In an interview on vaccine recommendations, health care professionals expressed growing concerns about the changing landscape of medical information dissemination. Laura Knockel, PharmD, BCACP, clinical associate professor at Iowa College of Pharmacy, emphasized the critical importance of relying on professional organizations and trusted health care providers for accurate vaccine information, stressing the rigorous safety testing of vaccines and the potential risks of misinformation. She warned that changes in vaccine recommendations could impact insurance coverage, patient access, and ultimately public health, particularly for vulnerable populations like low-income children. Further, she underscored the need for continued patient education, transparent communication, and a commitment to evidence-based medical guidance in an increasingly complex health care environment.
Health care professionals emphasize patient education and reliable information in the evolving vaccine recommendation landscape. | Image Credit: Ruan Jordaan/peopleimages.com – stock.adobe.com
Drug Topics®: How will the trust of federal health entities be impacted for health care providers?
Laura Knockel, PharmD, BCACP: I think health care providers are going to struggle with where to go for accurate information. The first place we always looked was the CDC and the ACIP pages for that accurate information, but if we think just recently the COVID-19 recommendations changed, it was by done by a couple individuals on a video via a social media post rather than the traditional committee discussion, very transparent decision, and I’m really kind of concerned that that’s going to continue that way. So we need to find where to go to get that actual, accurate information. So I think leaning on professional organizations, the American Academy of Pediatrics [and] Infectious Diseases Society of America, are 2 good examples. A lot of these organizations have started to bulk up their vaccine resources or create specific vaccine resources for their clients, and it does seem to be accessible to the public. There may be some things behind a firewall, but I do think that their concern for getting out that correct, accurate, evidence-based recommendation is overriding their want to have it for their members only. So I really think that’s going to be one of the places that I’m going to lean on are those organizations.
Drug Topics: How can a pharmacist explain these changes to a patient worried about vaccine safety, especially if they heard conflicting messages?
Knockel: I’m encouraging patients to talk to trusted health care professionals and to not get their advice from social media or the internet or other strangers, focusing on the fact that vaccines have been studied before, during, and after FDA approval. I mean, they’re more rigorously tested than any other medications because we give them to healthy people, so we have a very, very low tolerance for risk for adverse events. So just really focusing on the fact that our vaccine safety program in the US is very robust even after FDA approval, and so hopefully that will help override some of the conflicting messages that they may be hearing.
Drug Topics: How do ACIP recommendations affect broader aspects of vaccine access and utilization, such as insurance reimbursement or public health programs?
Knockel: So right now, insurers are required to provide ACIP recommended vaccines at no cost to their patients, but if we narrow or remove a vaccine recommendation, that could lead to patients having to pay out of pocket for vaccines, which can cost hundreds of dollars per vaccine, and if a vaccine isn’t covered by insurance, a patient may be less likely to receive it. So if there’s not that demand from patients to have it, manufacturers may choose to stop making that vaccine, and so there’s just a real, huge vaccine access issue there if they aren’t even making the vaccine anymore, more of a public health look. If we look at Vaccines for Children, or VFC, it’s a federal program that provides free vaccines to low-income, underinsured children, and the ACIP specifically makes recommendations, and they vote on what vaccines should be covered by this VFC program. So if they change their recommendations for that, that’s only going to exacerbate these health inequalities that we have. So those are just 2 examples of putting up barriers to vaccination, when really we should be doing the opposite, making them more accessible and making them more convenient for our patients to receive.
Drug Topics: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Knockel: I guess my one piece would be what’s happening with vaccine policy at the federal level is irresponsible at best, and I would say extremely dangerous at worst, and can be overwhelming, especially when pharmacists have so many other demands on their time to try to keep track of all these updates that keep coming out. It’s almost like drinking from a fire hose, but I really think we need to stay up to date. Focus on educating the public and letting the patient, our patients, know the value of vaccines, and hopefully we can continue to keep our patients healthy.
READ MORE: Immunization Resource Center
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