Recommending vaccination - general practice intervention with new parents

Parents can be the source of vaccine preventable diseases that their children contract. The vaccination status of parents may not be readily available, and uptake rates are affected by factors such as complexity of vaccination schedules, personal perception of risks, and physician recommendation.

Parents at eight general practices in North Queensland had immunisation histories recorded and vaccine recommendations made when they brought in their infants for vaccination. They were followed up by practice nurses after 2 months. This article describes parental immunisation status at eight general practices and examines whether parents in these clinics acted on recommendations for vaccination.

Vaccination was recommended for 66.1% of parents. Of these parents, 53% complied, resulting in improved up-to-date vaccination status from 33.9-68.9% (p<0.0001).

Taking an immunisation history from parents and recommending specific vaccinations to them is likely to be a worthwhile intervention to add to general practice consultations for childhood vaccinations. Trialling this intervention in a broader cross section of general practices would be a useful next step.