Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Immunization

Vaccines are recommended for adults on the basis of their age, prior vaccinations, health conditions, lifestyle, occupation, and travel. Reasons for current low levels of vaccination coverage for adult vaccines are multifactorial and include limited awareness among the public about vaccines for adults and gaps in incorporation of regular assessments of vaccine needs and vaccination into routine medical care (1–4). Updated standards for immunization of adults were approved by the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) in September 2013 (5). These standards acknowledge the current low levels of vaccination coverage among adults and the role that all health-care providers, including those who do not offer all recommended adult vaccines in their practices, have in ensuring that their patients are up-to-date on recommended vaccines. NVAC recommends that providers assess vaccination needs for their patients at each visit, recommend needed vaccines, and then, ideally, offer the vaccine or, if the provider does not stock the needed vaccines, refer the patient to a provider who does vaccinate. Vaccinating providers should also ensure that patients and their referring health-care providers have documentation of the vaccination. A recommendation by a patient’s health-care provider for needed vaccines is a strong predictor of patients receiving recommended vaccines (6,7). Other interventions to improve vaccination rates have been summarized in the Community Guid