I applaud Dr. Linwood Watson for his creativity in encouraging his patients to get a pneumococcal vaccination [Practice Pearls, “Explain the benefits of pneumonia immunization,” September 2006]. His metaphor of buying 23 things with a dollar is simple and convincing, and it is an excellent way of promoting this important immunization. We should follow Dr. Watson’s example and come up with similar metaphors for other vaccinations as well. I believe that the better arguments we can find to promote vaccinations, the greater immunization coverage we can achieve among patients of all literacy levels. This would bring us closer to our goal to protect the general public from serious infectious diseases.
Explaining the benefits of vaccinations
Christian T.K.-H. Stadtländer, PhD, MPH, MBA
FPM. 2006;13(9):24.
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