Increasing use of the vaccine against zoster through recommendation and administration by ophthalmologists at a city hospital.

Purpose: To increase the vaccination rate and identify barriers to administration of the vaccine against herpes zoster by having ophthalmologists screen and provide the vaccine.

Design: Prospective interventional cohort study.

Setting: Academic City Hospital, Bellevue Hospital.

Participants: A total of 100 eligible patients based on recommended Centers for Disease Control (CDC) criteria and ability to speak English and Spanish who received the herpes zoster vaccine were compared with 66 patients who declined the vaccine.

Interventions: The vaccine was administered after written informed consent was obtained to complete a screening questionnaire evaluating the participants' eligibility and interest in receiving the vaccine.

Main Outcome Measures: Barriers to administration of the vaccine were evaluated.

Results: A total of 170 consenting patients, including 100 patients who were vaccinated, 66 patients who declined vaccination, and 4 patients who were ineligible, were analyzed. The proportion of subjects who would consider receiving the vaccine if recommended by a doctor among those who received the shingles vaccine, 98.0% (95% CI: 95%-100%), was significantly greater than the proportion in the group that declined, 74.2% (95% CI: 64%-85%) (P ≤ .0001). The most common reason that patients declined the vaccine was wanting to speak with their primary care physician, 46.9% (95% CI: 33%-61%).

Conclusions: Ophthalmologists can screen, educate, and prescribe the vaccine against herpes zoster in order to increase utilization of this vaccine. Nonfinancial or access barriers of this vaccine among underserved eligible patients include absence of recommendation by their primary care doctor.