Routine Vaccination Rates in Teens and Adults Continue to Lag Behind Pre-Pandemic Levels, Follow-up Analysis Shows
January 21 2022 - 9:22AM
Business Wire
- The pandemic continues to negatively impact routine
immunizations in the United States
- Cumulatively, from January 2020–July 2021, teens and adults may
have missed an estimated 37.1 million doses of recommended vaccines
compared to 2019
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recommended
vaccinations for teens and adults continued to lag in 2020 and into
the summer of 2021, according to a follow-up claims analysis
commissioned by GSK and conducted by Avalere Health, an Inovalon
company. This assessment follows two previous reports tracking the
pandemic’s significant effect on routine vaccination.
Key findings include:
- From January 2020-July 2021, monthly vaccine claims
decreased on average 32% for adults and 36% for adolescents
when compared to the same months in 2019.
- Cumulatively, adults and teens may have missed an estimated
37.1 million doses of recommended vaccines compared to
2019.
“It's very concerning to continue to see millions of missed
CDC-recommended vaccinations among both vulnerable age groups,”
said Barbara Howe, MD, Vice President and Director, Vaccines
Medical and Clinical, US at GSK. “We know the ongoing pandemic
presents challenges to important efforts to catch up and then
exceed pre-pandemic vaccination levels, but we must not become
complacent. Lower vaccination rates cannot become the norm, or we
may find ourselves grappling with a number of public health crises
for diseases that could have been prevented.”
The latest analysis was conducted as follow-up to a series of
analyses in February and June 2021 that found persistent and
sometimes steep declines in vaccination claims for CDC-recommended
teen and adult vaccines since the start of the pandemic. The
analysis compared claims for CDC-recommended vaccines across
commercial, managed Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare
fee-for-service Part B for December 2020–July 2021 compared to the
same months in 2019.
“In the US, the pandemic has elevated the value, impact and
understanding of vaccines in helping to prevent disease and death,
especially in the adult and older adult populations,” said Judy
Stewart, GSK Senior Vice President and Head of US Vaccines. “We
must not lose sight of the longstanding recommendations for routine
vaccines across all age groups that are often underutilized,
leading to significant medical, economic and societal costs that
could otherwise be prevented by timely vaccination.”
The CDC recommends vaccines to protect teens against certain
types of meningitis and HPV, and adults against pneumonia,
shingles, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B, among others. Diphtheria,
tetanus, pertussis (Tdap) vaccine and an annual influenza shot are
recommended for both teens and adults. In May of 2021, the CDC
issued guidance that COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines can be
administered to people on the same day.
Study Methodology
The methodology employed is consistent with the previously
reported analysis. Avalere analyzed changes in administration of
ACIP-recommended adult (≥19 years of age) and adolescent (7-18
years of age) vaccines using pre-adjudicated medical benefit
Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) claims and the Inovalon MORE2
Registry®, a large scale, real-world dataset consisting of medical,
pharmacy, and lab claims and clinical data on more than 338 million
de-identified patients.
Specifically, vaccines were identified using Current Procedural
Terminology (CPT) and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System
(HCPCS) for vaccine products, general vaccine administration HCPCS
codes and National Drug Codes (NDCs) when product codes were not
available. Avalere compared vaccine claims in 2020 and 2021 to
vaccine claims in 2019 to identify the potential impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on vaccine administration.
Claims for nearly all vaccines covered in this analysis are
observed in the Medicare Part B data. While Part D claims were not
included in the analysis of FFS Medicare claims, some claims for
Part D vaccines that were administered in the provider setting may
have been captured. Due to variability across states in billing
requirements for vaccines provided through the Vaccines for
Children program, this analysis may not fully capture teen vaccine
utilization in the Managed Medicaid market.
To estimate missed doses at a national level, Avalere used a
market-specific, rate-based methodology to extrapolate the number
of vaccine claims to the national population. The 2019 claims-based
vaccination rate applied to the national sample was considered the
baseline for vaccination volumes, and missed doses were estimated
as a difference between the baseline and the 2020 and 2021
claims-based rate applied to the 2020 and 2021 national population
estimates.
About GSK
GSK is a science-led global healthcare company. For further
information please visit www.gsk.com/about-us.
Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking
statements
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or
projections made by GSK, including those made in this announcement,
are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual
results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors
include, but are not limited to, those described in the Company's
Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2020, GSK’s Q3 Results and any
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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