Influenza Vaccination Letters
Washington State University
English 402
Pullman, Washington 99163
April 29, 2013
Deputy Director
CDC Procurement and Grants Office
2920 Brandywine Road
Mail Stop E-14
Atlanta, GA 30341
Dear Deputy Director,
The attached document you will find with this letter is my final report on the barriers to flu vaccinations. I have called it THE BARRIERS FOR PUBLIC NOT RECEIVING VACCINATIONS FOR INFLUENZA AND SIMILAR INFECTIOUS DISEASES. It represents both qualitative and quantitative data and analysis of my research that I performed with your funding.
As you know, vaccinations rates in the population are way below what they should be, with less than half the population vaccinated with the simple flu vaccine. Thousands …show more content…
of dollars are spent in advertising, and it seems like it is reaching less than half the people out. With my research I hope to contribute to the knowledge behind the barriers that prevent vaccinations and to help the CDC identify what needs to be developed to address these said causes.
I hope that you find the report both informative and conclusive. Perhaps with this the CDC may be able to identity and target unvaccinated individuals, and may reduce infections.
Thank you for your time. Please let me know of any questions that you may have.
Sincerely,
Vanessa Johns
Student at Washington State University
Encl.
THE BARRIERS FOR PUBLIC NOT RECEIVING VACCINATIONS FOR INFLUENZA AND SIMILAR INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Submitted to
The Center for Disease Control
Deputy Director
Submitted by:
Vanessa Johns
Washington State University English 402 Student
Pullman, WA 99163
April 30, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction………………………………………………….….….………………….………….1
Methods…………………………………………………………………..……………………….3
Results...……………………………………………………………………..…………………….4
Conclusion…….…………………………………………………………………...……………...7
Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………………8
References Cited……………………………………………………………………...……….…8
Introduction
Every year between May and October, influenza season strikes with a vengeance. Numbers of those who become infected are on the rise this year. Symptoms of the flu include nausea, fatigue, vomiting, coughing, and fever. Most people at risk are children, adults over 65 and pregnant women. Deaths vary year to year some years as low as 3,000 and some years numbers as great as 49,000. As you already know there is a readily available and affordable vaccine. What is unknown is why only about half the population is vaccinated. Additionally, this isn’t just about the influenza virus, but other vaccinations are missed as well. Common vaccines such as Hepatitis B, Rotavirus, tDap, Pneumococcal, Polio, MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), Varicella, Hepatitis A, and HPV are missed not only as adults but as children too.
Even with such recommendations made by the CDC that children should be vaccinated on time; parents do not seem to follow through. There seems to be fear and hesitation behind vaccines and their effectiveness. It needs to be identified so that the public can become vaccinated and potentially prevent further infection to others. In addition, it must be promoted so that parents can provide their children with appropriate vaccines to prevent further deaths in the future.
The purpose of this report is to provide you with information regarding the actual findings behind the fears and hesitations to vaccinations. In addition, this will include any other causes, which have led the public to refuse or ignore or perhaps miss the recommendations by the CDC to become vaccinated not only with the influenza vaccine, but of other common vaccines listed above as well. This report will provide research and data supporting the main barriers to which the public doesn’t get vaccinated. It will give scholarly research and data collected from surveys. This report also includes recommendations to help overcome the barriers and provide ways to potentially overcome this problems so that we no longer see such high rates of infection and deaths.
Preliminary Research
In my preliminary research, I was able to find some general articles regarding the barriers to the flu vaccine. According to Consumer Reports, even though this year’s flu season is looking bad, people are still hesitant to get the vaccine and there are many reasons why. In this article it analyzes the “excuse” with the “reality” of the flu vaccine, answering any unsolved questions or myths regarding the vaccine and its effectiveness.
Denoon describes in his article some of the fears that accompanied the Swine Flu Vaccine. Broken down in to 5 reasons, he clearly writes the concerns of the public, and the evidence provided by appropriate sources to why these concerns should be dismissed. Based off of his research the top reasons where fear of getting the flu from the vaccine, fear of the safeness of the vaccine to denial of getting or preventing the flu. Another fear mentioned by Denoon is the fear of shots, which there is an easy alternative, the FluMist spray.
Grush ultimately describes her growing concern being the flu outbreak of the 2012-2013 flu seasons and the lack of flu vaccines. She describes that 46% of persons were vaccinate in March 2012. She addresses some of the top reasons she researched for why people are not getting these vaccines. She describes them basically as myths about the drug, hesitance of the shot, and denial of getting the flu when they “have never had it before”.
In her article, Sohn describes that even with high infection rates, there seems to be an average turn out of those being vaccinated. She states that the public “drags it feet”; regardless of what health messages are presented. She presents some theories regarding the varied behavior of individuals and studies conducted regarding vaccination in virtual world. Her articles describes that perhaps the one way to convince the public is by merely enticing them to get the shot by making sure it benefits them.
Methods
The primary research for this study was compiled of that from of scholarly articles. Qualitative data was compiled and analyzed related to this study. In addition, secondary research was conducted by the research coordinator. A survey was compiled to whether they have been vaccinated for common infectious diseases, and if not, why they have not been vaccinated. There were 65 individuals who agreed to take the survey. The participants were asked if they have children and to answer questions regarding the research on behalf of their children. The following is a sample of the questions that were asked:
Question #1: What is your age?
Question #2: Are you male or female?
Question #3: How long has it been since your most recent visit with your healthcare provider?
Question #4: Did your healthcare provider discuss or offer you with information regarding vaccines at your last visit?
Question #5: Have you had a flu shot in this last year?
Question #6: If not, why? (Multiple choice)
Cost, No insurance, Potential Side Effects, Allergic, I don 't get sick, I am afraid of getting the flu from the shot, I don 't like needles, Other (Fill in)
Question #7: In the last year have you had any of the following vaccines? (Multiple choice)
None, tdap, Shingles, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis (other), Pneumococcal, HPV (Human Papillomavirus), MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), Varicella (Chickenpox) Schedule, Other (Fill in)
Question #8: How many children, by age, currently live in your household?
Question #9: Have your children had their flu vaccine?
Question #10: If not, why?
Cost, No insurance, Potential Side Effects, Allergic, They don 't get sick, I am afraid of them getting the flu from the shot, They don 't like needles, Other (Fill in)
Results
Research
According to my primary research, it is not uncommon for vaccinations to get missed. In the articles researched, all of them said that providers were not doing an adequate job of reminding their patients about their vaccines schedules. Patients were misinformed and most did not get vaccinated because of lack of knowledge.
According to Johnson, who surveyed both physicians and patients, there seems to be false assumption that healthy people don’t need to be vaccinated (2008).
Secondly, it would appear that there is a general lack of knowledge regarding the vaccine. The survey revealed that 38% of participants in their study claimed “Doctor hasn’t to me I need it”. Additionally, those who were aware of the vaccine but didn’t not receive it because of fear of getting the disease was 26%. (Johnson, 2008) In the physicians that were surveyed, many felt that patients didn’t come in enough for their well care checkups. Only 20% of the patients reported they had not seen providers for well-care visits and 29% had had a routine care visit. (Johnson, 2008) The providers almost all felt that their adult patients should be immunized, but feel that because of gaps in care, they were being missed.
In the study which was performed in Germany, only 8.8% were vaccinated. Of that Bohmer states “fear of side effects” was the most reason for not receiving the vaccine (2012). Participants in the survey felt that it was not necessary or safe. It was concluded that poor compliance with recommendations showed that campaign efforts were ineffective.
A study that was conducted regarding Pneumococcal and Influenza vaccines identified that there was a key influence on patient behavior and physician recommendation. According to Nowalk, “Of those who were not vaccinated, only half believed that their doctor’s think they …show more content…
should be vaccinated…” (2004) In addition, many of the patients did not recall their doctor recommending that they receive vaccines.
Data
Out of the completed survey, there were 65 participates. 40% were male, 60 % were female. 40% of my participants were in the 25-34 age groups. Participant Ages: 18-24: 7; 10.8%, 25-34: 26; 40%, 35-44: 5; 7.7%, 45-54: 12; 18.5%, 55-64: 10; 15.4%, 65-74: 3; 4.6%, 75 and older: 2; 3.1%. Out of the participants, 58.5% had seen their primary care doctor in the last 3 months, but 75% said they were not given information on consulted about vaccines.
When asked if they had received the flu vaccine, only 20 participants (30.8%) said they had received it. The participants were then given multiple answer choices either pre completed or fill in to why they had not received the vaccine. Those who answered cost: 4 (6.2%). Those with no insurance: 8 (12.3%). Surveyors who were afraid of potential side effects: 3 (4.6%). Participants who were allergic: 2 (3%). Participants who answered “don’t get sick”: 12 (18.5%). Participants who were afraid of getting the flu from the shot: 8 (12.3%). The remaining 8 participants answered other with fill in answers. These answers were “Don’t believe in vaccinations”, “was sick when they offered one”, “forgot or didn’t get around to it” (4 participants), and “do not believe the vaccination works” (2 participants).
Participants of the survey were then asked what other vaccines in the last year. The results were 40 (71.4%) individuals said none. Of the remaining the responses were tDap: 8 (14.3%), Shingles: 4 (7.1%), Hepatitis B: 3 (5.4%), Pneumococcal: 2 (3.6%), HPV: 2 (3.6%) and 2 did not answer.
Among the participants, 32 did not have children at home.
Participants with children were then asked questions regarding their children and vaccines. The participants reported the following ages of children living at home: 1-3 years: 6, 3-6 years: 8, 6-10 years: 13, 11-15 years: 6, and 16-18 years: 2. When they were asked about whether their children had their flu vaccine, 15 (45.5%) reported yes, 15 (45.5%) reported no and 4 (9.5%) reported they didn’t know. Again the participants were asked why their children had not received their vaccines. The following were the results: cost (1), no insurance (1), potential side effects (2), don’t get sick (3), afraid of getting the flu from the shot (2), afraid of shots (2), and other (6). The other category was filled in answers: ineffective or they forgot to get them
vaccinated.
Conclusion
The flu vaccine is one that seems to be looked over again and again. According to my research over half the population doesn’t get vaccinated. This was true in both in the survey and research collected. There was also another pattern among the research. Based on both primary research and secondary research, it appears there is an information gap. A gap between the doctor’s and the patients. In both forms of my research, patients do not recall that their providers discussed or informed them about their vaccinations. Patients seem to be unsure of when they need to be vaccinated, how often they need to be vaccinated, what kind of side effects are associated with their vaccines, fear about getting the flu from the vaccine or they just simply forget. My survey reflected that most participants had been to the doctor within the last three months. According to my survey the main reason for not getting vaccination was that participants “don’t get sick” and “thought they might get the flu from the vaccine”. Participants also answered that the thought the vaccine was ineffective and didn’t get it because they didn’t have insurance. The same was reflected when asked about children who were more at risk for getting the flu and having dire consequences. The results are this; Americans are not getting vaccinated because they are not educated. They do not know when to get vaccinated or that they should get vaccinated. There is still the misconception that patients can get the flu from the vaccine which is not true. The flu is not something that should be taken lightly. There should be no reason why numbers as great as 49,000 people dying from the flu. There is no real justification for there being less than half the population vaccinated.
Recommendations
It seems like the CDC must spend more time and money insuring that their patients are educated. More public announcements should be made on the television, in the news, on the radio, on applications for phones, on the internet. They should literally be everywhere. It should be mandated that physicians make sure their patients are current with their vaccines at every visit. If they deny a vaccine, it should be documented why. If the patients turn down the vaccines, it should be the provider’s responsibility to educate them thoroughly about the truth behind the vaccine. Better controls need to be taken by the physicians. Secondly, it should be mandated that the flu vaccines should be required to enter daycares and schools. Regardless of beliefs, it is not fair that these children are subjected to other diseases and infect others. Along with this, all nursing homes facilities should require their patients to have the vaccine unless there is a documented and well supported reason to why they should not receive the vaccine.
References Cited
"10 Bad Reasons for Skipping the Flu Shot This Year." Consumer Reports.
Consumer Union of U.S., Inc., 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
Bohmer, M. M., Walter, D., Falkenhorst, G., Muters, S., Krause, G., & Wichmann, O. (2012).
Barriers to pandemic influenza vaccination and uptake of seasonal influenza vaccine in the post-pandemic season in Germany. Retrieved from National Center for Biotechnology Information: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23113995
Denoon, Daniel J. "5 Reasons Some People Don 't Get the Swine Flu Vaccine." WebMD.
WebMD, 2009. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
Grush, Loren. "Flu Outbreak: Why Are so Many Not Getting Vaccinated?" Fox News.
FOX News Network, 10 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2013.
Johnson, D. R., Nichol, K. L., & Lipczynski, K. (2008). Barriers to Adult Immunization.
Retrieved from The American Journal of Medicine: http://health.state.ga.us/pdfs/prevention/immunization/barriers%20to%20adult%20immunization.pdf
Nowalk, M., Zimmerman, R., Shen, S., Jewell, I., Hyg, M., & Raymund, M. (2004). Barriers to
Pneumococcal and Influenza Vaccination in Older Community-Dwelling Adults. Retrieved from Medscape Today: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/467013
Sohn, Emily. "Why Don’t People Get the Flu Shot?" Discovery News. Discovery
Communications, LLC, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.
English 402
Pullman, Washington 99163
April 29, 2013
Deputy Director
CDC Procurement and Grants Office
2920 Brandywine Road
Mail Stop E-14
Atlanta, GA 30341
Dear Deputy Director,
The attached document you will find with this letter is my final report on the barriers to flu vaccinations. I have called it THE BARRIERS FOR PUBLIC NOT RECEIVING VACCINATIONS FOR INFLUENZA AND SIMILAR INFECTIOUS DISEASES. It represents both qualitative and quantitative data and analysis of my research that I performed with your funding.
As you know, vaccinations rates in the population are way below what they should be, with less than half the population vaccinated with the simple flu vaccine. Thousands …show more content…
of dollars are spent in advertising, and it seems like it is reaching less than half the people out. With my research I hope to contribute to the knowledge behind the barriers that prevent vaccinations and to help the CDC identify what needs to be developed to address these said causes.
I hope that you find the report both informative and conclusive. Perhaps with this the CDC may be able to identity and target unvaccinated individuals, and may reduce infections.
Thank you for your time. Please let me know of any questions that you may have.
Sincerely,
Vanessa Johns
Student at Washington State University
Encl.
THE BARRIERS FOR PUBLIC NOT RECEIVING VACCINATIONS FOR INFLUENZA AND SIMILAR INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Submitted to
The Center for Disease Control
Deputy Director
Submitted by:
Vanessa Johns
Washington State University English 402 Student
Pullman, WA 99163
April 30, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction………………………………………………….….….………………….………….1
Methods…………………………………………………………………..……………………….3
Results...……………………………………………………………………..…………………….4
Conclusion…….…………………………………………………………………...……………...7
Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………………8
References Cited……………………………………………………………………...……….…8
Introduction
Every year between May and October, influenza season strikes with a vengeance. Numbers of those who become infected are on the rise this year. Symptoms of the flu include nausea, fatigue, vomiting, coughing, and fever. Most people at risk are children, adults over 65 and pregnant women. Deaths vary year to year some years as low as 3,000 and some years numbers as great as 49,000. As you already know there is a readily available and affordable vaccine. What is unknown is why only about half the population is vaccinated. Additionally, this isn’t just about the influenza virus, but other vaccinations are missed as well. Common vaccines such as Hepatitis B, Rotavirus, tDap, Pneumococcal, Polio, MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), Varicella, Hepatitis A, and HPV are missed not only as adults but as children too.
Even with such recommendations made by the CDC that children should be vaccinated on time; parents do not seem to follow through. There seems to be fear and hesitation behind vaccines and their effectiveness. It needs to be identified so that the public can become vaccinated and potentially prevent further infection to others. In addition, it must be promoted so that parents can provide their children with appropriate vaccines to prevent further deaths in the future.
The purpose of this report is to provide you with information regarding the actual findings behind the fears and hesitations to vaccinations. In addition, this will include any other causes, which have led the public to refuse or ignore or perhaps miss the recommendations by the CDC to become vaccinated not only with the influenza vaccine, but of other common vaccines listed above as well. This report will provide research and data supporting the main barriers to which the public doesn’t get vaccinated. It will give scholarly research and data collected from surveys. This report also includes recommendations to help overcome the barriers and provide ways to potentially overcome this problems so that we no longer see such high rates of infection and deaths.
Preliminary Research
In my preliminary research, I was able to find some general articles regarding the barriers to the flu vaccine. According to Consumer Reports, even though this year’s flu season is looking bad, people are still hesitant to get the vaccine and there are many reasons why. In this article it analyzes the “excuse” with the “reality” of the flu vaccine, answering any unsolved questions or myths regarding the vaccine and its effectiveness.
Denoon describes in his article some of the fears that accompanied the Swine Flu Vaccine. Broken down in to 5 reasons, he clearly writes the concerns of the public, and the evidence provided by appropriate sources to why these concerns should be dismissed. Based off of his research the top reasons where fear of getting the flu from the vaccine, fear of the safeness of the vaccine to denial of getting or preventing the flu. Another fear mentioned by Denoon is the fear of shots, which there is an easy alternative, the FluMist spray.
Grush ultimately describes her growing concern being the flu outbreak of the 2012-2013 flu seasons and the lack of flu vaccines. She describes that 46% of persons were vaccinate in March 2012. She addresses some of the top reasons she researched for why people are not getting these vaccines. She describes them basically as myths about the drug, hesitance of the shot, and denial of getting the flu when they “have never had it before”.
In her article, Sohn describes that even with high infection rates, there seems to be an average turn out of those being vaccinated. She states that the public “drags it feet”; regardless of what health messages are presented. She presents some theories regarding the varied behavior of individuals and studies conducted regarding vaccination in virtual world. Her articles describes that perhaps the one way to convince the public is by merely enticing them to get the shot by making sure it benefits them.
Methods
The primary research for this study was compiled of that from of scholarly articles. Qualitative data was compiled and analyzed related to this study. In addition, secondary research was conducted by the research coordinator. A survey was compiled to whether they have been vaccinated for common infectious diseases, and if not, why they have not been vaccinated. There were 65 individuals who agreed to take the survey. The participants were asked if they have children and to answer questions regarding the research on behalf of their children. The following is a sample of the questions that were asked:
Question #1: What is your age?
Question #2: Are you male or female?
Question #3: How long has it been since your most recent visit with your healthcare provider?
Question #4: Did your healthcare provider discuss or offer you with information regarding vaccines at your last visit?
Question #5: Have you had a flu shot in this last year?
Question #6: If not, why? (Multiple choice)
Cost, No insurance, Potential Side Effects, Allergic, I don 't get sick, I am afraid of getting the flu from the shot, I don 't like needles, Other (Fill in)
Question #7: In the last year have you had any of the following vaccines? (Multiple choice)
None, tdap, Shingles, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis (other), Pneumococcal, HPV (Human Papillomavirus), MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), Varicella (Chickenpox) Schedule, Other (Fill in)
Question #8: How many children, by age, currently live in your household?
Question #9: Have your children had their flu vaccine?
Question #10: If not, why?
Cost, No insurance, Potential Side Effects, Allergic, They don 't get sick, I am afraid of them getting the flu from the shot, They don 't like needles, Other (Fill in)
Results
Research
According to my primary research, it is not uncommon for vaccinations to get missed. In the articles researched, all of them said that providers were not doing an adequate job of reminding their patients about their vaccines schedules. Patients were misinformed and most did not get vaccinated because of lack of knowledge.
According to Johnson, who surveyed both physicians and patients, there seems to be false assumption that healthy people don’t need to be vaccinated (2008).
Secondly, it would appear that there is a general lack of knowledge regarding the vaccine. The survey revealed that 38% of participants in their study claimed “Doctor hasn’t to me I need it”. Additionally, those who were aware of the vaccine but didn’t not receive it because of fear of getting the disease was 26%. (Johnson, 2008) In the physicians that were surveyed, many felt that patients didn’t come in enough for their well care checkups. Only 20% of the patients reported they had not seen providers for well-care visits and 29% had had a routine care visit. (Johnson, 2008) The providers almost all felt that their adult patients should be immunized, but feel that because of gaps in care, they were being missed.
In the study which was performed in Germany, only 8.8% were vaccinated. Of that Bohmer states “fear of side effects” was the most reason for not receiving the vaccine (2012). Participants in the survey felt that it was not necessary or safe. It was concluded that poor compliance with recommendations showed that campaign efforts were ineffective.
A study that was conducted regarding Pneumococcal and Influenza vaccines identified that there was a key influence on patient behavior and physician recommendation. According to Nowalk, “Of those who were not vaccinated, only half believed that their doctor’s think they …show more content…
should be vaccinated…” (2004) In addition, many of the patients did not recall their doctor recommending that they receive vaccines.
Data
Out of the completed survey, there were 65 participates. 40% were male, 60 % were female. 40% of my participants were in the 25-34 age groups. Participant Ages: 18-24: 7; 10.8%, 25-34: 26; 40%, 35-44: 5; 7.7%, 45-54: 12; 18.5%, 55-64: 10; 15.4%, 65-74: 3; 4.6%, 75 and older: 2; 3.1%. Out of the participants, 58.5% had seen their primary care doctor in the last 3 months, but 75% said they were not given information on consulted about vaccines.
When asked if they had received the flu vaccine, only 20 participants (30.8%) said they had received it. The participants were then given multiple answer choices either pre completed or fill in to why they had not received the vaccine. Those who answered cost: 4 (6.2%). Those with no insurance: 8 (12.3%). Surveyors who were afraid of potential side effects: 3 (4.6%). Participants who were allergic: 2 (3%). Participants who answered “don’t get sick”: 12 (18.5%). Participants who were afraid of getting the flu from the shot: 8 (12.3%). The remaining 8 participants answered other with fill in answers. These answers were “Don’t believe in vaccinations”, “was sick when they offered one”, “forgot or didn’t get around to it” (4 participants), and “do not believe the vaccination works” (2 participants).
Participants of the survey were then asked what other vaccines in the last year. The results were 40 (71.4%) individuals said none. Of the remaining the responses were tDap: 8 (14.3%), Shingles: 4 (7.1%), Hepatitis B: 3 (5.4%), Pneumococcal: 2 (3.6%), HPV: 2 (3.6%) and 2 did not answer.
Among the participants, 32 did not have children at home.
Participants with children were then asked questions regarding their children and vaccines. The participants reported the following ages of children living at home: 1-3 years: 6, 3-6 years: 8, 6-10 years: 13, 11-15 years: 6, and 16-18 years: 2. When they were asked about whether their children had their flu vaccine, 15 (45.5%) reported yes, 15 (45.5%) reported no and 4 (9.5%) reported they didn’t know. Again the participants were asked why their children had not received their vaccines. The following were the results: cost (1), no insurance (1), potential side effects (2), don’t get sick (3), afraid of getting the flu from the shot (2), afraid of shots (2), and other (6). The other category was filled in answers: ineffective or they forgot to get them
vaccinated.
Conclusion
The flu vaccine is one that seems to be looked over again and again. According to my research over half the population doesn’t get vaccinated. This was true in both in the survey and research collected. There was also another pattern among the research. Based on both primary research and secondary research, it appears there is an information gap. A gap between the doctor’s and the patients. In both forms of my research, patients do not recall that their providers discussed or informed them about their vaccinations. Patients seem to be unsure of when they need to be vaccinated, how often they need to be vaccinated, what kind of side effects are associated with their vaccines, fear about getting the flu from the vaccine or they just simply forget. My survey reflected that most participants had been to the doctor within the last three months. According to my survey the main reason for not getting vaccination was that participants “don’t get sick” and “thought they might get the flu from the vaccine”. Participants also answered that the thought the vaccine was ineffective and didn’t get it because they didn’t have insurance. The same was reflected when asked about children who were more at risk for getting the flu and having dire consequences. The results are this; Americans are not getting vaccinated because they are not educated. They do not know when to get vaccinated or that they should get vaccinated. There is still the misconception that patients can get the flu from the vaccine which is not true. The flu is not something that should be taken lightly. There should be no reason why numbers as great as 49,000 people dying from the flu. There is no real justification for there being less than half the population vaccinated.
Recommendations
It seems like the CDC must spend more time and money insuring that their patients are educated. More public announcements should be made on the television, in the news, on the radio, on applications for phones, on the internet. They should literally be everywhere. It should be mandated that physicians make sure their patients are current with their vaccines at every visit. If they deny a vaccine, it should be documented why. If the patients turn down the vaccines, it should be the provider’s responsibility to educate them thoroughly about the truth behind the vaccine. Better controls need to be taken by the physicians. Secondly, it should be mandated that the flu vaccines should be required to enter daycares and schools. Regardless of beliefs, it is not fair that these children are subjected to other diseases and infect others. Along with this, all nursing homes facilities should require their patients to have the vaccine unless there is a documented and well supported reason to why they should not receive the vaccine.
References Cited
"10 Bad Reasons for Skipping the Flu Shot This Year." Consumer Reports.
Consumer Union of U.S., Inc., 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
Bohmer, M. M., Walter, D., Falkenhorst, G., Muters, S., Krause, G., & Wichmann, O. (2012).
Barriers to pandemic influenza vaccination and uptake of seasonal influenza vaccine in the post-pandemic season in Germany. Retrieved from National Center for Biotechnology Information: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23113995
Denoon, Daniel J. "5 Reasons Some People Don 't Get the Swine Flu Vaccine." WebMD.
WebMD, 2009. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
Grush, Loren. "Flu Outbreak: Why Are so Many Not Getting Vaccinated?" Fox News.
FOX News Network, 10 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2013.
Johnson, D. R., Nichol, K. L., & Lipczynski, K. (2008). Barriers to Adult Immunization.
Retrieved from The American Journal of Medicine: http://health.state.ga.us/pdfs/prevention/immunization/barriers%20to%20adult%20immunization.pdf
Nowalk, M., Zimmerman, R., Shen, S., Jewell, I., Hyg, M., & Raymund, M. (2004). Barriers to
Pneumococcal and Influenza Vaccination in Older Community-Dwelling Adults. Retrieved from Medscape Today: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/467013
Sohn, Emily. "Why Don’t People Get the Flu Shot?" Discovery News. Discovery
Communications, LLC, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.