Based on data on military care and treatment by private industry providers presented by the Department of Defense at the Military Health System conference on Monday, Air Force health personnel immunized 86 percent of eligible recipients, compared to 84 percent immunized by the highest-rated state and 77 percent nationally.
Complete immunizations comprised vaccinations of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis; polio; measles, mumps and rubella; haemophilus influenza type B; hepatitis B; and varicella.
The data also showed the Air Force provided the same regimen of vaccines more promptly than the commercial sector and Medicaid. It met 75 percent of vaccination deadlines, the commercial sector 70 percent, and Medicaid 59 percent.
According to DOD, the military health system is leading the nation in overall influenza vaccinations in the 18-to-65-year-old demographic. The number of flu vaccinations performed by the military in fiscal 2007 dwarfed the latest national averages tracked by the Centers for Disease Control. The military also is ahead of national averages in administering vaccination for pneumonia, according to the DOD Health Affairs findings.
"I have learned from this perspective at Health Affairs ... that our military health clinicians are better than the outside world realizes," Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, told the conference audience of military health professionals.
