Most U.S. adults favor immunization, yet 40% need more vaccination information, survey says

Most adults – 71% – believe it's important to be up-to-date on immunizations to be healthy, but that isn't reflected in the number of adults who actually get vaccinated, according to a new Walgreens Immunization Index study.The largest motivator to get vaccinated is the occurrence of an outbreak in their community, according to 60% of the adults (n=600) surveyed in the study.

More than 40% of adults don't know which immunizations they could need, according to a Walgreens press release.

"This reinforces the need for adults to have a regular dialogue with a doctor, pharmacist, nurse practitioner or other clinician, regardless of their health condition," said Kermit Crawford, Walgreens president of pharmacy, health and wellness.

Although more than 29,000 cases of whooping cough have been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through Sept. 20, which is 10,000 more cases than all of 2011, only 55% of adults said they would be very likely to be vaccinated if it was recommended, the study says.

Most adults, 51%, get their health information from doctors and nurses, while 42% get their information from the internet and 8% from newspapers and television, the study reports.

The phone survey was conducted by Directions Research Inc. from Aug. 29 – Sept. 5, 2012. All respondents were 18 years and older.

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