Vaccination Rates in Older Adults Fall Short of Targets
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Although influenza, pneumococcal, tetanus, and shingles vaccines are routinely recommended for older adults, are cost-effective, are covered to varying degrees by health insurance, and prevent conditions that have relatively high incidence rates and disease burdens, vaccination rates among older adults are much lower than current targets set by the U.S. government's Healthy People 2020 Initiative.
This magnifies a serious problem that underutilization of vaccines presents to the U.S. health care system when viewed through statistics. Each year between five and 10 million Americans acquire pneumonia, 35 to 50 million are afflicted with influenza, and one million get singles. Older Americans are much more likely to get these infections and to suffer from complications and death. The death rate from pneumonia and influenza combined is close to 130 times higher in people ages 85 and older as compared to people ages 45 to 54.
"Vaccinations are available for many of the most common and deadly infectious diseases in older Americans and can save countless lives and health care dollars," says
The white paper, which was authored by
The white paper is available here. A one-page infographic outlining the white paper is available here. The white paper was created with support from
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Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/07/prweb12876432.htm
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