December 2000 • Volume 6 Number 12
Don't forget Vaccine Information Statements
When it comes to certain vaccines, it's the law: Before you administer the shot, you must provide the patient with a Vaccine Information Statement. If you don't and the patient has a serious reaction, you could be accused of failing to obtain informed consent, says Richard Zimmerman, M.D., M.P.H., of Pittsburgh, AAFP's representative to the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The vaccines covered under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act are: tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, Haemophilus influenzae type B, hepatitis B, varicella and pneumococcal conjugate. For those vaccines, it's mandatory to provide the patient -- or the patient's parent or legal representative -- with the appropriate VIS.
The VISs are easily obtainable from the CDC or its Web site. Yet some studies have indicated that nearly a third of physicians may not provide VISs when they administer vaccines covered by the act.
"The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has provided physicians with excellent protection," Zimmerman says. "There are almost no lawsuits in regard to physicians who follow proper vaccination procedures."
VISs also exist for vaccines not covered by the law; physicians are strongly encouraged to use them. And VISs are available in languages other than English.
To ensure that you're using the most current VIS, Zimmerman suggests having your office staff download and print out all VISs early each January.
At http://www.immunize.org/vis/instr00.htm is more information on VIS use. Go to http://www.cdc.gov/nip or http://www.immunize.org and click on "Vaccine Information Statements" to download VISs and print them for use as camera-ready copies. You can order hard copies at http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/ or by calling (800) 232-2522.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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