Which Providers Will Influence the Most Vaccinations in 2024

When it comes to the most trusted healthcare providers, pediatricians and pharmacists are at the top of the list. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these main-street professionals played a crucial role in scaling up vaccinations.

A late March 2024 survey confirmed that pediatricians and pharmacists are key influencers regarding respiratory vaccinations, including flu shots.

For example, pharmacies administered about 67% of COVID-19 doses last year.

And for the Fall 2024 season, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children and adolescents receive routine immunizations on time.

The survey's highlighted findings include:

• Parents are more likely to say they haven't had a conversation recently with their pediatrician about the COVID-19 vaccine (23%) than the flu vaccine (14%) or vaccines for other infectious diseases (14%). 
• Half (49%) of parents who have discussed the COVID-19 vaccine recently with their child's pediatrician say this conversation impacted their decision to vaccinate their child. However, this is lower than vaccines for other infectious diseases (59%).  

"The CDC recommends that all children six months through five years of age receive at least one dose of an updated COVID-19 vaccine. When it comes to the best time to vaccinate your child, talk to a healthcare provider you trust," Mitchel Rothholz, RPh, MBA, FAPhA, informed Precision Vaccination News by email on April 29, 2024.

"Vaccinations are important to pediatric healthcare, and vaccine conversations are just as important."

"I am a big believer in collaboration, coordination, and communication among members of the immunization neighborhood."

"Pharmacists and other healthcare team members are happy to help and can discuss any questions or concerns to ensure you feel comfortable about the decisions you're making for your child."

Recently, the Pharmacy Podcast Network hosted a discussion of Pediatric Pharmacists, which discussed why pediatric pharmacists are important and how pediatric patients are a unique entity that requires specialized knowledge.

As healthcare providers prepare to answer next season's vaccination questions, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently offered some clarity.

The WHO determined in late April 2024 that future formulations of COVID-19 vaccines should aim to induce enhanced neutralizing antibody responses to JN.1 and its descendent lineages. And the continued use of the current monovalent XBB. 1.5 formulation will offer people protection.

Furthermore, vaccination programs should continue to use any WHO emergency-use listed or prequalified COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccination should not be delayed in anticipation of access to vaccines with an updated composition.

This March 2024 survey was commissioned by Moderna Inc. and conducted by Morning Consult between 3/15/24 and 3/23/24 among a national sample of 1,449 parents and 100 pediatricians.