Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Apr 2;16(4):991-1001.
doi: 10.1080/21645515.2019.1682842. Epub 2019 Dec 2.

Towards adult vaccination in India: a narrative literature review

Resham Dash  1 , Ashish Agrawal  2 , Vasant Nagvekar  3 , Jayesh Lele  4 , Alberta Di Pasquale  5 , Shafi Kolhapure  2 , Raunak Parikh  2
Affiliations
Review

Towards adult vaccination in India: a narrative literature review

Resham Dash et al. Hum Vaccin Immunother. .

Abstract

Despite vast improvements in childhood vaccination coverage in India, adult vaccination coverage is negligible. Our aim was, therefore, to create awareness about the importance of adult immunization. Although the true burden of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) among Indian adults is unknown, adults are particularly vulnerable during outbreaks, due to a lack of immunization, waning immunity, age-related factors (e.g. chronic conditions and immunosenescence), and epidemiological shift. There are no national adult immunization guidelines in India, and although several medical societies have published adult immunization guidelines, these vary, making it unclear who should receive which vaccines (based on age, underlying conditions, etc.). Other barriers to adult immunization include vaccine hesitancy, missed opportunities, and cost. Steps to improve adult vaccination could include: adoption of national guidelines, education of healthcare providers and the public, and promotion of life-course immunization. Improving adult vaccine coverage could help reduce the burden of VPDs, particularly among older adults.

Keywords: Adult immunization; India; barriers; guidelines; immunosenescence; life-course immunization; vaccination coverage.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Plain language summary.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Barriers to adult vaccination (red) and next steps (green). HCP, healthcare professional; VPD, vaccine preventable disease.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
How immune competence, risk of infectious disease, immunization programs, vaccine awareness, and vaccine coverage vary with age.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Worldometers . Countries in the world by population. [accessed 2018 January8]. http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/.
    1. Berman P, Ahuja R, Bhandari L.. The impoverishing effect of healthcare payments in India: new methodology and findings. Econ Polit Wkly. 2010;45:65–71.
    1. The Center For Disease Dynamics EPC . 63 million Indians are pushed into poverty by health expenses each year—and drugs are the chief cause. [accessed 2018 December4]. https://cddep.org/blog/posts/63_million_indians_are_pushed_poverty_healt....
    1. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare . National health policy 2015 draft. [accessed 2019 March27]. https://www.nhp.gov.in/sites/default/files/pdf/draft_national_health_pol....
    1. Dandona L, Dandona R, Kumar GA, Shukla DK, Paul VK, Balakrishnan K, Prabhakaran D, Tandon N, Salvi S, Dash AP. India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative Collaborators. Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990-2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet. 2017;390:2437–60. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32804-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types