The American Council onScience and Health
Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, PresidentACSH, 1995 Broadway 2nd floor,New York, NY10023
Adult Immunization
BARRIERS TO IMMUNIZATION
There are several problems with the system orimmunizing adults:
•Patients oten do not request vaccinations. •Physicians do not aggressively promote their use.•Employers do not require proo o immunization asa condition o work.•Private insurance coverage is inconsistent.•Public sector nancing oten alls too low to beeective.•Production, particularly those or infuenzavaccine, can be erratic.•Physicians oten lack the acilities to storevaccines.•There is also substantial waste and discarding oexisting supplies.
A number o medical proessional societies have endorsedprograms and protocols to heighten awareness o the impor-tance o adult immunization. New approaches under consid-eration include model insurance contracts providing payment or some vaccines, vouchers to patients, liability protection or pharmaceutical companies, new research on the truecosts o vaccine delivery, deerred payment plans or vaccinepurchasers, and manuacturer/government “buy–back” ounused inuenza vaccine ollowing u season.These proposals also have a broader purpose – to shit ourthinking about healthcare delivery rom one grounded inacute–care treatment to one ocused on disease prevention.Such a change in emphasis will undeniably contribute tolower rates o sickness and death. However, the short–termcosts o such care may be considerable. Whether such anapproach will prove viable may well depend on the contourso the debate on healthcare reorm now underway and thepriorities in any legislation that emerges.
Get the story romThe American Council on Science and Health
This brochure is based on the technical paper Adult Immunization:The Need or Enhanced Utilization by Steven Marks, available onour site, along with a shorter layperson–riendly booklet.
A m e r i c a n C o u n c i l o n S c i e n c e a n d H e a l t h 1 9 9 5 B r o a d w a y ,2 n d F l o o r ,N e wY o r k ,N Y 1 0 0 2 3 – 5 8 6 0
N o n –P r o f i t O r g . U . S .P o s t a g e P A I D P e r mi t N o . 9 5 1 3 N e wY o r k ,N Y
Adult ImmunizationBy Curtis Porter, rom an ACSH report by Steven Marks© 2009 American Council on Science and Health
Nigel Bark, M.D.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Elissa P. Benedek, M.D.
University of Michigan Medical School
James E. Enstrom, Ph.D.,M.P.H
University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Fauber, M.B.A.
Moody’s Corporation
Hon. Bruce S. Gelb
New York, NY
Elizabeth McCaughey, Ph.D.
Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths
Henry I. Miller, M.D.
The Hoover Institution
Rodney W. Nichols
The New York Academy of Sciences,President Emeritus
George F. Ohrstrom
The Ohrstrom Foundation
Kenneth M. Prager, M.D.
Columbia University Medical Center
Elizabeth Rose
Aim High Productions
Lee M. Silver, Ph.D.
Princeton University
Thomas P. Stossel, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
Harold D. Stratton,Jr., J.D.
Dykema
Glenn Swogger, Jr.,M.D.
The Menninger Clinic (ret.)
ACSH BOARD OF TRUSTEESACSH FOUNDERS CIRCLEACSH EXECUTIVE STAFFACSH STAFF
Christine M. Bruhn,Ph.D.
University of California
Taiwo K. Danmola, C.P.A.
Ernst & Young
Thomas R. DeGregori, Ph.D.
University of Houston
A. Alan Moghissi, Ph.D.
Institute for Regulatory Science
Albert G. Nickel
LyonHeart (ret.)
Stephen S. Sternberg, M.D.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Lorraine Thelian
Ketchum
Kimberly M. Thompson,Sc.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Robert J. White, M.D.,Ph.D.
Case Western Reserve University
Elizabeth M. WhelanScD., M.P.H.,
President
Judith A. D’Agostino
Executive Assistant to the President
Matt Johnston
Manager of Individual Giving
A. Marcial C. Lapeña
Accountant
Anthony Manzo
Art Director
Cheryl E. Martin
Associate Director
Curtis Porter
Research Intern
Gilbert L. Ross,M.D.
Executive and Medical Director
Todd Seavey
Director of Publications
Jeff Stier, Esq.
Associate Director
For more inormation, contact: American Council on Science and Health
CHAIRMAN
John Moore, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Grove City College, President Emeritus
American Council on Science and Health, 1995 Broadway, 2nd oor, New York, NY 10023-5860Tel: 212-362-7044 • Fax: 212-362-4919 • E-mail: ACSH@acsh.org • http://ACSH.org
