Population of the Second most Developed Region of Colombia, South America
Highlights
Vaccines have been a very effective measure to decrease morbidity and mortality in children, but aren’t appreciated for the elderly
Population (65 years and older) are excluded from national immunization programs in Colombia [3], in terms of prevention and promotion of specific vaccines. These vaccination programs were developed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for Latin America that includes Colombia, but the elderly aren’t treated as a target in the suggested campaigns, even though they are mentioned as an at-risk population [4]
Relevant information of the demographics of the people studied is showed in the table 2, is important to point out the majority of the elderly people stated they subsisted on economical support from their families and only 38% had a retirement pension. Among those people who had any level of education in comparison who didn’t, there was a significant difference found through chi-squared test (p=0,002) towards wanting to get vaccinated because of perception of beneficial, tendency that was reflected on the higher vaccination rate on the educated population in comparison to people that didn’t received any education, 61.3% vs 51.2% respectively. 54.2% of the adults said they knew of at least one vaccine for the elderly and the vaccine they mentioned based on their perception as being most beneficial was pneumococcus
Summary
Vaccines have been a very effective measure to decrease morbidity and mortality in children, but aren’t appreciated for the elderly. Vaccination is an effective preventative measure [1] and an adequate scheme of immunization in people older than 65 years old can reduce morbidity and mortality [2]. Population (65 years and older) are excluded from national immunization programs in Colombia [3], in terms of prevention and promotion of specific vaccines. These vaccination programs were developed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for Latin America that includes Colombia, but the elderly aren’t treated as a target in the suggested campaigns, even though they are mentioned as an at-risk population [4]. In Colombia, as well as in many Latin-American countries, there’s no concept of “Primary Care Physicians” or “Family Medicine” because anyone who graduates from medical school can practice as a “general doctor”
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