It’s time for our annual review of the highlights from a wild ride of a year….

1. We learned that all that data you send to registries is doing more good work than you might have thought.

Mike Popovich, co-Founder of STChealth, offered us some encouraging words on the actual usage of registry data:

“When we look at all the immunization records that flowed through our networks in 2024, for every record reported there were 13 queries. Said another way, for each vaccination reported into a state IIS, there were 13 times when someone was checking on vaccination status. That means a doctor’s office, a pharmacist, school nurse or parent was getting smarter. So, the data is being used to make better decisions, which means that someone isn’t being over-vaccinated, that money isn’t being wasted. That simple number of 13-to-1 is telling an ROI story.”

2. We learned about the international import nobody wants.

All this year, the news was full of endless talk about tariffs, imports and exports. But, it was only by reading reports from STCHealth epidemiologist Sara Brown that we learned this sad export news: 

“Mexico is currently facing its largest measles outbreak in decades. Lab results and case tracking suggest that this outbreak may be partly linked to the one that began in Texas.”

She added, “Anti-vax thinking is a luxury – it’s easy when you think all your neighbors are getting vaccinated.”

3. We learned the thought-process behind building a website that actually saves more time and money than it costs.

Dr. Todd Wolynn, Executive Director of the Trusted Messenger Program, is a pediatrician and was co-founder of Kids + Pediactrics in Pittburgh, where he achieved remarkable vax rates. He credits a lot of the success of the practice to communication skills, and he argued that the problem with most organization’s websites is that they tend to be the online equivalent of a brochure, which tend to be bragging about the newest equipment, program, award, or something flattering about an executive. As Dr. Wolynn asks, “Who the hell’s the audience for that message? That’s all about branding for some mega profit or non-profit.”

How to do better? “You start with the most common questions your patients ask,” Dr. Wolynn explained. “For us, one of them was, ‘What’s my dosage for my 6-month-old for ibuprofen or for acetaminophen?’ So we created a simple dosing guide online, very easily available on our website and posted to social media. Then we did it for allergy meds. That thing was downloaded literally tens of thousands of times. You can bet a significant portion of those tens of thousands would have been phone calls to the office.”

4. This isn’t what anyone means by “alone time”: We got big changes in rates of “solo-parenting,”…

Stats guru Bill Davenhall dug into a publication by the Census Bureau (FM-1 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey) and came away with 62 year-long look at how families across the United States have been arranging for parenting.

One parent (un-married) family with at least one child under 18 years of age present- (Includes parents of biological, step, and adopted children)

• 1950 – 7%    (85% Moms; 15%  Dads)
• 2022 – 31%  (75% Moms; 25%  Dads)

Two-parent (married couple) family with at least one child under 18 years of age present – (Includes parents of biological, step, and adopted children)

• 1950 – 93%
• 2022 – 69%

Bill wrote: “It probably comes as no surprise to the reader that the traditional ‘audience’ for messaging about immunizations has changed since 1950. Family arrangements for parenting in 2022 would suggest we need to rethink the communication strategies in immunization, especially for children.”

5. We got some surprising GOOD NEWS:  The world MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN SAFER in recent years. Yes, really.

We asked global securing expert, Brad Goble, a Canadian consultant whose work includes NATO and the Global Health Security Initiative community this question: Are we safer now? He surprised us by saying this: “I’ve been extremely optimistic. We have made enormous progress in the last 50 years, and particularly the last few years. We have made the world safer.”

Naturally, we wanted to hear more. “The global effort really started after 9/11,” he began. “Then, in 2007, we had the Global Health Security Agenda. But it was in 2020, when we had the first pandemic of our era, that we discovered just how underprepared we had been and that’s when lots of lessons were learned.” Brad suggested that one of the most significant responses to the pandemic was the creation by the EU of HERA, the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority. Of that organization, he told us, “The European countries really did respond, demonstrating that they are taking health security seriously.” An article from the journal Health Policy put “seriously” in perspective: “The European Union (EU) Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) is a new Directorate-General within the European Commission. With a budget of at least €1 billion per annum, about the same as the World Health Organization (WHO) holds in its core budget, HERA is set to become a major global health player.”  Indeed, Brad points out, “There is a shift in the international scene. For many years, the U.S. held the keys to advances in health security; but now global units are recognizing that they need to become more engaged. The world is paying more attention.”

6. We welcomed fresh eyes on an old cartoon.

In honor of our 100^th issue of the IINews, we asked the man who’s done all those cartoons to reflect on his favorites. Here’s one that stood out:

7. We learned that Public Health and pharmacies need each other more than ever.

It wasn’t long ago, back in the pandemic, when pharmacies were heroes: 315 million Covid vaccinations given during the main Federal effort (FRPP), nearly half of all the U.S. Covid vaxxing… all while keeping up their usual pharmacy duties. Definitely heroic. And yet, back from the battle, what’s happened to those heroes? Rite-Aid filed for bankruptcy. Walgreen’s announced mass store closures. And we continue to lose independent pharmacies. Some way to treat a hero.

Meanwhile, other heroes of the pandemic aren’t having it much better:  The folks of public health are also facing a fresh set of uncertainties.  So, here’s the question: Could pharmacies and public health come together again in a way that makes both stronger?

Jason Briscoe, a pharmacist who headed operations for a regional drug chain before joining STChealth as Vice President, working to bring technological efficiencies to healthcare, offered this uplifting call to action:

“One, if pharmacies are in need of more opportunities; and, two, they proven the ability to deliver on the things Public Health cares about, then let’s connect those dots. And let’s do it in non-pandemic times to start covering more ground and doing right by patients. Whether it’s immunizations or clinical services, that’s the intersection — community pharmacy can be an extension of, and a driver for Public Health all day, every day. Let’s just connect the dots.”

8. We got new meaning to “Honey, I shrunk the kids.”

Stats guru Bill Davenhall offered a startling prediction: In 2025, there are about 18.9 million children under 5 years of age living in the United States. In 2030, it’s estimated that there will be about 353,000 fewer.”

9. We learned a new term: “Culture Vulture”

Executive coach Bill Godwin has led several companies, including a telehealth company that was bought by Walmart, and who has developed a reputation for creating high-performance cultures. He described the impact of negative employees, the ones he calls “culture vultures,” and talks about how leadership often looks the other way.

“Every leadership team I’ve worked with, every leadership team that I have led, has been dysfunctional. Every single one. The question for the leadership team is the degree you can reduce it.  The hardest case is the good employee who’s got a bad culture effect. Every company has them, and every CEO, myself included, wants to put their heads in the sand; we keep that person because they’re so highly productive or the rain maker or whatever. We hope it will get better, but we know it ruins our culture long-term.”

10. We got some much-needed perspective on the influence of health leaders who question immunizations.

“One more thing to keep in mind about the future of immunizations: If we forget why we need vaccines, the diseases will remind us.” That’s from STChealth’s Medical Advisor, Dr. Scott Hamstra.  He added, “We humans are not great at understanding risk. In the past, pathogens were the best educators, and sadly they may need to re-educate us once again.”

But, after those dark thoughts, he gave us some hopeful ones:

“Let’s back up and think about what’s going on at the highest levels of vaccination policy. ACIP was made up of lots of professionals (pediatricians, physicians, epidemiologists, public health, pharmacists) all kinds of science experts. The pros came together to review the data and give us a single unified voice.

“What happens if you destroy that unified front? Well, all those professionals are still out there. They’re still doing the same things. If your leader disappears, the team is still going to play. If the coach goes down, another coach takes over, or the players step up to keeping playing the game. The reality is that most parents and most professionals are going to continue to do what they are doing because it’s the right stuff to do. I sometimes think people believe leaders have more influence than they really do. The professionals with years of training and experience are going to keep doing the right things, and the team is going to keep winning.”

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STATS OF THE MONTH

Do You Understand Your Audience?

By Bill Davenhall, Geomedicine Analyst

Behind all the demographics, there is something that lies somewhat in the dark but looks us in their face every day. I refer to the “body of observational literature,” the product of our accumulated culture and daily living.

Frankly, much of the communication that is pushed out by agencies or by institutional and governmental marketers, is a captive of a “one size fits all” syndrome – largely due to budget constraints. There are certain characteristics of populations that drive various consumer markets and behaviors, such as their attitudes about immunizations and a whole host of beliefs. For example, the chart below is an attempt to summarize the various attitudes and characteristics that influence the response to your effort: it’s called Generational stereotyping, somewhat a mixture of science and art. It’s useful for anyone that must understand their “audiences.” Of course, these characteristics don’t always cluster by geography, but within every geography will be a fairly predictable number of each generational segment at work – either making things easier or harder for you to reach goals of participation.

Review the chart below and figure out which Generational Segment you occupy — by your age or your birth year. Simple step. Then read the summary of that generation that I have gleaned from my research. It might sound some alarms but then move you to want to learn more about how many of these generational segments exist in your “market” and then help you decide how best to communicate with each generation. I like to remind my readers that to change your view on things it often involves moving your chair — so I would suggest you begin to see these generational differences from another view.  Much like the futility of trying to put toothpaste back into the tube, trying to change the generational characteristics is a very hard task – and almost impossible. The phrase “baked-in” comes to mind.

After you have either chosen the generation that you’re in, or you want to understand a different approach to a different generational group, read the very concise description that I have provided. I consulted with various AI re-creations of the generational characters as offered by several dozen research organizations with an interest in segmentation marketing. While it’s not perfect, most of the characteristics will perhaps ring true to what you have observed firsthand.

As you might imagine, I am always looking at data from a geographical point of view trying to access how many of what kind exist in what specific geography. The reverse is also true – identifying the characteristics you think will offer success and then attempt to find the geography where this attribute exists in the greatest number. Either method gets you doing what I suggest – spend some serious time understanding as best as you can this generational difference since they will often make the difference in how well your messaging and participation is working.

As always, I appreciate 2^nd opinions.

                                                                 What is your Generation?

Reference	Your Age in 2025 Between	Generation Name	Estimated Number US 2025 (m)
1	80 & 97	Silent	20
2	61& 79	Baby Boomer	70
3	45 & 60	Gen X	65
4	29 & 49	Millenium	72
5	13 & 28	Gen Z	68
6	0 & 12	Alpha	60

One sentence summary of Generational Characteristics

1. Silent Generation are the resilient, duty-bound survivors of the Depression and WWII who valued quiet conformity, lifelong loyalty, and traditional faith over flash, quietly building postwar America while suppressing their traumas. Reserved and formal in their communication style. Family vs individual. Shaped by scarcity. About 20 million people in this generation in the US in 2025.

• Baby Boomers are the postwar optimists who grew up with unprecedented economic security, rocked the 60s, built the 80s–90s economy on long hours and loyalty, and remain the last American generation where regular church/synagogue attendance was the default rather than the exception. Idealism and long emails. Conservationist and “live to work” ethic. About 70 million people in this generation in the US in 2025.

• Gen X is the small, cynical, fiercely independent and authentic generation raised on divorce and MTV, who learned to expect nothing from institutions, mastered both analogue and digital life, and now quietly run most of the companies today (but  “invented” remote work). Sarcastic, blunt, and low drama. About 65 million people in this generation in the US in 2025.

• Millennial is the optimistic-turned-cynical cohort who invented adulting, got crushed by economic crises, and led the first mass exodus from organized religion in the Western world. Like email and emojis. Life balance important. On-Line dating popular. Student debt a huge issue. The beginnings of the “nones” – spiritual and not religious. About 72 million people in this generation in the US in 2025.

• Gen Z is the hyper-connected, trauma-informed, and fiercely authentic — the first generation to treat mental health as non-negotiable, traditional institutions as obsolete, and the planet’s future as personal responsibility. Larges cohort of religious “nones” and marriage and kids delayed.  About 68 million people in this generation in the US in 2025.

• Alpha are the first true AI natives who learn from tablets and robots before teachers, accept diversity and climate action as facts of life, and are being raised by screen-addicted but hyper-aware Millennial/Gen Z parents in a world where church is something you might see in a history video. Infants with cell phones and iPads in their hands. Friends come from Internet games and apps like Rolox and Minecraft. Real play comes second. About 60 million people in this generation in the US in 2025.

Sources: Internet AI, GROK4, MS CoPilot, Google and a variety of market research sectors (product, communication & religion.