Additional visit burden for universal influenza vaccination of US school-aged children and adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the additional primary care visits needed for universal influenza vaccination of all US children and adolescents if all vaccinations occurred in primary care settings.


METHODS
Cross-sectional design.


METHODS
Well-child care and other visits to primary care practices from the 2003-2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.


METHODS
Children aged 5 to 18 years (n = 3047) with a usual source of care. Main Outcome Measure Percentage of children needing 0, 1, or 2 additional visits to be immunized against influenza in a 3-, 4-, or 5-month vaccination window.


RESULTS
In a 3-month window, if only well-child care visits were used for first immunization, 97% of 5- and 6-year-olds and 98% of 7- and 8-year-olds would need 1 or 2 additional visits for complete vaccination; 95% of 9- to 18-year-olds would need 1 visit. If instead all visits were used for immunization, 90% of 5- and 6-year-olds and 91% of 7- and 8-year-olds would need 1 or 2 visits; 78% of 9- to 18-year-olds would need 1 visit. Expanding the window to 4 or 5 months slightly reduces the need for additional visits. Nationally, using all opportunities for vaccination, 42 million additional visits would be needed in a generous 5-month window.


CONCLUSIONS
Most children and adolescents would need additional visits for universal influenza vaccination, even if all existing visits were used as vaccination opportunities. Efficient methods for vaccinating large numbers of children and adolescents are needed if primary care practices are to provide influenza vaccine for all children.
Rand
Cynthia M
CM
Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA. cynthia_rand@urmc.rochester.edu
Szilagyi
Peter G
PG
Yoo
Byung-Kwang
BK
Auinger
Peggy
P
Albertin
Christina
C
Coleman
Margaret S
MS
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003710:Demography; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*