April 10, 2017 – Adult Shots

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Anchor lead: Too many adults aren’t up to date on immunizations, Elizabeth Tracey reports

While most children are up to date on many immunizations, a distressingly large number of adults are not, a recent study found. Patricia Davidson, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, describes the findings.

Davidson: Rates of immunization in older adults were much lower than what we would expect. That’s across a range of conditions, in particular whooping cough, tetanus. The other issue that article called into play was this responsibility of healthcare workers to be immunized. I do remember the phrase of healthcare workers as vectors of disease and so we have to take seriously our responsibility to make sure our immunization is up to date.  :31

Davidson notes that many so-called childhood diseases preventable by vaccines are much more severe and harder to diagnose when adults get them, and that those who are undergoing chemotherapy or are otherwise immunosuppressed are very susceptible, so everyone should be vaccinated. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.