Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.newsday.com/services/new...alth/ny-hsfour2312277532dec23,0,6690124.story
Half of surveyed adults say they won't get flu shots
December 23, 2008
A new report warns that more than half of adults have no intention of getting a flu shot. It's based on a Rand survey of 4,000 U.S. adults that shows the following: Fifty-three percent of all adults surveyed have no intention of getting the flu vaccine this year, while 17 percent say they haven't yet but will.
Public-health experts are up in arms, saying that it's a poor grade on our nation's health report card. Yet, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't recommend flu vaccines for all healthy adults - only those older than 50 or others who are at risk of complications from influenza because they have a compromised immune system, diabetes or lung problems such as asthma.
Many people who really need the vaccine - like the elderly, who are most likely to die from flu - should try to get it. But the rest of us? The vaccine, at best, is 75 percent effective. And last year's batch was even less effective because experts incorrectly predicted which flu strain would hit the United States. In fact, several of the kids who died from the flu last year had been vaccinated.
Bottom line: All adults should consider getting vaccinated against the flu, but unless they're at particular risk, they shouldn't worry if they don't. What's more, while vaccines are extremely safe, they all carry a small but real risk of side effects.
- U.S. News and World Report
Half of surveyed adults say they won't get flu shots
December 23, 2008
A new report warns that more than half of adults have no intention of getting a flu shot. It's based on a Rand survey of 4,000 U.S. adults that shows the following: Fifty-three percent of all adults surveyed have no intention of getting the flu vaccine this year, while 17 percent say they haven't yet but will.
Public-health experts are up in arms, saying that it's a poor grade on our nation's health report card. Yet, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't recommend flu vaccines for all healthy adults - only those older than 50 or others who are at risk of complications from influenza because they have a compromised immune system, diabetes or lung problems such as asthma.
Many people who really need the vaccine - like the elderly, who are most likely to die from flu - should try to get it. But the rest of us? The vaccine, at best, is 75 percent effective. And last year's batch was even less effective because experts incorrectly predicted which flu strain would hit the United States. In fact, several of the kids who died from the flu last year had been vaccinated.
Bottom line: All adults should consider getting vaccinated against the flu, but unless they're at particular risk, they shouldn't worry if they don't. What's more, while vaccines are extremely safe, they all carry a small but real risk of side effects.
- U.S. News and World Report