Xinhuanet, Beijing, April 25 (Sun Hui) On April 23, on the occasion of the National Vaccination Day and World Immunization Week, the "Healthy Country Vaccine Protection Ten Thousand Homes - Community Innovation Practice Sharing Session" was held at the "largest community in Asia" Beijing Tiantong Yuanbei Community Health Service Center. At the meeting, Feng Luzhao, Vice President of the School of Medicine and Public Health of Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Yan Feng, Party Branch Secretary of the Community Health Service Center of Tiantong Yuanbei Street, Changping District, Beijing, Hua Hao, Deputy Director, Yang Yingming, Deputy Director, and Xu Mingming, Chief of the Immunization Section of the Preventive Health Plan, attended the meeting, focusing on innovation in grassroots vaccination services, and in-depth discussion on how to improve the vaccination rate of middle-aged and elderly people through community practice and further strengthen the public health defense line.

Adult vaccination rates need to be stimulated, and it is urgent to build a scientific protection system

With the intensification of population aging and the increase in chronic diseases, adult vaccination plays an increasingly important role in preventing infectious diseases/infectious diseases and reducing severe diseases. Feng Luzhao said that in recent years, my country's adult vaccination rate has continued to decline and the situation is severe. Many patients with chronic diseases still do not know that chronic diseases can be vaccinated when they are in a stable period, and some patients generally have vaccine hesitation because public health literacy and accessibility of services need to be improved.

In response to this issue, Feng Luzhao specifically mentioned the "three-piece set" of vaccines - influenza vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine and shingles vaccine. For middle-aged and elderly people, these three vaccines can not only prevent related infectious diseases, but also reduce the risk of complications and the aggravation of the original chronic disease and improve the quality of life. Feng Luzhao gave an example, data from Beijing showed that influenza vaccination can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. In addition, a growing number of studies have shown that preventing certain viral infections can help delay cognitive decline. A large new study found that getting a shingles vaccine may be associated with reducing the risk of dementia.

He said that in the future, we need to strengthen popular science publicity, break the misunderstanding of "cannot be vaccinated with chronic diseases", and optimize the service process through intelligent means to improve the accessibility and convenience of vaccination.

Innovative model of adult vaccination: resource sinking + service to home

Faced with the challenge of the need to stimulate enthusiasm for adult vaccination, Tiantong Yuanbei Community Health Service Center (hereinafter referred to as "Tianbei Center") actively explores the innovative model of "resource sinking + service to home", providing effective exploration to improve the vaccination rate of middle-aged and elderly people.

Tianbei Center is jointly built by the Changping District Health Commission of Beijing and Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital in Beijing. The hospital and the center have achieved "vertical management, resource sharing, service homogeneity, and information integration", and have built an "integrated regional health and medical consortium" with full regional coverage, full population services, and full life cycle management. As a super-large community covering a population of 142,000, the proportion of elderly people over 60 in Tiantong Yuanbei Street accounts for 21%. Faced with this huge group of middle-aged and elderly people, Tiantong Yuanbei Community Health Service Center has conducted in-depth exploration in improving the vaccination rate.

Yan Feng introduced that relying on the vertical management model of Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital affiliated to Tsinghua University, the center has transferred high-quality medical resources to the community through two major strategies: "integration of full-specialties" (collaborative services of general practice and specialist doctors) and "integration of medical and prevention". He mentioned: "In 2024, Chang Gung Hospital's specialist doctors went to Tianbei Center to visit 4,400 times, serving more than 140,000 patients, improving the convenience and sense of gain of community residents."

Regarding the vaccination problems of the elderly, the center has launched a tiered service strategy. Yang Yingming said: "For disabled elderly people, we have established a 'general practitioner + vaccination nurse' household registration group, and established a 'multi-source reservation' mechanism for postoperative patients. For self-care elderly people, we have opened weekend and holiday vaccination sessions in community service stations and nursing homes."

In terms of improving service efficiency, Tiantong Yuanbei Community Health Service Center actively uses smart means to realize time-divided appointments through various channels such as the "Health Cloud" platform, telephone, WeChat group, etc., effectively reducing the time for the elderly to wait in line. At the same time, Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital has developed wearable devices to dynamically monitor the health status of the elderly and provide strong support for precise vaccination.

Feng Luzhao said: "The application of digital technology and intelligent means not only improves service efficiency, but also enhances residents' trust and satisfaction with vaccination. In the future, we look forward to more innovative applications similar to those that can be promoted in primary care."

Vaccination for the elderly opens up the "last meter" and builds a solid line of defense for health "gatekeepers"

At the meeting, Xu Mingming told the story of an elderly man living alone getting vaccinated. An elderly man living alone with chronic heart disease was unable to go to the vaccination site for immunization due to mobility difficulties. After learning about the situation, Tianbei Center quickly coordinated the vaccination team to provide door-to-door services. The medical staff patiently answered the elderly’s questions and accompanied the elderly to complete the observation after vaccination to ensure the safety and smoothness of the entire process.

Yang Yingming added: "This case fully demonstrates our determination and ability to open up the 'last meter' of vaccination. In 2024, we vaccinated the elderly with 2,751 doses of influenza vaccine through household evaluation, health education and precise appointments, which is a significant increase compared with 2023. In the future, we will continue to optimize the service process to ensure that every elderly person in need can receive the vaccine in a timely manner."

Yanfeng said that Tiantong Yuanbei Community Health Service Center has always adhered to the leadership of party building as the core and extended the service to the last meter through grid linkage. He introduced: "The center has established a health linkage mechanism with nursing homes in the jurisdiction, and sends medical teams to visit every week. At the same time, we have also opened Saturday outpatient clinics and delayed services to facilitate medical treatment for office workers and students. In addition, we have also jointly carried out a 'health knocking action' with the streets and neighborhood committees to provide door-to-door health checks, vaccination and other services for elderly people. In 2024, we have completed the health management tasks of 1,400 elderly people over 80 years old."

According to reports, Tianbei Center also produced easy-to-understand publicity materials based on common diseases and health needs of middle-aged and elderly people, and promoted them through special lectures, community radio, WeChat groups and other channels, effectively improving the health awareness and vaccination intention of middle-aged and elderly people.

Feng Luzhao said that the practical experience of Tiantong Yuanbei Community Health Service Center provides valuable reference for improving the vaccination rate at the grassroots level. In the future, we hope that more grassroots medical institutions can learn from this model and jointly build a national immune barrier. We call on the government, enterprises, communities and other parties to strengthen cooperation and jointly promote the in-depth development of vaccination work.

[Editor in charge: Li Chen]