School-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) increased seasonal influenza vaccination rates countywide and in both suburban and urban settings, a study found.
“Schools have a stake in influenza vaccination because immunization of schoolchildren can reduce absenteeism throughout the community. Nevertheless, only 6% of childhood influenza vaccinations occur at school. SLIV poses logistical challenges: obtaining parental consent, ordering and administering vaccine, and billing,” said Peter G. Szilagyi, MD, of Mattel Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, and his associates.
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From 2014 to 2015, 44 elementary schools were randomized in upstate New York in an organized cluster-randomized trial in which 19,776 children were eligible candidates. Seven percent of SLIV school students, 5% of suburban SLIV school students, and 9% of urban SLIV students were vaccinated at SLIV clinics. Children in SLIV schools had higher flu vaccination rates than did children in control schools countywide (54% vs. 47%, P less than .001) and in suburban (62% vs. 54%, P less than .001) and urban schools (44% vs. 39%; P less than .001).
SLIV did substitute for vaccination for urban settings serving more Vaccines for Children–covered students, but did not substitute for practice-based vaccination in the suburbs, where pediatricians often preorder influenza vaccine.
“SLIV, using Web-based consent, is a potential strategy to improve influenza vaccination coverage among large populations of children,” the researchers concluded.
Read the full story here: Pediatrics. 2016. doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-1746.