Importance of Immunizations

Even healthy adult reps need to stay current on their immunizations.

Immunizations have significantly reduced the incidence of many infectious diseases, yet vaccination rates for some diseases continue to fall short of national public health goals, according to the National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC). To highlight the importance of immunizations – considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be one of the top 10 public health accomplishments of the 20^th Century – August has been named National Immunization Awareness Month. In its immunization communications toolkit, NPHIC stresses three points central to the importance of immunization:

• Vaccines are an important step in protecting against serious, and sometimes deadly, diseases.
• Vaccines are recommended throughout our lives.
• A strong provider recommendation is one of the best ways to ensure patients get the vaccines they need, when they need them.

For sales reps, this is an opportunity to learn about your customers’ concerns and product needs. It’s also a good time to take stock of your personal immunization needs as well. If you aren’t current on certain vaccines, you may be placing yourself – and those around you – at risk for certain infectious diseases.

Recommendations
All adults need to stay current with their vaccinations, notes NPHIC. Childhood immunity to diseases wears off over time, and healthy adults can become ill and pass along certain illnesses to others. The need for adulthood vaccination often is based on age, lifestyle, occupation, travel destinations, medical conditions and previous vaccines. However, it is especially important for adults who:

• Are 60 years of age and older.
• Have a chronic condition, such as asthma, COPD, diabetes or heart disease.
• Are in close contact with the very young, the very old, people with weakened immune systems or those who cannot be vaccinated.

The CDC recommends that all adults receive the following vaccines:

• Influenza (flu) vaccine. Adults should receive this each flu season.
• Td or Tdap vaccine. Adults should get the Tdap vaccine once if they did not receive it as an adolescent to protect against pertussis (whooping cough), and then a Td booster shot every 10 years to protect against tetanus and diphtheria. In addition, women should receive the Tdap vaccine during each pregnancy.

Some vaccines are recommended based on age:

• Human papillomavirus (HPV). This is a one-time series of three doses recommended for females age 26 or younger, males age 21 or younger and males age 26 or younger who have weakened immune systems or have sex with men.
• Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR). Adults born in the United States in 1957 or later who have not received the MMR vaccine should get one. In most cases, one dose suffices, but sometimes two doses are necessary.
• Pneumococcal (pneumonia, meningitis). Adults 65 and older are advised to get two pneumococcal vaccines.
• Adults 60 and older are advised to get this one-time vaccine.
• Varicella (chickenpox). Adults born in the United States in 1980 or later who never had the disease or never had two doses of the vaccine.

 

The CDC recommends the following vaccines based on health conditions, lifestyle or jobs:

	Hepatitis A Series	Hepatitis B Series	Meningococcal	Pneumococcal polysaccharide	Pneumococcal conjugate and polysaccharide
Weakened immune system				X	X
HIV		X		X	X
No spleen or poorly function-ing spleen			X	X	X
Heart disease				X
Chronic lung disease				X
Diabetes Type 1 and Type 2		X		X
Chronic kidney disease or failure		X		X
Chronic liver disease	X	X		X
Chronic alcohol-ism				X
Men who have sex with men	X	X
College freshmen living in residence halls			X

Each year, thousands of adults in the United States are hospitalized and even die from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines. Yet, in 2012, only 14 percent of adults 19 years and older received a Tdap vaccination, and only 20 percent of adults 19 to 64 years at high risk received a pneumococcal vaccination, according to NPHIC. Although adults believe in the value of immunization, they do not always realize they require them.

Sales reps, you can do yourselves a favor by checking the status of your immunization record to see if you are current. Then, check in with your customers to see how you can help them bring their adult patients up to speed as well.