GSK launches Vaccinate for Life campaign to improve general awareness of the benefits of vaccination throughout life and encourage more conversations between healthcare professionals (HCPs) and their adult patients on vaccination

Multi-country survey reveals a communication gap between healthcare professionals and adult patients on vaccination throughout life

Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) citing immunisation as one of the most powerful and cost-effective interventions in public health¹,a newsurvey conducted by Ipsos MORI and sponsored by GSK finds that 68 percent of adults are not up-to-date with the vaccines recommended for them.

Speaking about the Vaccinate for Life survey, – A. Vaidheesh, Managing Director, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Limited said, “The results of the survey highlight the crying need for awareness about adult vaccination in the country. Most people are familiar with the importance of vaccination in childhood however vaccination is equally important throughout life: for adolescents, adults and older people. According to the UNICEF and the World Bank, only clean drinking water rivals vaccination in its ability to save lives². Despite this longstanding recommendation, the adult vaccination numbers are substantially low. The main reason behind this is a lack of general awareness – a fact that is amply established by the results of the survey.”

Chennai Data

The survey brought out some interesting results from Chennai too. 46% of adults classified staying in good health as their top priority, followed by a successful career, raising a family and being comfortable financially at 12%, owning a house at 8% and travelling the world at 4%. In terms of staying up-to-date with healthy habits, most Chennaites i.e. 79% listed eating healthy at the top. Next came exercising daily – 76%, not smoking voted by 72%, staying up-to-date with vaccinations – 45%, regular health check-ups – 41%, screening for cancer – 39% and regular dental checks – 31%. 61% of Chennaite parents believe that keeping up-to-date on their children’s immunisation is far more important than their own. Chennai, in fact, also showed very low awareness about vaccines for Tetanus and Influenza.