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Community partnership increased vaccination rates in poor children
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Addressing parental concerns, providing education and performing follow-up improved vaccination rates in poor children, according to recent study findings published in Pediatrics.
“Multicomponent interventions aimed at increasing immunization coverage rates are more successful than single interventions, perhaps with the exception of patient reminder and recall systems,” researchers wrote. “The most successful interventions described allow families to explain their health concerns, address perceived barriers to vaccination, improve community awareness of services already available, and engage health care outreach liaisons.”
The prospective, intervention study included 1,531 children in upstate New York eligible for enrollment in the Salvation Army holiday gift program, available to families with an annual income of less than 150% of federal poverty guidelines. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire, were given each child’s vaccination status and interacted with the study team to address any immunization-related concerns. Parents were directed to children’s medical homes for necessary immunizations if any were identified. Follow-up phone calls were conducted every 6 to 8 weeks for children who remained delayed.
Researchers found that 28% of the 1,477 children with accurate immunization records were vaccine complete. After excluding for influenza vaccine, 70% of all children had received all other recommended vaccines.
At the 9-month follow-up, vaccine completion rates increased from 28% to 45%. Influenza vaccine rates increased by 17% (95% CI, 15.5-19.5), a significant improvement over county and statewide rates during the same time period.
“Partnering with a [community-based organization] to reach resource-poor families at a location where they already access unrelated community services to address parental vaccines concerns was effective in improving local pediatric immunization coverage rates,” researchers wrote. “Future programs should continue to focus on interactive vaccine education, with special attention on the risks of influenza infection and the benefit of influenza vaccination.”
Disclosure: Researchers have indicated financial ties with GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi-Pasteur. The study was funded in part by Pfizer.
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