Seasonal Vaccination Rates Research Articles

Attitudes and barriers associated with seasonal influenza vaccination uptake among public health students; a cross-sectional study

BackgroundAlthough research has explored influenza vaccination uptake among medical and college students, there is a dearth of research in understanding influenza vaccination uptake and attitudes toward the vaccine among future public health practitioners. Undergraduate public health students represent future public health practitioners who may be a significant educational resource for health information, including the importance of vaccinations.MethodsThis cross-sectional study utilized survey data from 158 undergraduate public health students attending a large public university in Southern California. The survey assessed public health students’ attitudes and beliefs towards the seasonal influenza vaccine and seasonal vaccination rates among this population.ResultsOver 88% of respondents reported having been encouraged to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine, while only 43.0% reported receipt. Of the students who reported not receiving the vaccine, 49.4% believed it may give them the flu, 30.4% believed there may be dangerous side effects, and 28.9% believed they were not at risk for contracting the flu. Access to health care practitioners (OR: 3.947, 95% CI [1.308–11.906]) and social encouragement (OR: 3.139, 95% CI [1.447–6.811]) were significantly associated with receipt of the seasonal influenza vaccine.ConclusionAs public health program curriculum includes information about seasonal influenza vaccination and 68% of the sample were seniors soon to be exiting the program with an undergraduate degree in public health education, this low seasonal influenza vaccination rate is disturbing. This study may add to the body of data demonstrating how knowledge of the vaccine does not always guarantee vaccine uptake. Results of the current study suggest that it may be beneficial to provide additional information targeted to public health students, aimed at mediating safety concerns and increasing social pressure to assist in improving vaccine acceptance and rates in this population. Maximizing seasonal influenza vaccination uptake by addressing attitudes, barriers and misperceptions may not only improve vaccination rates among public health students, but also in communities served by these future public health practitioners.

Modeling and simulation of the spread of H1N1 flu with periodic vaccination

Influenza H1N1 has been found to exhibit oscillatory levels of incidence in large populations. Clear peaks for influenza H1N1 are observed in several countries including Vietnam each year [M. F. Boni, B. H. Manh, P. Q. Thai, J. Farrar, T. Hien, N. T. Hien, N. Van Kinh and P. Horby, Modelling the progression of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) in Vietnam and the opportunities for reassortment with other influenza viruses, BMC Med. 7 (2009) 43, Doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-7-43]. So it is important to study seasonal forces and factors which can affect the transmission of this disease. This paper studies an SIRS epidemic model with seasonal vaccination rate. This SIRS model has a unique disease-free solution (DFS). The value R0, the basic reproduction number is obtained when the vaccination is a periodic function. Stability results for the DFS are obtained when R0 < 1. The disease persists in the population and remains endemic if R0 > 1. Also when R0 > 1 existence of a nonzero periodic solution is proved. These results obtained for our model when the vaccination strategy is a non-constant time-dependent function.

Monitoring receipt of seasonal influenza vaccines with BRFSS and NHIS data: Challenges and solutions

Despite the availability of vaccines that mitigate the health risks associated with seasonal influenza, most individuals in the U.S. remain unvaccinated. Monitoring vaccination uptake for seasonal influenza, especially among disadvantaged or high-risk groups, is therefore an important public health activity. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) – the largest telephone-based health surveillance system in the world – is an important resource in monitoring population health trends, including influenza vaccination. However, due to limitations in the question that measures influenza vaccination status, difficulties arise in estimating seasonal vaccination rates. Although researchers have proposed various methodologies to address this issue, no systematic review of these methodologies exists. By subjecting these methods to tests of sensitivity and specificity, we identify their strengths and weaknesses and advance a new method for estimating national and state-level vaccination rates with BRFSS data. To ensure that our findings are not anomalous to the BRFSS, we also analyze data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). For both studies, we find that restricting the sample to interviews conducted between January and September offers the best balance of sensitivity (>90% on average), specificity (>90% on average), and statistical power (retention of 92.2% of vaccinations from the target flu season) over other proposed methods. We conclude that including survey participants from these months provides a simple and effective way to estimate seasonal influenza vaccination rates with BRFSS and NHIS data, and we discuss potential ways to better estimate vaccination rates in future epidemiologic surveys.

Pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 improves vaccination routine in subsequent years: A cohort study from 2009 to 2011

BackgroundIn 2009 the pandemic influenza virus A(H1N1)pdm09 emerged with guidance that people at risk should be vaccinated. It is unclear how this event affected the underlying seasonal vaccination rate in subsequent years. PurposeTo investigate the association of pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and seasonal flu vaccination status in 2009 with vaccination rates in 2010 and 2011. MethodsData were collected in 40 Dutch family practices on patients at risk for influenza during 2009–2011; data analysis was conducted in 2012. ResultsA multilevel logistic regression model (n=41,843 patients) adjusted for practice and patient characteristics (age and gender, as well as those patient groups at risk), showed that people who were vaccinated against A(H1N1)pdm09 in 2009 were more likely to have been vaccinated in 2010 (OR 6.02; 95%CI 5.62–6.45, p<.0001). This likelihood was even more for people who were vaccinated against seasonal flu in 2009 (OR 13.83; 95%CI 12.93–14.78, p<.0001). A second analysis on the uptake rate in 2011 (n=39,468 patients) showed that the influence of the vaccination state in 2009 declined after two years, but the diminishing effect was smaller for people vaccinated against A(H1N1)pdm09 than for seasonal flu (OR 5.50; 95%CI 5.13–5.90, p<.0001; OR 10.98; 95%CI 10.26–11.75, p<.0001, respectively). ConclusionBeing vaccinated against A(H1N1)pdm09 and seasonal influenza in the pandemic year 2009 enhanced the probability of vaccination in the next year and this was still effective in 2011. This suggests that peoples’ vaccination routines were not changed by the rumor around the outbreak of A(H1N1)pdm09, but rather confirmed underlying behavior.

Voluntary Employee Influenza Vaccination with Mandatory Mask Use: A New Paradigm

Hospital health care worker influenza rates are now publicly reported in California. In 2009, the Statewide mean vaccination rate was 55.0%. In 2010, the seasonal vaccination rate increased to 62.2% and the H1N1 vaccinate rate was 55.5%.

The Institute of Medicine's Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events: Regional Workshop Series on the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Vaccination Campaign

In response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, public health authorities launched an ambitious vaccination program to protect tens of millions of Americans from the virus. In April and May 2010, the Institute of Medicine Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events hosted a series of 3 regional workshops to examine the 2009 H1N1 vaccination campaign. The workshops brought together stakeholders involved in distributing and dispensing H1N1 vaccine to discuss successes and challenges and to identify strategies to improve future vaccination programs and other medical countermeasure dispensing campaigns. On the basis of the presentations and the discussions that followed, several themes and opportunities for future efforts were identified in the following areas: vaccine supply and demand; state and local implementation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations, including prioritization for vaccination; vaccine formulations and priority groups; opportunities for developing partnerships; opportunities to increase seasonal vaccination rates among pregnant women and health care workers and to increase acceptance of live attenuated nasal spray vaccine; standardization and improvement of immunization information management systems; opportunities to simplify, systematize, and automate processes and practices; and research needs and opportunities.