Influenza Vaccine Interim Recommendation  

 December 17, 2004

MWWR Publication

On December 17, 2004 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a press release announcing the following two outcomes from the ACIP vote:

Changes to the CDC interim recommendations:
Effective January 3rd, in locations where state and local health authorities judge vaccine supply to be adequate to meet demand, the priority groups for inactivated influenza vaccine will expand to include adults age 50-64 and out-of-home caregivers and household contacts of any persons in high-risk groups.

Expansion of the Vaccine For Children (VFC) Doses
The ACIP passed a resolution for the Vaccines for Children program that expands the groups of eligible children to receive VFC influenza vaccine to include VFC-eligible children who are household contacts of any persons in high-risk groups.

Estimated Influenza Vaccination Coverage Among Adults and Children - December 17, 2004 MMWR
Influenza vaccination coverage estimates for September 1-December 11 from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) suggest that adults and children in influenza vaccine priority groups are receiving vaccine at higher rates than persons in non-priority groups during the 2004-05 season.

However, according to the CDC these early estimates of vaccine coverage are well below the vaccination rates for the full 2003-04 season for these priority groups. 

Below you will find the current vaccination rates for selected high-risk priority groups.

Pediatrics-

?       6-23 month old children: 36.6% vaccinated
?     2-17 year old children with underlying high-risk condition: 26.8% vaccinated
Please note that 64% of parents who did not get their child vaccinated indicated they thought the vaccine was not needed!

Adult-

?       Adults in all priority groups: 34.8% vaccinated

o       Persons >65 years: 51.1% vaccinated
o       Health-care workers with patient contact: 34.2% vaccinated
o       Adults 18-64 with high risk condition: 19.3% vaccinated

Clearly, this represents an opportunity to continue to educate the importance of extending vaccination campaigns   beyond November & December.  For the past 28 years the peak incidence of influenza occurred in February or later.