Facts and Feelings about Disease Prevention and Health Promotion - Immunization Against Disease

One of the most powerful primary prevention measures available is immunization against infectious diseases. Immunization rates are leading health indicators for the assessment of the health status of a country, city, ethnic group, or other population.

Childhood Immunizations

Diseases that used to kill or disable many thousands of children, such as mumps, measles, diphtheria, and poliomyelitis, now are preventable through immunizations. Polio and diphtheria, two diseases that once struck terror in the hearts of parents, have been virtually eliminated. The Childhood Immunization Initiative is a proven FIGURE 10.2
Percent distribution of respondent-assessed health status, for all ages, by sex, January–June 2003 national strategy to achieve high vaccination levels among children during their first two years of life. The very success of the nation's immunization efforts since the 1960s, however, has given some parents a false sense of security and made them feel that having their children vaccinated is not a critical priority. If immunization rates decline, however, these dreaded diseases could become active again.

Figure 10.6 shows the gains made in the percentage of children ages nineteen to thirty-five months who have been immunized against diphtheria, measles, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, and tetanus. By 2001, 77 percent of all children had received the recommended vaccines, often called the 4:3:1:3 series. About 93 percent of children had received haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) immunizations, and 76 percent were immunized against varicella (chicken pox).

In December 2002 the American Academy of Pediatrics announced a change in their recommendations for who should receive vaccination against influenza. They reported that young, healthy children are at high risk of hospitalization for influenza infection; therefore, healthy children between six and twenty-four months of age, household contacts and out-of-home caregivers of all children younger than twenty-four months of age, and health care professionals should receive the flu vaccine. However, during the flu season FIGURE 10.3
Percent of persons who assessed their own health as being excellent or very good, by age group and sex, January–June 2003 of 2003 to 2004 an unusually high demand led to a shortage of the flu vaccine.

Adult Immunizations

Annual immunization against influenza is not strongly recommended for healthy young adults; however, it is advised for older adults. Of older adults (age sixty-five and older) who responded to the National Health Interview Survey, nearly two-thirds reported receiving immunization against influenza from 1997 to 2002. The slight decline observed between 2000 and 2001 was the result of delayed availability of the influenza vaccine. (See Table 10.1.)

Figure 10.7 shows that from January through June 2003 more than half of the survey respondents age sixty-five and older reported ever receiving pneumococcal vaccine. These rates of immunization have steadily increased since 1997 from 42.4 percent to 56 percent in 2002.