About 200,000 people get hospitalized per year because of flu but despite the availability of flu vaccines, fewer than half of Americans get vaccinated and thus increase their risks for unnecessary suffering, hospitalizations and even death.
In the Sept. 19 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, health experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that only a little over 46 percent of Americans 6 months and older received flu shots during the 2013-2014 flu season.
Young children fared better than older adults when it comes to getting immunized as 70.4 percent of those younger than 5 years old got vaccinated against the disease compared with 65 percent of adults who were at least 65 years old. Of those between 18 and 64 years old, the age group that was hit hard last flu season, only 33.9 percent got themselves vaccinated last year.
More than 55 percent of school age-children, or those between 5 and 17 years, old also received coverage as well as about 50 percent of pregnant women, the CDC reported. The increase in the number of pregnant women getting vaccinated is welcome news since they are the most vulnerable to developing severe complications from the illness. Laura Riley, from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said that getting vaccinated during pregnancy does not just protect the mother. It also provides protection to the baby in the first six months of life.
CDC director Thomas Frieden encouraged everyone to get immunized particularly those in age groups with low vaccination rate. He said that although more people get vaccinated against flu over the past few years, it is still unfortunate that half of the American population do not get protection from the illness.
"We need to encourage more young and middle-aged adults to get vaccinated because they also can suffer serious consequences from the flu," said Frieden. "Vaccination is the single most important step everyone 6 months of age and older can take to protect themselves and their families against influenza."
Frieden said that over 100 children died because of flu-related complications last year, which could have been prevented as ninety percent of these young patients were not vaccinated. The CDC has also recommended the use of flu nasal spray for children between 2 and 8 years old this year but if this is not available, Frieden said that children should get the shot.
About 150 million doses of flu vaccine are expected to be available this year.
