Flu Vaccination More Likely in Children With a Provider Recommendation

Children who receive a provider recommendation for influenza vaccination are twice as likely to be vaccinated than those who do not receive a recommendation, according to new findings.

Katherine E. Kahn, MPH, researcher at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and colleagues arrived at this conclusion following a study of National Immunization Survey-Flu parent-reported data from the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016 seasons.
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After analyzing the data, the researchers found that about 70% of children had received a provider recommendation for influenza vaccination, according to their parents.

Ultimately, those with a recommendation were twice as likely to be vaccinated as those who did not receive a provider recommendation.

"We found that the strongest association between receipt of a provider recommendation and demographic characteristics was with child's age, with younger children being more likely to receive a provider recommendation than older children," said Kahn via email.

Specifically, children aged 6 to 23 months, 2 to 4 years, and 5 to 12 years were more likely to receive a provider recommendation for influenza vaccination than older children aged 13 to 17 years.

The CDC recommends everyone aged 6 months and older receive the influenza vaccine every season, a sentiment that the American Academy of Pediatrics supports.

Results also showed that children living in a household above poverty level with a household income of more than $75,000 had greater odds of receiving a provider recommendation compared with children living in a household below poverty level.

"We do not know why this is, but it is possible, for example, that parents of low-income children face barriers that make it more difficult to get their children to preventive care visits where recommendations for influenza vaccination may be more likely to occur," Kahn said. "It is important for providers to take advantage of every patient encounter by giving a strong recommendation and offering to vaccinate at every visit."

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Kahn KE, Santibanez TA, Zhai Y, Bridges CB. Association between provider recommendation and influenza vaccination status among children. Vaccine. 2018;36(24):3846-3497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.04.077