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Background: While the recent introduction of MCV4, Tdap, and HPV vaccines, and their subsequent recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), provides an important opportunity to protect adolescents from serious diseases, it also requires new and expanded outreach to ensure their uptake.
Objectives: To describe the activities undertaken by the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) to promote the uptake of new adolescent vaccines and the use of the use of the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR) among adolescent providers.
Methods: Data were pulled from MCIR, using census 2008 population estimates as the denominator and compared to NIS-Teen 2008.
Results: New initiatives undertaken to develop an adolescent immunization program include the Adolescent Immunization Conference and Webcast, and an adolescent immunization web page. Partnership-building with traditional and non-traditional vaccinators, including the Alliance for Immunization in Michigan, the Michigan High School Athletic Association, the Michigan Cancer Consortium, HIV and STD partners, family planning clinics, and juvenile detention centers, among others, is needed to promote both adolescent vaccines and MCIR. Current coverage of the adolescent vaccines in Michigan are within the confidence limits of 2008 NIS-Teen estimates for the state, but have lagged behind. Only 1% of the MCV4, Tdap, and HPV4/2 doses in MCIR that have been given to 11 through 18 year-olds were reported by College / University Health Centers, Ob/Gyn Practices, Teen Health Centers, and Family Planning Clinics.
Conclusions: Much work needs to be done in the area of partnership-building in order to best maximize the number of adolescents that are reached and to promote reporting of administered vaccines to MCIR. Recent legislation passed on new school immunization requirements for Tdap, MCV4, and a second dose of Varicella vaccine will likely increase reporting in the MCIR.