Simply 40 P.c of People Vaccinated for Flu This Season
MONDAY, Dec. 12, 2016 (HealthDay Information) -- Solely about two out of 5 People had gotten this season's flu shot as of early November, the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention experiences.
About 37 p.c of youngsters between 6 months and 17 years outdated have gotten the flu vaccine this yr. And roughly 41 p.c of adults aged 18 and older have acquired the shot.
The general charge is much like the vaccination charge on the similar time final yr, the CDC famous.
"We're glad to see that individuals are making the choice to guard themselves and their households from flu, however protection continues to be low and we urge folks to get vaccinated in the event that they have not but," stated Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's Nationwide Middle for Immunization and Respiratory Illnesses.
"We have now a device that's confirmed to forestall flu sickness and hospitalization, however hundreds of thousands of individuals are not benefiting from it. Too many individuals are unprotected," she stated in an company information launch.
Final yr, flu vaccination prevented about 5 million flu sicknesses, the CDC stated. The company additionally estimated that the vaccine prevented 71,000 flu hospitalizations.
Whereas flu vaccination charges amongst adults and kids are much like early estimates from final season for all age teams, the CDC is wanting rigorously at vaccination charges for kids and for adults 50 and older.
"We're urging dad and mom to ensure their youngsters get a flu shot this season, because the nasal spray vaccine is just not really helpful for the 2016-2017 flu season. An annual flu vaccine is essential safety for kids," stated Dr. Joe Bresee, a pediatrician and chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Department of the CDC's Influenza Division.
The CDC can also be involved a few three p.c lower in flu vaccination amongst adults aged 50 and older between 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.
"It is too quickly to say whether or not vaccination in folks 50 and older will rebound this season. We definitely hope it would," Messonnier stated.
"A few third of individuals ages 50 to 64 have medical circumstances that put them at excessive threat of significant flu issues; and we all know that declining immune perform places folks 65 and older at excessive threat. Whereas flu vaccination is really helpful for everybody 6 months and older, it is particularly essential that individuals in high-risk teams get vaccinated," she stated.
The CDC additionally discovered that the 47 p.c flu vaccination charge amongst pregnant girls as of early November was 6 p.c greater than early estimates final season. Nonetheless, greater than half of pregnant girls have been nonetheless unvaccinated.
The 69 p.c general vaccination charge amongst well being care suppliers is about the identical because it was on the similar time final season, the CDC stated.
Final yr, the speed amongst well being care personnel working in long-term care services rose by 5 p.c to 69 p.c, however was nonetheless the bottom amongst all well being care supplier teams. Simply 55 p.c of these working in long-term care services have been vaccinated as of early November. That is the lowest amongst all well being care suppliers this yr, the CDC famous.
"It's actually essential that well being care employees get vaccinated and particularly essential that we proceed to make progress vaccinating well being care employees who work in long-term care services. Most of the most frail and susceptible folks dwell in these services and we all know that vaccinating their caregivers helps shield them," Messonnier stated.
-- Robert Preidt
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SOURCE: U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, information launch, Dec. 9, 2016
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