Improving Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Among Children with Special Health Care Needs and Adults with Disabilities

Background: Children with special health care needs, pregnant women, and adults with disabilities (target populations) are at an increased risk for severe outcomes associated with seasonal influenza illness. The National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supported the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) between October 2013 and June 2014 to develop strategies to enhance protection of people within these target populations against influenza.

Program background: To increase ability of local health departments (LHDs) to provide education and increase vaccination rates among the target populations, NACCHO engaged in two major activities. NACCHO’s goal is to identify the tools that can create a concerted campaign to improve seasonal influenza vaccination among the target populations.

Evaluation Methods and Results: First, NACCHO conducted an environmental scan to identify existing practices and educational materials, tools, and resources promoting seasonal influenza vaccination among the target populations. NACCHO’s goal was to identify the tools that can create a concerted campaign to promote influenza vaccination among the target populations. Second, NACCHO conducted key informant interviews with LHDs and had informal conversations with health care and insurance providers to identify current mechanisms for collecting and reporting influenza vaccinations for the target populations. From these interviews, NACCHO will make recommendations on strategies to be considered or developed to better track seasonal influenza vaccination rates among the target populations.  NACCHO will then disseminate information to LHDs to improve their ability to provide educational outreach to target populations and conduct surveillance activities tracking seasonal influenza vaccinations in these populations. Full results will be available at the time of the conference. Preliminary results indicate that campaigns are frequently not complete and may not be widely used. Many insurance providers’ seasonal influenza vaccination campaigns are not conducted in a way that is deliberately accessible to or targeted towards our target populations. Our initial findings indicate that there is minimal surveillance of seasonal influenza vaccination rates among these populations.

Conclusions: NACCHO and the CDC can work together to increase availability of seasonal influenza campaign materials directed towards and accessible to the target populations. In addition, NACCHO and CDC can work together to develop surveillance strategies and mechanisms to adequately track the number of people in the target populations who receive seasonal influenza vaccination.

Implications for research and/or practice: This program could lead to more accessible and targeted materials, which can pave the way towards increased seasonal influenza vaccination rates among these target populations who are at an increased risk for morbidities and hospitalizations related to seasonal influenza. Improving the uptake of annual seasonal influenza vaccinations may also increase the likelihood of greater acceptance of influenza vaccinations during pandemic times as well.