More older adults received vaccinations for flu, pneumonia and shingles during the first year of the pandemic than in 2019, but gaps remained between older demographic groups.
That’s according to findings published in a September fact sheet by the AARP Public Policy Institute. The authors analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and found “modest increases” for receipt of all three vaccines in 2020.
Flu vaccinations among seniors aged 65 years and older hit 70% that year, reaching a goal set by the Department of Health and Human Services. This was a 1% increase over 2019, and the highest rate since 2010, when H1N1 hit the United States, AARP reported. But white (62%) and Asian (61%) respondents were much more likely to report getting vaccinated that year that Black (52%), Hispanic (50%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (50%) respondents.
The disparities followed a similar pattern for the shingles vaccine, with whites and Asians aged 50 years and older more likely to receive a shot than the other groups. In contrast, American Indian and Alaska Native seniors had the highest pneumonia vaccination rates, at 47%, followed by white and Black older adults at 46% and 32%, respectively. Asian and Hispanic older adults had the lowest rates, at 30% and 25%.
Barriers to vaccination
Factors that continue to prevent more older adults from receiving ACIP-recommended vaccines include barriers to accessing healthcare providers and negative attitudes toward vaccines, the researchers reported.
Cost can also be a barrier, as has been documented for the shingles vaccine, Shingrix. That drug is covered under Medicare Part D with cost sharing dependent on the enrollee’s prescription drug plan. (That will change in 2023, when cost sharing for the shingles vaccine and other ACIP-recommended Part D vaccines will be eliminated under the Inflation Reduction Act, AARP further reported.)
Influenza and pneumonia vaccines, meanwhile, are covered under Medicare Part B with no cost sharing, the authors noted.
Meanwhile, flu vaccination rates have continued to rise among seniors. The AARP reported that adults aged 65 and older had achieved a rate of 75% by May 2021.
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