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March 2008 According to recent data from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, overall influenza vaccination rates among young children and high-risk adults are much lower than expected in the United States. The poll used data from a national online survey conducted in December 2007 in collaboration with Knowledge Networks Inc. The survey was administered to a random sample of 2,131 adults, aged 18 and older, who are part of Knowledge Network’s online KnowledgePanelSM. The sample was weighted to reflect U.S. population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Despite the vaccination rates being lower than expected, current vaccination rates among children aged 5 years and younger were actually higher when compared with vaccination rates from previous years. Nearly half of parents polled in December 2007 reported that this season was the first time they had vaccinated their young children against influenza. “The high number of households vaccinating their young children against influenza for the first time demonstrates broad acceptance of new national recommendations for influenza vaccination among healthy young children,” Matthew M. Davis, MD, associate professor of general pediatrics and internal medicine and associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, said in a press release. With an estimated 40 million doses of the vaccine still available, Davis, also director of the national poll, encourages parents to act now to vaccinate themselves and their children against influenza. Because the typical peak of influenza activity in the United States occurs in January or later, influenza vaccination rates in December often offer a glimpse into how well protected the U.S. population is against a major influenza outbreak. “National efforts to prevent an influenza epidemic in this country hinge on broad vaccination of the public before the influenza season hits,” Davis said. “Americans have not vaccinated themselves as well as they said they were going to before the influenza season began and this means that the U.S. population is not as well protected against influenza as it could be.” The national poll recently reported that 65% of parents planned to have their young children vaccinated against influenza during the 2007-2008 season. In addition, nearly all parents who planned to get vaccinated themselves said they also intended to have their young children vaccinated. However, results from the national poll indicated many parents did not follow through with these plans. A more recent poll revealed that households with children aged 5 years and younger had only a 36% vaccination rate as of December 2007. Another 18% of households polled indicated they still planned to vaccinate their children this season. |
