Primary care physician perspectives on providing adult vaccines

Recently, several new vaccines have been recommended for adults. Little is known regarding the immunization purchase and stocking practices of adult primary care physicians. To determine the proportion of family practice and internal medicine physicians who routinely stock specific adult vaccines and their rationale for those decisions, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in 2009 of a national random sample of 993 family physicians (FPs) and 997 general internists (IMs) in the US. Of the 1109 respondents, 886 reported that they provide primary care to adults aged 19-64 years and 96% of these physicians stock at least one vaccine recommended for adults. Of those, 2% plan to stop and 12% plan to increase vaccine purchases; the rest plan to maintain status quo. Of the respondents, 27% (31% FPs vs 20% IMs) stocked all adult vaccines. We conclude that many primary care physicians who provide care to adults do not stock all recommended immunizations. Efforts to improve adult immunization rates must address this fundamental issue.