Adult Vaccination
Vaccination is an exercise that has been practiced for decades and is considered as an efficient way of managing communicable diseases. Adult vaccination has significant impacts on enhancing public health as it reduces health complications or deaths from infectious (Tan, 2015). However, most people do not appreciate the need for adult vaccination, an aspect that has led to low rates of adult immunization. This paper evaluates adult vaccination as a health care policy by discussing why the issue is gaining attention from different decision makers across the globe. The study further reveals on the right approach to utilize on addressing this issue.
Why it is a concern
Vaccination is a vital public health tool for adults and children, and has been found to be cost-effective in public health promotion and disease prevention. Adult Vaccination plays major roles in society, and has for long reduced spread of diseases, disabilities, and deaths among adults. According to Tan (2015), adult vaccination is used for the purpose of disease control and prevention through recommended programs to reach target population in the society. Besides, the concept has been found to be effective in controlling or eliminating severe infections such as measles, small pox, and polio.
Each year, thousands of people (adults) die from vaccine-preventable diseases across the globe, an aspect that leads to economic burdens in the society (Dyda et al., 2016). Adult vaccination is a concern for policy makers as it influences the well-being of individuals and economic growth of a country. Therefore, policy makers have to make informed decisions on the issue to enhance the quality of public health as far as management of communicable diseases is concerned.
Immunization rate among adults remains low, and is faced with a lot of challenges, despite the fact that it is a primary prevention approach. In the US for instance, despite the improved health system, there is a huge gap amid the national adult immunization goals and the actual statistics. Embracing effective strategies will contribute to reduced gap as more adults will be willing to be immunized.
The approach will not only enhance adult immunization but also reduce morbidity, mortality and health care costs (Johnson & Garcia, 2015). However, to achieve this objective, different health stakeholders should be engaged to appreciate the health benefits realized from improved adult immunization program. Failure to immunize people impacts negatively on a country's growth as it is a health burden to the public. This is because most people are left with chronic disease conditions that are difficult to manage; as such infections require complex and costly care.
It is imperative to note that there are many barriers to enhancing the use of adult vaccination among people. The low rates of vaccination indicate the existence of limited public and provider knowledge on the issue of immunization. Other issues include existence of different economic constraints and infrastructure to support the program. Adult immunization is undervalued by the public and healthcare providers as very little information is known about its benefit.
Available options
Policy makers in response have considered different approaches to address the concern in societies, which include modifying the exceptions. The first approach is to eliminate the personal-belief exceptions concerning religious and cultural exceptions. The move is understood to contribute to decreased incident of exemption rates which has proved to be a real challenge.
Furthermore, people wishing to exempt themselves from the vaccination should be made aware of the implication of their decision. The reform includes engaging in broad consultation with health practitioners or other stakeholders who are more informed on the matter. The approach makes people consider the negative impact experienced by unvaccinated individuals in the community, hence a significant way of reducing the number of exempts in the society.
Another approach is creating increased awareness on the benefits of adult vaccination to overcome cases of undervaluation. The approach can be accomplished with input from different stakeholders who should make people understand why they need vaccination. This will help eliminate any aspects of undervaluation among the public and providers who feel that vaccinating adults has no significance. The campaign should target employers to ensure that their employees have been vaccinated as the concept has a significant impact on the organizational performance.
The approach of creating increased awareness is more effective, and it is the most preferred by most stakeholders as people are made aware of the numerous benefits of the concept. Moreover, the concept makes the public and providers to take responsibility in making people understand and appreciate ways that can enhance adult immunization in the society. The fist approach of reducing personal-belief exceptions should not be advocated as it infringes people from exercising their rights. Some people should be exempted from immunization process on health grounds or because of their beliefs which are against the practice. However, the government should ensure that such individuals are informed about the consequences of making such decisions by understanding the implication of their choice.
Policy/ Political Analysis
Policy analysts have the mandate of enforcing laws that are in line with meeting the set needs of the society. Therefore, to address the issue of adult vaccination, they will consider implementing an approach that overcomes the various barriers to adult immunization. The approach should make people appreciate the role played by adult vaccination, enhance access to the vaccines and lower cost for the product to allow more people to afford the vaccines. Concerned organizations should increase access by providing cost-free immunization programs for the recommended adult vaccines. Organizations should consider that all of their employees are insured to increase immunization rates among adults in the society.
There are various barriers to adult immunization and through more research; the limitations can be eliminated more efficiently. Most organizations have therefore sought new developments to reduce the issue of administrative burden on the various providers. This includes changing the way that adult vaccination is administered and offer new solutions which are more appealing to both the public and providers (Harris, 2012). Therefore, it is important for governments to support different studies on vaccines to come up with new vaccines or techniques to address the issue.
Opinion
Based on the study, the low rates of adult immunization is because of undervaluation of the practice in most societies. Both the public and providers do not see the significant contribution of the program among adults. However, enhancing adult immunization will reduce health issues realized from communicable diseases which can be controlled by the immunization process (Slike, 2016). In my opinion, the government should advise policy makers to create increased awareness campaigns to support adult immunization among people. The campaign should be based on the benefits of using the vaccine and how it impacts to our health and economic well-being. Therefore, it is important for the policy makers to intensify strategies through which they can enhance access to adult vaccination which is considered costly. This includes making it a policy for health insurance to account for such programs and making the services available to people.
Conclusion
Adult vaccination is an aspect that has attracted a lot of concern from different stakeholders in the recent past. The practice has a tremendous potential to reduce health costs and unnecessary deaths that are realized from preventable infections which can be eliminated by engaging in adult immunization. Therefore, to resolve policy issues in adult vaccination, governments should focus on addressing the following issues;
Eliminate aspects of undervaluation of adult vaccination by engaging awareness campaign in the society.
Make it is possible for people to access adult vaccines offered by different providers through a proper policy plan that should be embraced by different organizations.
Providing quality care is the priority for any organization, an aspect that calls for health practitioners to take an active role in administering the adult vaccination. Because primary care is considered as an ideal place where the vaccines are administered, physicians in such organization should enlighten their patients on the benefits of adult immunization. Policy makers have essential roles in enhancing appreciation of adult vaccination among various stakeholders.
References
Dyda, A., Karki, S., Hayen, A., MacIntyre, C. R., Menzies, R., Banks, E., & Liu, B. (2016). Influenza and pneumococcal vaccination in Australian adults: a systematic review of coverage and factors associated with uptake. BMC Infectious Diseases, 16(1), 515.
Harris, K. M. (2012). A Blueprint for Improving the Promotion and Delivery of Adult Vaccination in the United States. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
Johnson, T., & Garcia, A. (2015, December 1). Immunizations policy issues overview. Retrieved January 13, 2017, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/immunizations-policy-issues-overview.aspx
Slike, B. M., Creegan, M., Marovich, M., & Ngauy, V. (2016). Humoral Immunity to Primary Smallpox Vaccination: Impact of Childhood versus Adult Immunization on Vaccinia Vector Vaccine Development in Military Populations. Plos ONE, 12(1), 1-12.
Tan L., (2015). Adult Vaccination: Now is the Time to Realize an Unfulfilled potential. Retrieved on January 12, 2017 from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/21645515.2014.982998
