A Review of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Immunizations for Elderly Adults

Vaccine preventable diseases are responsible for a substantial degree of morbidity in the United States as over 18 million annual cases of vaccine preventable disease occur in the U.S. annually. The morbidity due to vaccine preventable disease is disproportionately borne by adults as over 99% of the deaths due to vaccine preventable diseases occur within adults, and national data indicates that there racial disparities in the receipt of vaccines intended for elderly adults. A literature review was conducted by using the PubMed database to identify research articles that contained information on the vaccination rates among minority populations for selected vaccines intended for use in elderly populations including those for herpes zoster, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B. A total of 22 articles were identified, 8 of which focused on tetanus related vaccines, 2 of which focused on hepatitis related vaccines, and 12 of which focused on herpes zoster. The findings indicate that magnitude of the disparity for the receipt of tetanus and herpes related vaccines is not decreasing over time. Elderly patients having a low awareness of vaccines and suboptimal knowledge for when or if they should receive specific vaccines remains a key contributor to suboptimal vaccination rates. There is an urgent need for more intervention-based studies to enhance the uptake of vaccines within elderly populations, particularly among ethnic minorities where culturally sensitive and tailored messages may be of use.