title: Recommended immunizations for older adults: a primer for pharmacists.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effectiveness and safety of currently recommended vaccines in older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed was used to search for relevant articles. Key words searched included: immunosenescence, influenza vaccine efficacy, influenza vaccine safety, Tdap safety and efficacy elderly, Td safety and efficacy elderly, pneumococcal vaccine safety and efficacy elderly, pneumococcal vaccine efficacy, Recombivax safety and efficacy elderly, Zostavax safety and efficacy, influenza vaccine timing, frailty and immunosenescence.
  Articles were reviewed and selected considering relevance to the subject. Selected articles were written in the English language, conducted mainly in humans, and published from 2008 to 2014, if it was a review article. Articles were then determined to be relevant or irrelevant based on their abstracts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Immunizations are a major means of preventing diseases, and pharmacists are a frontline health professional, with significant interactions with the older population. There are no recent published reviews that compile the efficacy and safety evidence for recommended immunizations in older people. Pharmacists are often asked questions about the efficacy and safety of these immunizations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, efficacy and safety profiles of currently recommended vaccines are positive in the older population. The least-effective vaccine currently recommended is the varicella-zoster vaccine, with a 50% efficacy. The vaccine with the highest rates of adverse events is the tetanus booster, with local pain and swelling at the injection site.
authors.affiliation: Riverside Health System, Shore Memorial Hospital, Nassawadox, Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: Chad M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Harte
authors.forename: Patricia W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Slattum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000009:adverse effects; D000068884:Immunosenescence; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology; D010595:Pharmacists; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology; D013745:Tetanus Toxoid / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: C538862:13-valent pneumococcal vaccine; C414006:23-valent pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide vaccine; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D007252:Influenza Vaccines; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines; D013745:Tetanus Toxoid