Understanding physician agreement with varicella immunization guidelines.

Background: Although varicella vaccine was licensed in 1995, immunization rates are only moderate. This study identifies factors associated with physician self-reported likelihood of recommending varicella vaccination to patients.

Methods: Two hundred eighty-one Minnesota and Pennsylvania primary care physicians who participated in surveys on barriers to vaccination in 1990-1991 and 1993 were surveyed in 1999, assessing physicians' beliefs about varicella disease and vaccine and their self-reported likelihood of recommending varicella vaccine to three age groups of children.

Adult pneumococcal vaccination: a review of physician and patient barriers.

Despite the Healthy People 2010 goal of a pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) vaccination rate of 90% by year 2010, rates remain low and racial disparities exist. This paper systematically reviewed medical literature published between 1981 and 2000 regarding physician and patient knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to pneumococcal vaccination. Among physicians the vaccine is generally believed to be efficacious and safe but difficulty in determining the vaccination status and lack of knowledge regarding re-vaccination were reported as barriers to vaccination.