tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Twenty-one states came out ahead of California in vaccinating against the swine flu, the CDC said this week. But the state health department says there's still time to get immunized, part of an effort to reach the 50-percent level that will give all Californians what they call "community immunity."
That's the preferred scientific term, over the more animal-husbandry-sounding "herd immunity." It means that when only a segment of a population is inoculated against a disease, it provides a level of immunity for the entire group by reducing the links in the chain of infection.
Since the swine-flu (officially known as the H1N1 strain) pandemic began in earnest a year ago, about 11 million Californians have been vaccinated, and another 5 million to 5.5 million people have contracted the virus, said Michael Sicilia, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health. With a population of just under 37 million, that means about 44 percent of the state has built up some level of immunity.
According to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 21.4 percent of the sample group of Californians tested had been vaccinated. That put it in the middle of the pack among the states, at No. 22. New England had the highest vaccination rate, with Rhode Island topping the states at 38.8 percent and Mississippi the lowest at 12.9 percent.
Among children between 6 months and 18 years, California's rate was 31.2 percent. By comparison, Georgia vaccinated 21.3 percent in that group, the lowest of any state. Georgia has had the highest number of reported new cases in recent weeks, alarming health officials who fear a third wave of H1N1 after the second wave peaked last fall.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/flu-242478-swine-href.html
That's the preferred scientific term, over the more animal-husbandry-sounding "herd immunity." It means that when only a segment of a population is inoculated against a disease, it provides a level of immunity for the entire group by reducing the links in the chain of infection.
Since the swine-flu (officially known as the H1N1 strain) pandemic began in earnest a year ago, about 11 million Californians have been vaccinated, and another 5 million to 5.5 million people have contracted the virus, said Michael Sicilia, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health. With a population of just under 37 million, that means about 44 percent of the state has built up some level of immunity.
According to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 21.4 percent of the sample group of Californians tested had been vaccinated. That put it in the middle of the pack among the states, at No. 22. New England had the highest vaccination rate, with Rhode Island topping the states at 38.8 percent and Mississippi the lowest at 12.9 percent.
Among children between 6 months and 18 years, California's rate was 31.2 percent. By comparison, Georgia vaccinated 21.3 percent in that group, the lowest of any state. Georgia has had the highest number of reported new cases in recent weeks, alarming health officials who fear a third wave of H1N1 after the second wave peaked last fall.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/flu-242478-swine-href.html