Boost Your Back-to-School Vaccinations by Up to 30%

August 20, 2024

A new school year means new clothes and shoes—or maybe more use from what a sibling outgrew the previous year. It means new teachers and a seemingly endless list of school supplies. It marks a significant transition for children… and more to-dos for their guardians.

Ensuring those children are up-to-date on vaccinations is an important part of preparing them for a healthy and successful school year. Unfortunately, the complexities of modern life have made it increasingly difficult for parents and relatives to stay on top of childhood vaccinations.

One of the most effective strategies for maintaining public health through disease prevention, childhood vaccines are at risk of becoming another routine task that’s too easily forgotten.

Busy work schedules, ever-growing sources of misinformation, and a non-trivial number of vaccine recommendations make it difficult for parents to keep track of their children’s immunization status. Even a simple sick visit can create a ripple-like effect, leading to missed appointments or incomplete vaccine series.

Addressing these challenges requires healthcare providers to implement strategies to improve vaccine adherence, and ensure their pediatric and adolescent patients are protected against infectious diseases. That’s why we’re exploring the realities preventing patients from completing their scheduled vaccinations, what practices can do to encourage compliance, and reviewing our outreach solution—Vax-to-School!

Vaccine Schedules Are Easy; Patient Schedules Are Not

Immunization schedules for children and adolescents are an increasingly meticulous blueprint designed to maximize safety and protection against vaccine-preventable diseases. Derived through endless research and discussion by our country’s leading physicians, scientists, and other public health professionals.

As a healthcare professional, these schedules are right in your wheelhouse. You know them back-to-front because you have to. And even if you didn’t, repetition alone would be enough. 

Parents, however, have a much harder time of it. Between work, school, and extracurricular activities, it can be difficult for parents to find the time to bring their children in for recommended vaccinations. Add in sick visits, vaccine hesitancy, and other potential disruptors, and it’s easy to see why vaccination rates are as low as they are.

Adhering to these schedules can be challenging due to several factors, including but limited to:

  • Busy Family Schedules: Between work, school, and extracurricular activities, it can be difficult for parents to find the time to bring their children in for recommended vaccinations—and that’s if they don’t get off schedule due to sickness or other circumstances.
  • Vaccine Hesitancy: Misconceptions about vaccine safety can lead to reluctance or refusal to vaccinate without a strong physician recommendation and/or additional patient education. Even previously 
  • Public Health Disruptions: It doesn’t take a pandemic to affect the opportunity for patients to receive the care they need. Even a routine disruption in vaccine availability can lead to significant follow-on delays for physicians and their patients.

These challenges highlight the need for practices to embrace proactive measures to ensure patients receive their scheduled vaccinations.

Streamlining appointment scheduling, focusing on patient education, and effective communication regardless of visit type, practices can continue to play a pivotal role in the health and safety of their community and schools.

Handsfree Patient Outreach for School-Related Vaccines

There’s an easy way to get parents and children back in your office to boost vaccination rates for school and sports-related immunizations.

A parental bandage holds the hand of a child bandage next to the caption Vax to School!
Complimentary for all of our partners, Vax-to-School is a patient outreach program created to support healthcare providers in their battle against vaccine complacency without requiring additional work. 

We developed this program to get patients back into your office and fully vaccinated for school and sports. This is done through proactive, text messages formatted to identify your practice as the sender. VaxCare will handle all the logistics, but the texts will effectively come from your practice.

Key Vax-to-School Features

  • Patient-Centric Communication: Direct-to-patient text messages are sent by VaxCare but identifying your practice with pre-approved and customizable messaging.
  • Built for Efficacy: on behalf of your practice designed to provide clear and concise information about the importance of vaccinations.
  • Privacy and Security: We prioritize patient privacy and adhere to strict data protection standards. No protected health information (PHI) is shared.

We also provide a seasonal webinar that is updated each year to include the latest recommendations and updates, from the ACIP and CDC, regarding co-administration and vaccination timing.

As always, VaxCare has your back. Other resources include:

  • Access to our network and expertise through Q&A
  • Quick tips and short, easy-to-read guides
  • Access to our catalog of evergreen ebooks

Text message to patient reminding them that their child is due for vaccination.

The Impact of Vax-to-School on Immunizations

Studies indicate that patient outreach programs, particularly those that use text-based reminders, are an effective way to improve vaccine adherence for practices of all sizes. 

Sending reminders 72 hours and 24 hours before a scheduled appointment significantly improved the likelihood of successful vaccination. Also mentioning that the shot is reserved for the patient has resulted in an average >20% improvement in vaccination rates.

These findings make it clear that vaccine adherence programs work and effectively improve immunization rates and public health outcomes. Ensuring the children and adolescents protected by your practice are up-to-date on vaccinations helps to keep them happy and focused on education and extracurriculars.

Implementing an outreach program like Vax-to-School improves patient vaccine adherence and sets your practice up to continue making a positive impact and lasting difference.

 

References
[1] (2024, July 30). Immunization in the United States: Recommendations, Barriers, and Measures to Improve Compliance (NIH). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4927017/
[2] (2024, July 30). Reasons to Follow CDC’s Recommended Immunization Schedule (CDC). https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/schedules/reasons-follow-schedule.html
[3] (2024, July 30). A Megastudy of Text-Based Nudges Encouraging Patients to Get Vaccinated at an Upcoming Doctor’s Appointment (PNAS). https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2101165118
[4] (2024, July 30). Declines in Routine Adult and Teen Vaccinations Continued in 2021 (Avalere). https://avalere.com/insights/declines-in-routine-adult-and-teen-vaccinations-continued-in-2021
[5] (2024, July 30). Impact of Routine Childhood Immunization in Reducing Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in the United States (NIH). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35821599/

Additional Resources
For more information on vaccine management and healthcare compliance, including best practices, training opportunities, and relevant updates on immunization programs, we recommend:

World Health Organization (WHO): https://www.who.int/immunization/diseases/en/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/
Immunize.org: https://www.immunize.org/


August 20, 2024