YALE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 87 (2014), pp.439-446. Copyright © 2014. FOCUS: VACCINES Improving Influenza Vaccination Coverage in the Pediatric Asthma Population: The Case for Combined Methodologies

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends annual influenza vaccine for pediatric asthma patients. Despite considerable risk for influenza complications in pedi-atric asthma patients, including hospitalization and death, influenza vaccination among chil-dren with asthma remains low, especially among low-income pediatric asthma patients. Multiple interventions have been attempted to increase immunization in the pediatric asthma population, including recall and reminders, parent/patient education, and physician educa-tion. More recently, information technology methods have been employed, including elec-tronic alerts and computerized physician order entry/clinical decision support interventions. Each of these interventions, as well as a recent legislative intervention, has evidence of ef-fectiveness, but none achieved the Healthy People 2020 vaccination goals of 80 percent for this population. This goal may be achievable with a combination of these methodologies and strategies that increase access to care for underserved patients