The Role of Schools in Strengthening Delivery of New Adolescent Vaccinations

Abstract

Schools offer an opportunity to deliver new vaccines to adolescents who may not receive them in their medical home. However, school budgets and health priorities are set at the local level; consequently resources devoted to health-related activities vary widely. Partnering with schools requires soliciting buy-in from stakeholders at district and school levels and providing added value to schools. With appropriate resources and partnerships, schools could carry out vaccination-related activities from educating students, parents, and communities to developing policies supporting vaccination, providing vaccines, or serving as the site at which partners administer vaccines. Activities will vary among schools, but every school has the potential to use some strategies that promote adolescent vaccination.W ITH 3 NEW vaccines for adolescents recommended since 2005, and more on the way, effective mechanisms for delivering adolescent vaccinations are increasingly important. Because school occupies a significant part of most adolescents' lives, the potential range of roles for schools in adolescent vaccination, from education and promotion to vaccine administration, deserves special attention. Schools must devote significant energy to complying with numerous mandatory accountability measures as they fulfill their primary educational purpose, but every school has the potential to promote adolescent vaccination. Including schools as partners in promoting adolescent vaccination will complement other efforts and offer considerable access to an often hard-to-reach group.The information presented in this article rests on 3 assumptions. First, schools are not intended to replace the medical home as the primary location for vaccination of adolescents. Instead, vaccination-related activities in schools can supplement care received in the medical home. Therefore, we have focused this report on information and solutions that can be implemented in the current policy environment rather than the significant changes that would be needed to make schools the primary avenue for delivery of routine adolescent vaccinations. Second, the extent to which any strategy is implemented will vary according to vaccine and school, although every school can undertake vaccination-related activities at some level. Third, variable resources and competing priorities must be taken into account when considering options for addressing vaccination in school health programs. Issues such as pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, drug and alcohol abuse, obesity, and violence will often take precedence. 1 Based on these assumptions, we explore the role of schools in strengthening the delivery of vaccinations to adolescents by reviewing the current scope of school health resources, the history of US experience with school-based vaccination, and potential barriers to vaccination activities in schools. Laws that require vaccination for school attendance, which are known to be highly effective, are covered elsewhere in this supplement. 2 We have drawn on www...

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