To Boost Adult Vaccinations, Empower Pharmacists

If recent events have taught us one thing, it is that vaccines are a critical tool to help combat today’s public health challenges and prevent those yet to come.

The recent drop in pediatric vaccination rates has led to a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles. Meanwhile, the coronavirus outbreak shows us that when pandemics occur, our health care system needs to have a way to quickly react and get preventative treatments to a broad population in a timely manner. 

It was not so long ago, and certainly within the memory of many older Americans, when the fear and uncertainty we are experiencing today with coronavirus were much more common. Before the advent of vaccines for a vast number of diseases, it was not uncommon for people to know friends and family members who had contracted measles, mumps, rubella or polio. Families routinely had to deal with the impact of these diseases on everyday life and, more significantly, manage life-long disabilities like loss of vision, hearing or mobility.

There are scores of studies on the positive impact that vaccination has had on public health. In addition, vaccines are one of the most cost-beneficial interventions in health care. It is estimated that caring for unvaccinated adults costs the U.S. health care system approximately $7 billion per year.

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