Vaccine coverage gap

August 3, 2023

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine last week about under-vaccination among those without health insurance. I read this chart, and also see a large opportunity to increase vaccination rates in the insured population, too! 

Source: Wallender, E et al NEJM July 20, 2023 LINK

For instance, influenza causes widespread illness each fall and winter. Many miss work. But only half of insured adults get an influenza vaccine. Shingles, a recurrence of the virus which causes chickenpox, causes nerve pain so bad that some need narcotics. But only a third of the eligible adults (those over 50) have had the herpes zoster (shingles) vaccine.  Human papilloma virus (HPV) causes genital warts and cervical cancer, as well as head and neck cancers later in life. Those under 26 should get vaccinated, but only 55% of young women and 30% of young men have been vaccinated.

Vaccines allow our natural immune system to better fight off serious diseases. Diseases like measles, smallpox and polio are no longer a societal scourge because of vaccines. We can certainly do better than we are currently doing at protecting adults from entirely preventable diseases.

Implications for employers:

• Employers can educate employees that preventive vaccines are covered without cost sharing, as they are recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force.

  • Vaccinations can now be obtained at local pharmacies, so don’t even require an office visit.

Employers can seek reporting from their health plan carriers on both vaccinations paid for and on efforts to improve vaccination rates among plan members