Adults in Berks Forgoing Shots; Experts See Risk

Jan 28, 11:03 AM

Jan. 26--Too few Berks County adults are getting vaccines that would protect them from such debilitating or deadly diseases as shingles to cervical cancer, local health officials agree.

Some patients wrongly fear the shots will have serious side effects or don't realize they are covered by insurance. Others simply don't know they need inoculations.

"Patients will ask, 'What do you mean I need a shot? I'm an adult,' " said Dr. Eileen P. Simak, chief of geriatric medicine at Reading Hospital. "We (adults) are very good with getting our children immunized, but not ourselves."

That's a mistake, Simak said, because vaccines are great primary prevention against a host of diseases.

"We encourage everybody to get as many of these vaccinations as they can to stay healthy," agreed Dr. Katharine Navone, medical director of St. Joseph Medical Center's Family and Women's Center at its Sixth and Walnut streets community campus.

The problem isn't limited to Berks.

A recent survey by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases found that more adults should be getting shots, and that most have trouble even naming diseases they could prevent with an inoculation.

For example, 2 percent of Americans 60 and older got a shingles vaccine in its first year of sales last year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

An equal percentage of adults 18 to 64 got a whooping cough booster shot since it came on the market two years ago, CDC reports.

Though local statistics aren't available, it's crucial that more Pennsylvanians speak with their doctors about the vaccinations available to them, said Stacy Kriedeman, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.

"The vaccines you need depend on your age and health, so your doctors can best explain that to you," she said.

Health providers in Berks try to educate the public about the importance of inoculations.

For example, during last flu season St. Joseph Medical Center convinced 93 percent of eligible patients to get flu and pneumonia vaccines, Navone said.

But there are still too many people who don't understand how vital the shots are, said Colleen Paolucci, community health coordinator for the Berks Visiting Nurse Association.

The flu can be deadly, as can cervical cancer, and diseases such as shingles carry severe symptoms, she said.

Therefore, the shots are well worth the slight amount of pain that comes with them, she said. Paolucci urged patients to discuss their immunization history with their doctors to determine what vaccines they need.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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