最近，来自美国疾病预防与控制中心的资料显示“美国成人的疫苗接种率并不高，如成人的甲肝疫苗接种率约为11%，乙肝疫苗接种率约为42%，女性成人的人乳头状病毒疫苗接种率约为21%。”鉴于成人的疫苗接种率偏低这一事实，专家们提醒应该通过“加强健康教育、改善接种服务和医生及时提醒”等措施来增进成人接种能够预防某些疾病之疫苗的百分率。

不像儿童可以根据年龄来安排疫苗的接种时间，成人接种疫苗有其复杂性，如成人是否接种某种疫苗不仅要查阅他或她在儿童期是否接种某种应该接种的疫苗，还应考虑他或她的职业、旅行计划等？因此，成人接种疫苗需要更为周密的计划，没有按要求预防接种的成人应该尽快与你的家庭医生或社区医生取得联系，以补种应该接种的疫苗。

众所周知，接种疫苗（vaccination）俗称打“预防针”是预防疾病或称健康维护最有效、最简单、最经济的方法，如接种乙肝疫苗可以预防你被感染乙肝，接种人乳头状病毒疫苗可以预防70%左右的宫颈癌等。因此，有条件的成人理应积极参与预防接种，以有利于自己和他人的健康。

Too Few American Adults Getting Needed Vaccinations: CDC

Though three vaccines showed increases in coverage rates, coverage remains low for essential ones

THURSDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Each year, some 45,000 Americans die from diseases that could have been prevented by vaccines, health officials said Thursday.

Despite this, the number of American adults who get needed vaccines remains low, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"There were some modest increases in coverage, but for very few vaccines," said Dr. Carolyn B. Bridges, associate director of adult immunization at the CDC and co-author of the report. "Coverage is much lower than we would like to see it."

The data was published in the Feb. 3 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

According to the report, 2010 (the latest year covered by the report) saw only a small increase in the rate of uptake for just three vaccines.

The rate of the tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccination increased 1.6 percent, to 8.2 percent. Tdap includes protection against pertussis, also known as whooping cough. Among whites aged 60 and older, use of a vaccine that protects against shingles rose more than 5 percent to 16.6 percent.

Among women aged 19-26, those who got at least one dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which protects against about 70 percent of all cervical cancers, increased 3.6 percentage points, to 20.7 percent, the researchers noted.

For other vaccines, rates remained basically the same. For example, among high-risk adults aged 19 to 64, only 18.5 percent received a vaccine that protects against pneumonia. For adults 65 and older, the rate was close to 60 percent overall.

In 2010, the adult vaccination rate for hepatitis A was 10.7 percent and for hepatitis B the vaccination rate was 42 percent, which is about the same as the 2009 estimate, the researchers reported.

Vaccine rates probably remain low for several reasons, Bridges said. "There is not enough information about which vaccines are needed for adults and unlike children, who have regularly scheduled doctors' visits for vaccines, this is not the case for adults," she noted.

Also, vaccines schedules for adults are more complicated, Bridges explained. "They are not just based on age, like most of the pediatric vaccines. Adult vaccines are recommended only for a certain age or if you have a high-risk medical condition or certain occupation or travel. So, it's a little bit complicated."

Some adults may have also missed vaccines during childhood, like the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and should be vaccinated now, Bridges said.

According to the CDC, ways to improve the rate of adult vaccinations include education, better access to vaccines, physician reminders and recall systems.

SOURCES: Carolyn B. Bridges, M.D., associate director, adult immunization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Feb. 3, 2012, CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report