Executive Summary of Improving Maternal Immunization Status: Working Toward Solutions to the Policy, Data, and Implementation Challenges Driving Suboptimal U.S. Maternal Vaccination Rates White Paper

Read the entire white paper here.

This white paper was written in an effort to better understand evolving challenges that undermine longstanding efforts to address the most persistent barriers to maternal immunization in the United States. Despite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations around maternal immunization, well-documented evidence of the efficacy of vaccination for both mother and baby, and broad recognition of the barriers impeding vaccination among pregnant individuals—as well as myriad efforts to address these barriers—maternal immunization rates remain suboptimal across the general population. Further, gaps in vaccine coverage are even more pronounced among Black and Hispanic populations and among those living in low-income and rural settings and/or participating in Medicaid.

Additionally, like many other public health challenges, sub-optimal maternal immunization rates have been magnified and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has also raised important conversations about pressing barriers to vaccination and prompted increased policy momentum and investment into resources and infrastructure related to immunization. As such, the current public health and legislative landscapes present a unique opportunity to further efforts aimed at improving maternal immunization.

With this context in mind, this white paper outlines factors that may be driving and contributing to the persistence of these longstanding barriers, despite the fact that maternal immunization barriers are well-understood and many legislative, programmatic and community level efforts to address them exist.

What follows is an overview of the current landscape, limitations, and impacts of challenges related to maternal immunization data collection/reporting and implementation, as well as a discussion that details potential solutions that could strengthen existing efforts in place to address longstanding barriers to vaccinations among pregnant individuals.

A blog from AVAC member organization HealthyWomen outlining findings and recommendations from the white paper can be found here.