Merck's poll says Canadians are falling behind on vaccines, and they're selling the fix
Merck funded the survey and never defined “up to date,” but then told adults to ask their doctor about catching up on vaccines that Canada's own advisers don't recommend for most of them.
Merck Canada announced that only 33% of adults aged 18 to 64 say they're fully up to date on recommended vaccines, compared with 51% of those aged 65 to 75.
The number comes from “the latest Merck Canada Pulse Report, conducted by Ipsos,” which is described by Ipsos as an online survey “conducted on behalf of Merck Canada” – the third instalment of a Merck-branded series.
The poll ran August 20 to 25 among 1,000 Canadians on Ipsos' online panel, with a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.8 points for the full sample. The 33% comes from a smaller subgroup, and its wider margin wasn't published.
Ipsos says the questionnaire took an average of three minutes.
“Up to date” wasn't a checklist. Rather, respondents were asked how closely they follow “the recommended adult immunization (vaccination) schedule provided by your province or territory.” The 33% picked “I follow it precisely and stay completely up to date,” without naming a single vaccine.
That's an important caveat, because Merck sells shots on those schedules. Its Canadian product list includes Gardasil 9 for HPV and Capvaxive, a pneumococcal vaccine authorized for adults 18 and older.
Yet Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization doesn't recommend either one for every adult under 65. HPV vaccine is recommended up to age 26, and beyond that only after a discussion with a clinician. Pneumococcal shots are recommended for all adults 65 and older, but for younger adults only if they have risk factors.
In both situations, the initial vaccination series for these vaccines has not been consistently evaluated in randomized, double-blind trials comparing previously unvaccinated individuals receiving the vaccine against previously unvaccinated individuals receiving a true, inert saline placebo.
Regardless of those important clinical trial details, the release ends with a call to action. Matthew Thornhill, who leads Merck Canada's vaccines business, said more conversations with health professionals can “bring trusted immunization guidance and services closer to Canadians.”
Some 62% of respondents said they'd likely raise their immunization schedule with a doctor, pharmacist or nurse practitioner in the next year.
Those conversations are worth money.
Merck's third-quarter results show worldwide Gardasil sales of US$4.2 billion for the first nine months of this year (January to September), plus hundreds of millions more for Capvaxive. The company blamed Capvaxive's slower growth partly on “lower adult pneumococcal vaccination rates” in the U.S.
This isn't the first time Canadians have been polled into compliance. As Rebel News reported, the federal government has spent millions on vaccine opinion research designed to shape public behaviour.
Now, the manufacturer is commissioning its own numbers.
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