Factors Affecting the Shingles Vaccination Rate in Seniors : the Shingles (Zostavax) and Tetanus Vaccination Comparison

Health status, demographics, financial factors, education status, internet literacy of seniors, and having a usual place for health care may affect the Shingles vaccination rate in seniors. While activity limitation and being a minority may affect the vaccination rate negatively, having a chronic condition, being married better financial status, higher education level and internet literacy may affect the vaccination rate positively. Using different logistics regression methods, this study analyzes how different factors affect the Shingles vaccination rate in seniors. As first Shingles vaccine has been around for 13 years, to get more accurate results, this study analyzes factors affecting Tetanus vaccination rate in seniors as well. This study uses the IPUMS National Health Interview Survey data from 2009 to 2018. Region, race, sex, education level, being above or below poverty threshold and being covered by military health insurance had big effect on the Shingles vaccination rate. Additionally, having had a flu shot in the past 12 months, communicating with health care provider using email and looking up health information in Internet had a positive effect. The findings can be used to help pinpoint the reasons of low Shingles vaccination rate in seniors and address them to improve the vaccination rate.