The following are suggestions on the development of materials that should be delivered - via the child, mail, and/or email - to parents/guardians to inform them of the planned SLV clinic and solicit their permission to vaccinate their child. Top of Page Preparing Forms and Letters to Provide to Parents/Guardians
Keeping providers informed about planned SLV clinics also will help them estimate how much influenza vaccine they will need to order for their own patients. The need to conduct SLV programs to ensure children are vaccinated in a timely manner can be explained given the likelihood that providers will be busy treating ill patients. Hopefully, most providers will be supportive of the SLV clinics, but some may be concerned about vaccinations occurring outside of their offices, especially with regard to keeping their patient records up-to-date and having adequate information in case a patient seeks care for a possible vaccine-related adverse event. Having mechanisms in place to disseminate vaccination information to healthcare providers will also help gain backing from local health care providers.
Attached is a template letter to providers. Partnerships with organizations such as the American Association of Pediatricians and the American Academy of Family Physicians may also add to the success of the SLV program and assist in gaining support from local physicians. For this reason, the success of SLV programs also will be enhanced by enlisting the support of local health care providers, especially pediatricians, family practitioners, obstetrician/gynecologists (since they often serve as primary care providers for adolescent girls), and community health clinics. Parents/guardians may seek the advice of others, including their child’s health care provider (Woodruff, 1996). Because the idea of vaccinating children at school may be unfamiliar to some parents/guardians, there may be reluctance to consent to influenza vaccination at school. In the U.S., children are vaccinated primarily in their pediatrician’s or family doctor’s office (Groom, 2007). Informing and Enlisting the Support of Health Care Providers