A latest report suggests that if elementary schools start flu vaccination programs then vaccination rates might increase. This could even bring down the cost.
The research was conducted by UC Davis Health System; the Monroe County, N.Y,, Department of Public Health; University of Rochester Medical Center; and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For the study, researchers conducted a trial during late 2009. The trial included 18 urban and 14 suburban elementary schools with more than 13,000 students in the Rochester, N.Y., area.
Of these 21 schools, that included 9,027 children, two had onsite flu vaccination clinics. Other 11 schools, with a total of 4,534 students, were control-group sites with no vaccination clinics.
The researchers then compared the overall flu vaccination rates of children enrolled in all schools included in the study. The results showed a 13.2 percentage point increase in vaccination rates among children with access to school-located vaccination clinics.
The study stated that the per-dose direct cost, $54.26, of onsite school vaccination clinics was-in the first year of the program-higher than the mean, $38.23, or median, $21.44, of the direct cost of flu vaccinations in pediatricians' offices.
Here the cost of administration and obtaining consent from parents drove up the rate.
However, when the analysis considered costs related to taking children to pediatricians' offices for flu vaccines, the per-dose cost reduced to $19.26. It dropped even more with just $3.90 per dose when the second day of the program was excluded.
"Participation in the second clinics was much lower, while administration costs remained the same," said Byung-Kwang Yoo, lead author and an associate professor of public health sciences at UC Davis. "But some children were still vaccinated on the second day, so the team's next goal is to refine operations."
CDC stated that seasonal vaccine is best for 6-month-old children against flu, but still the rates of vaccination among children are low. Only 40 percent of children got a 2012-13 flu vaccine, which is usually provided in any primary care setting.
"Primary care practices may not have the capacity to vaccinate all U.S. children against seasonal influenza," Yoo said. "If the CDC's recommendations were followed, primary care offices would have to accommodate 42 million additional patient visits during the five-month window for each flu season."
According to the CDC, 90 percent of children who died in 2012-13 were not vaccinated for flu. Public health professionals said they make sure to find cost-effective ways to widen access to flu vaccines for children.
"The flu is a disease with high probability of reaching epidemic levels even though we have an effective vaccine," said Yoo. "Our goal is to find ways to ensure that the best prevention is as accessible as possible."
