摘要：Objectives. We determined the success of the school-located vaccination (SLV) program, implemented in 2009 in New York City to deliver pandemic influenza A (H1N1) monovalent vaccine (pH1N1), versus provider offices in reaching children who had never previously received influenza vaccine. Methods. We compared the immunization history of children vaccinated in school versus provider offices. We included records in the Citywide Immunization Registry with pH1N1 administered between October 2009 and March 2010 to elementary school-aged children. Results. In total, 96 524 children received pH1N1 vaccine in schools, and 102 933 children received pH1N1 vaccine in provider offices. Of children vaccinated in schools, 34% had never received seasonal influenza vaccination in the past, compared with only 10% of children vaccinated at provider offices ( P < .001). Children vaccinated in schools were more likely to have received a second dose of pH1N1 in 2009–2010 than those vaccinated in provider offices (80% vs 45%). Conclusions. The SLV program was more successful at reaching children who had never received influenza immunization in the past and should be considered as a strategy for delivering influenza vaccine in routine and emergency situations. Improving vaccination coverage in children may lead to decreased morbidity and mortality in the general population, including decreasing influenza deaths and illness in adults. 1–4 In 2006, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended influenza vaccine for healthy children aged 6 months to 4 years 5 and expanded their recommendation in subsequent years to include children aged 5 to 18 years. 6 The goal of vaccinating all children annually raises a significant operational question of how to target children most effectively. Pediatricians provide the majority of immunizations given to children. However, after the 4- to 6-year-old well child visits, children may not visit medical providers regularly. School-located vaccination (SLV) offers a convenient alternative because it reaches the majority of children regardless of their access to medical care, 7 and schools have been successfully used for hepatitis B vaccination administration in the past. 8,9 SLV also offers parents the convenience of not having to make a trip to the provider’s office or even be present. Jurisdictions such as Hawaii have routinely offered influenza vaccine through schools and have achieved vaccination rates as high as 46% in children aged 5 to 13 years. 10 Despite the potential advantages of SLV, to our knowledge, whether it successfully reaches children who otherwise would have gone unvaccinated is unknown. We examined this issue in New York City (NYC) in 2009 when the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene offered pandemic influenza A (H1N1) monovalent vaccine (pH1N1) through an elementary school–located campaign. During this influenza season, because of a late-emerging strain of novel H1N1, pH1N1 vaccine was developed and offered separately from routine seasonal influenza vaccination. Using data on pH1N1 vaccination from the Citywide Immunization Registry (CIR), the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Immunization Information System, we compared the demographic characteristics and immunization history of children vaccinated through the SLV campaign with those of children vaccinated in medical provider offices. We examined the proportion of children in each setting for whom the pH1N1 vaccine was the first influenza vaccine ever received to determine the potential for SLV programs to effectively reach children who have not previously received an influenza vaccination and who therefore might be unlikely to get vaccinated in the current season as well. We also predicted the probability of being vaccinated at schools controlling for demographic characteristics and immunization history.
