Workplace vaccination and vaccination promotion strategies among large employers in the United States

Background: Adult vaccination rates are low, placing the population at risk for preventable diseases such as influenza and pertussis (whooping cough). Workplaces can help address this problem by offering vaccinations on-site to employees and by actively promoting the vaccinations. However, the proportion of employers that currently offer on-site vaccinations and engage in effective vaccination promotion strategies is uncertain. Methods: We are conducting a national telephone survey of 2,364 large employers (>500 employees) selected at random from a comprehensive list of 31,426 large employers in the United States. We identified knowledgeable potential respondents by job title. Trained interviewers administered a 10-15 minute questionnaire. We will estimate the proportion of employers offering vaccinations and engaging in specific promotion strategies including communication and enhanced access. Results: We have collected 32 responses and anticipate another 575. Early data show that 81.3% of employers offer on-site flu vaccinations and 84.6% of those offer it for free to employees. Use of communication strategies is high among employers offering vaccination, with all using multiple communication strategies and 73.1% using six or more. Comparatively, employers underutilize access-oriented promotion strategies. While 65.4% of employers offering vaccination have employees working only evenings or weekends, only 52.9% of those offer vaccination at those times. Conclusions: While on-site offering of free flu vaccinations is very common among large employers, many utilize only a subset of the promotion strategies known to increase workplace vaccination rates. Increased dissemination of these strategies among employers could help to address the problem of low adult vaccination rates.