Physician Attitudes Toward Adult Vaccines and Other Preventive Practices, United States, 2012

Objectives. We described the following among U.S. primary care physicians: (1) perceived importance of vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices relative to U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) preventive services, (2) attitudes toward the U.S. adult immunization schedule, and (3) awareness and use of Medicare preventive service visits. Methods. We conducted an Internet and mail survey from March to June 2012 among national networks of general internists and family physicians. Results. We received responses from 352 of 445 (79%) general internists and 255 of 409 (62%) family physicians. For a 67-year-old hypothetical patient, 540/606 (89%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 87, 92) of physicians ranked seasonal influenza vaccine and 487/607 (80%, 95% CI 77, 83) ranked pneumococcal vaccine as very important, whereas 381/604 (63%, 95% CI 59, 67) ranked Tdap/Tp vaccine and 288/607 (47%, 95% CI 43, 51) rankes herpes zoster vaccine as very important (p