• Barbara Bardenheier, Abigail Shefer, Faruque Ahmed, Robin Remsburg, Carol J Rowland Hogue, and Stefan Gravenstein.
• Immunization Services Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. bfb7@cdc.gov
• J Am Geriatr Soc. 2011 Apr 1; 59 (4): 687-93.

ObjectivesTo determine whether the racial inequity between African Americans and Caucasians in receipt of influenza vaccine is narrower in residents of nursing homes with facility-wide vaccination strategies than in residents of facilities without vaccination strategies.DesignSecondary data analysis using the National Nursing Home Survey 2004, a nationally representative survey.SettingOne thousand one hundred seventy-four participating nursing homes sampled systematically with probability proportional to bed size.ParticipantsThirteen thousand five hundred seven randomly sampled residents of nursing homes between August and December 2004.MeasurementsReceipt of influenza vaccine within the last year. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between facility-level influenza immunization strategy and racial inequity in receipt of vaccination, adjusted for characteristics at the resident, facility, state, and regional levels.ResultsOverall in the United States, vaccination coverage was higher for Caucasian and African-American residents; the racial vaccination gaps were smaller (<6 percentage points) and nonsignificant in residents of homes with standing orders for influenza vaccinations (P=.14), verbal consent allowed for vaccinations(P=.39), and routine review of facility-wide vaccination rates (P=.61) than for residents of homes without these strategies. The racial vaccination gap in residents of homes without these strategies were two to three times as high (P=.009, P=.002, and P=.002, respectively).ConclusionThe presence of several immunization strategies in nursing homes is associated with higher vaccination coverage for Caucasian and African-American residents, narrowing the national vaccination racial gap.© 2011, Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation © 2011, The American Geriatrics Society.

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