Researchers found teens may have missed more than 8 million vaccine doses and adults may have missed more than 17 million doses.
As Americans get vaccinated against the coronavirus, a report published Wednesday found teens and adults may have missed millions of routine vaccinations recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2020.
The study, commissioned by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and conducted by Avalere Health, analyzed vaccine claims from January through November 2020 and compared them with the same timeframe in 2019.
Researchers found teens and adults may have missed more than 26 million doses of recommended vaccines in 2020, which includes 8.8 million missed adolescent vaccines and 17.2 million missed adult vaccine doses.
Vaccine claims were up to 35% lower for teens in 2020 compared with 2019, and claims for adults were up to 40% lower.
The surges leveled off by October, leaving total claims from September to November 2020 up to 35% lower compared with 2019.
The study analyzed only vaccine claims across commercial, managed Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare fee-for-service part B markets, so vaccinations at pharmacies and other types of insurance claims were not included.
A study in November 2020 by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association estimated 9 million childhood vaccination doses may have been missed by the end of 2020 because of the pandemic.
This means patients can ask their doctors about receiving missed vaccines while getting their COVID-19 shot, Vyas said
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