HJNO Jan/Feb 2020

50 JAN / FEB 2020 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS COLUMN CHILDREN’S HEALTH ENGAGING PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS IN PEDIATRIC MEDICINE: VACCINES FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY TO HELP address low adult vaccination rates nationally, the United States Preven- tive Services Task Force has recommend- ed the following interventions: enhancing patient access to vaccination, improving community/patient demand, and pro- vider and healthcare system-directed interventions. Examples of successful interventions include vaccine availabil- ity in pharmacy venues and workplace wellness clinics, reduced patient out-of- pocket costs for vaccinations, patient re- minder calls and portal messaging, patient or family incentive rewards, and quality improvement interventions for providers. Pediatric healthcare providers can help implement the above recommendations by targeting adult patient demand through education. If we engage our adult pop- ulation (our pediatric patients’ parents, grandparents, relatives, and friends) and increase their understanding of vaccina- tions, we will subsequently see a rise in our vaccination coverage among children and adults. Pediatric providers routinely review the benefits and risks of immuni- zations for children with their parents. As experts in vaccine safety and efficacy, we should review those benefits and risks for our adult population as well. We should recommend the appropriate vaccines to adult caregivers, and provide information about where adults can get the vaccine lo- cally. What should our education focus on?All vaccines are fully tested before being ap- proved for use by the FDA, and are critical in protecting everyone from diseases. The risk for death or serious side effects from vaccines is so small that it is hard to doc- ument. The risk of death or serious injury from vaccine preventable illness is great- est in the youngest and oldest ages of our population, and those that have serious medical conditions. Claims that vaccines cause autism or other diseases have been carefully researched and disproven. The influenza vaccine does not give anyone the As pediatric healthcare providers, our work doesn’t only focus on kids. Protecting the health of children means we care for the health of the whole family, including parents and caregivers. A 2017 article in Pediat- rics, “The Concordance of Parent and Child Immunization,” found that parents who get flu vaccina- tions are more likely to vaccinate their children. Unfortunately, for the 2018-2019 influenza season, Loui- siana adults had the second-lowest flu vaccination coverage out of the 50 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with just 38 percent of adults receiving the influenza vaccine.