Vaccines & Immunizations Special Report -- AAFP News Now -- American Academy of Family Physicians

Family physicians know all too well that providing immunizations to their patients is an expensive service. That's why FPs -- especially those who are running solo and small practices -- need to make sure they have explored every avenue to reduce their immunization costs. More

One way to increase immunization rates in the United States is via physician participation in state and regional immunization registries. However, although nearly three-quarters of physicians who practice in the public sector participated in these programs in 2008, only about one-third of private practice physicians participated. More

Tetanus, diphtheria toxoids and acellular pertussis, or Tdap, vaccine is recommended for all 11- and 12-year-olds, but only 30.4 percent of eligible American adolescents received the combination vaccine in 2007, according to the CDC. More

Although immunization rates among infants and young children are at an all-time high, some parents are reluctant to vaccinate their children. According to CDC immunization experts, however, family physicians are in a prime position to educate reluctant parents because of their ongoing relationships. More

Health care workers play a vital role in providing influenza vaccinations, but too many of those workers don't protect themselves, their patients and their co-workers from a disease that kills an average of 36,000 Americans a year. More

It has been five years since the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, recommended that all women who are pregnant -- and those who may become pregnant -- during influenza season should be vaccinated against the illness. Yet immunization rates for this high-risk group remain alarmingly low. More

Located in a state with one of the lowest immunizations rates in the country, the Oregon Health & Science University family medicine residency program in Portland has its work cut out for it. Its 36 physicians-in-training learn strategies that help them talk to parents about immunizations, educate parents about the need for immunizations and make immunizations part of each patient visit. More

Children and teenagers are the two population groups most at risk from an expected resurgence of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection this fall. Because of this risk, the federal government is making plans to distribute, through schools and daycare centers, a vaccine against the virus as soon as it becomes available, according to health care experts and Obama administration officials who spoke during a July 9 H1N1 Influenza Preparedness summit at NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Md. More