Background: Vaccines are safety and efficacy of vaccines in transplant candidates and recipients. Several studies have demonstrated significant underutilization of vaccines which increases the risk of preventable infection post-transplantation. To understand the challenges of successful vaccination, the current rates of vaccination in the liver transplant population at Northwestern Memorial Hospital was studied.

Methods: Following IRB approval, electronic medical records for patients who underwent a liver transplant from 1/1/2007 to 1/1/2015 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital were reviewed to document demographic information, vaccination status (for hepatitis B virus (HBV), influenza, and S. pneumonia), and any contraction of vaccine preventable infections (namely HBV, influenza, and S. pneumonia). Descriptive statistics were calculated.

Results: A total of 854 liver recipients were retrospectively studied for demographics and vaccination (see Table 1). Influenza vaccination utilization decreased over time (Figure 1). Vaccination rates are generally <30% for hepatitis B and S. pneumoniae. Of those vaccinated for S. pneumoniae and hepatitis B, only about 50% of vaccines were given pre-transplant (see Figure 2).

Conclusions: Vaccination for influenza, S. pneumoniae, and hepatitis B is suboptimal in terms of uptake and timing at our center. To improve on vaccination rates, we plan to interview randomly selected patients that were successfully vaccinated and unsuccessfully vaccinated to assess how to remove impediments to vaccination. Additionally, we plan to determine if there is suboptimal documentation of vaccination in the EHR.

CITATION INFORMATION: Leung H, Cameron K, Ho B, Ison M. Assessing Vaccination Status in Transplant Candidates and Recipients: Current Status and Challenges to Successful Implementation. Am J Transplant. 2016;16 (suppl 3).

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