Medical Groups Call for Adult Vaccination

(November 20, 2008) - A total of 19 medical groups are calling for more adult vaccination. (Read about "Immunizations") According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 95 percent of vaccine-preventable diseases occur in adults and more than 46,000 adults die of vaccine-preventable diseases or their complications.

"It is crucial for physicians - internists, family physicians, and subspecialists who provide primary and preventive care services for patients, especially those with chronic diseases - to discuss and review their adult patients' vaccination status and either vaccinate them or provide a referral for recommended vaccines," said Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP).

"Thanks to immunization, most children never suffer from vaccine-preventable diseases but that's not true for their parents or grandparents," said William Schaffner, MD, FIDSA, MACP, chair of the Infectious Diseases Society of America's (IDSA) Immunization Work Group. "Every year, hundreds of thousands of adults get sick, miss work, and are hospitalized. Many adults die because of vaccine-preventable diseases or their complications. Costs associated with treatment run in the billions."

Adult vaccination rates range from 26 to 69 percent, depending on the vaccine and specific target group.

The list of vaccines that adults should discuss with their physicians includes:

• influenza (Read about "Influenza")
• pneumococcal (Read about "Pneumonia")
• tetanus-diptheria-pertussis (Read about "Childhood Illnesses")
• hepatitis A (Read about "Hepatitis A")
• hepatitis B (Read about "Hepatitis B")
• measles-mumps-rubella (Read about "Childhood Illnesses")
• chickenpox - varicella (Read about "Childhood Illnesses")
• meningococcal (Read about "Encephalitis & Menigitis")
• human papillomavirus (Read about "STDs")
• shingles - zoster (Read about "Shingles")

Specific recommendations vary depending on age and other factors.