title: Assessment of vaccine coverage following the introduction of a publicly funded pneumococcal vaccine program for the elderly in Victoria, Australia.
abstract: In 1998, a publicly funded pneumococcal vaccine program was introduced for persons aged > or = 65 years in Victoria, Australia. In 2000, vaccine coverage over the previous 5 years was assessed through a telephone survey of 385 randomly selected subjects aged > or = 65 years. Self-reported pneumococcal vaccine coverage within the previous 5 years was 46.0% (95% CI 40.5-51.6). Self-report was validated against the medical records of the nominated provider for 278 (72%) subjects. Among this subgroup, self-reported coverage was 51.1% but was 57.9% according to medical records (positive predictive value 91.5%, negative predictive value 77.2%, sensitivity 80.7%, specificity 89.7%). After accounting for response bias among those subjects for whom self-report was not validated, the revised estimate of pneumococcal vaccine coverage within the previous 5 years was 50.5% (95% CI 44.8-56.1). Comparison of vaccine coverage over time suggests the introduction of the publicly funded program in Victoria has dramatically increased coverage among the elderly.
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. ross.andrews@mcri.edu.au
authors.forename: Ross M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Andrews
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines