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1611. Interventions to Decrease the Absolute Number of Individuals Not Immune to Measles at Princeton University (PU)
BACKGROUND: PU’s dormitories house ~100% of undergraduate and ~70% of graduate students. MMR is required for all students by NJ law, allowing for medical and religious exemptions (RE). Information on immunization requirements is widely available and accessible. If a student is found not compliant, m...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6809183/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofz360.1475 |
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author | Daskalaki, Irini Maestripieri, Robin Ganesan, Gayathri Pletcher, Jonathan |
author_facet | Daskalaki, Irini Maestripieri, Robin Ganesan, Gayathri Pletcher, Jonathan |
author_sort | Daskalaki, Irini |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: PU’s dormitories house ~100% of undergraduate and ~70% of graduate students. MMR is required for all students by NJ law, allowing for medical and religious exemptions (RE). Information on immunization requirements is widely available and accessible. If a student is found not compliant, measures include monetary fines, class registration holds, and contact by residential staff. Visiting short-term students should submit immunization records, but, due to rolling matriculation dates, enforcement measures may not be applicable. In the fall of 2018, a measles outbreak was reported close to campus. We sought to engage all students not immune to measles with proactive messaging. METHODS: Starting on December 3, 2018, the electronic health record (EHR) was used to generate a weekly report of active students not immune to measles following the CDC’s immunity criteria. Notifications and education material were sent via secure messaging and/or email. Students with no immunization data were provided instructions on record submission. Reminders were sent to those due for second MMR. Students with RE were offered blood tests for measles immunity. Alerts were placed in the EHR of all non-immune students so every encounter would serve as reminder. Student travelers on PU sponsored trips were informed about measles outbreaks and, often, MMR became a trip requirement. RESULTS: On December 3, 2018, 84 students were measles non-immune: 2 with medical and 23 with RE; 59 lacking second MMR or with no immunization data.The 23 RE became 24 when a student in absentia returned. Since, 3 of the students with RE had blood tests revealing measles immunity; 2 received MMR to travel; 3 decided that their RE was not current. On 4/22/19, there were 18 students lacking second MMR or with no immunization data, most of them new visiting students. Overall, 57% reduction of absolute number of measles nonimmune students. CONCLUSION: This community intervention shows that students who remained measles non-immune despite the regular immunization compliance activities, could become compliant through active messaging, education and continued engagement. Importantly, 8 of 24 students with RE, when engaged and provided with information and potential consequences of unimmunized status, were found either already immunized or not opposed to receiving immunizations. [Image: see text] DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6809183 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | Oxford University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-68091832019-10-28 1611. Interventions to Decrease the Absolute Number of Individuals Not Immune to Measles at Princeton University (PU) Daskalaki, Irini Maestripieri, Robin Ganesan, Gayathri Pletcher, Jonathan Open Forum Infect Dis Abstracts BACKGROUND: PU’s dormitories house ~100% of undergraduate and ~70% of graduate students. MMR is required for all students by NJ law, allowing for medical and religious exemptions (RE). Information on immunization requirements is widely available and accessible. If a student is found not compliant, measures include monetary fines, class registration holds, and contact by residential staff. Visiting short-term students should submit immunization records, but, due to rolling matriculation dates, enforcement measures may not be applicable. In the fall of 2018, a measles outbreak was reported close to campus. We sought to engage all students not immune to measles with proactive messaging. METHODS: Starting on December 3, 2018, the electronic health record (EHR) was used to generate a weekly report of active students not immune to measles following the CDC’s immunity criteria. Notifications and education material were sent via secure messaging and/or email. Students with no immunization data were provided instructions on record submission. Reminders were sent to those due for second MMR. Students with RE were offered blood tests for measles immunity. Alerts were placed in the EHR of all non-immune students so every encounter would serve as reminder. Student travelers on PU sponsored trips were informed about measles outbreaks and, often, MMR became a trip requirement. RESULTS: On December 3, 2018, 84 students were measles non-immune: 2 with medical and 23 with RE; 59 lacking second MMR or with no immunization data.The 23 RE became 24 when a student in absentia returned. Since, 3 of the students with RE had blood tests revealing measles immunity; 2 received MMR to travel; 3 decided that their RE was not current. On 4/22/19, there were 18 students lacking second MMR or with no immunization data, most of them new visiting students. Overall, 57% reduction of absolute number of measles nonimmune students. CONCLUSION: This community intervention shows that students who remained measles non-immune despite the regular immunization compliance activities, could become compliant through active messaging, education and continued engagement. Importantly, 8 of 24 students with RE, when engaged and provided with information and potential consequences of unimmunized status, were found either already immunized or not opposed to receiving immunizations. [Image: see text] DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures. Oxford University Press 2019-10-23 /pmc/articles/PMC6809183/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofz360.1475 Text en © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com |
spellingShingle | Abstracts Daskalaki, Irini Maestripieri, Robin Ganesan, Gayathri Pletcher, Jonathan 1611. Interventions to Decrease the Absolute Number of Individuals Not Immune to Measles at Princeton University (PU) |
title | 1611. Interventions to Decrease the Absolute Number of Individuals Not Immune to Measles at Princeton University (PU) |
title_full | 1611. Interventions to Decrease the Absolute Number of Individuals Not Immune to Measles at Princeton University (PU) |
title_fullStr | 1611. Interventions to Decrease the Absolute Number of Individuals Not Immune to Measles at Princeton University (PU) |
title_full_unstemmed | 1611. Interventions to Decrease the Absolute Number of Individuals Not Immune to Measles at Princeton University (PU) |
title_short | 1611. Interventions to Decrease the Absolute Number of Individuals Not Immune to Measles at Princeton University (PU) |
title_sort | 1611. interventions to decrease the absolute number of individuals not immune to measles at princeton university (pu) |
topic | Abstracts |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6809183/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofz360.1475 |
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