Got The Flu Shot? Half Say "No"

53% Of U.S. Adults Still Haven't Gotten Flu Vaccine

(WebMD)  More than half of U.S. adults have no intention of getting a flu shot this year, leaving them vulnerable to getting -- and spreading -- the dangerous disease.

The finding comes from the first-ever midseason analysis of who got the shot and who did not.

It's not a good report card for public health, says William Schaffner, MD, president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and chairman of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Nashville's Vanderbilt University.

"Seventy percent of us adults should be vaccinated according to CDC's specific recommendations -- never mind that the CDC says everybody else should, too," Schaffner said at a news conference. "This looks like we are not doing very well, and must do better."

About one in 20 Americans gets the flu each year -- and that's in a very good flu season. In a bad year, you have a 1-in-5 chance of spending three to five days unable to get out of bed, missing a week of work or school, and taking about two weeks to recover.

And that's just if you have an average, uncomplicated case of the flu. If you have an underlying illness, or if you're over age 50 or an infant, your risk is much higher. Every year, the CDC says, flu kills 36,000 Americans.

You can avoid all this if you get the flu vaccine, either the flu shot or the flu sniff (the FluMist intranasal vaccine). Even in a year when the made-in-advance vaccine doesn't fully match circulating flu viruses, the
vaccine makes the flu milder.

Even though it's just two weeks before Christmas, there's still plenty of time to get your flu shot. Most years, flu season doesn't peak until February, and it sometimes comes as late as March. But every year, it does come.


Who Says 'No' to the Flu Shot, and Why

And this year, despite a record number of flu doses on hand, many of us remain at risk. The RAND Internet-based survey of some 4,000 U.S. adults shows that:

• 53% have no intention of getting flu vaccine, and 17% say they haven't yet but plan to.


• 70% of healthy adults under age 50 have no intention of getting the vaccine; 16% say they plan to.


• 46% of adults for whom flu vaccination is strongly recommended --those with underlying conditions, those over 50, or those in close contact with infants, the ill, or the elderly -- have no intention of getting the vaccine; 17% say they plan to.

And too many people with conditions that make them especially vulnerable to flu aren't getting the news:

• 52% of people with asthma have no intention of getting the flu vaccine.


• 30% of people with diabetes have no intention of getting the flu
  vaccine.


• 24% of people with heart disease have no intention of getting the flu vaccine.


• 21% of people with chronic lung disease have no intention of getting the flu vaccine.

Why such resistance to flu vaccine? One in four people who say they won't get a flu shot say they don't need one. One in five simply "doesn't believe in flu vaccines." Another one in five fears they'll get sick or suffer side effects from flu shots.

"The myth you can get flu from the flu vaccine is out there, and we have to combat it," Schaffner said. "It cannot possibly be true. The vaccine is made up of only part of the virus and it cannot reconstitute itself. The inhaled FluMist can maybe give you a sore throat and the sniffles for a day, but that is not influenza."

If you don't worry about your own health, consider the health of others, urges Litjen Tan, PhD, director of infectious diseases for the American Medical Association.

"We have all seen an increase in MRSA complication of the flu," Tan said at the news conference. "In children, that results in increased death rates. We don't want to see that. And since infants under 6 months of age cannot be vaccinated, vaccination of pregnant wmen and people who come into contact with children is an excellent way to confer protection."

[garbosmed]

I guess 70% of adults realize that the flu shot is full of mercury. The public are not idiots. Vanderbilt U. wins the "Pharma Shill" award this week. Children''s Hospital of Philadelphia is going to be so disappointed. The lack of vaccine uptake is a direct result of the CDC & FDA''s failure to adequately test and monitor vaccine safety. It''s the same thing as the Big 3 car makers, using their powerful lobbyists to fight any legislation that would force them to raise mileage standards or improve safety. It''s a good strategy in the short run, but in the long run look what''s happened to them! Better regulation might lead to more innovation and better, safer, products.

[garbosmed]

I guess 70% of adults realize that the flu shot is full of mercury. The public are not idiots. Vanderbilt U. wins the "Pharma Shill" award this week. Children''s Hospital of Philadelphia is going to be so disappointed. The lack of vaccine uptake is a direct result of the CDC & FDA''s failure to adequately test and monitor vaccine safety. It''s the same thing as the Big 3 car makers, using their powerful lobbyists to fight any legislation that would force them to raise mileage standards or improve safety. It''s a good strategy in the short run, but in the long run look what''s happened to them! Better regulation might lead to more innovation and better, safer, products.

[lila356]

Looks like many Americans have finally wised up to the big Pharma and the garbage they like to promote, handout, prescribe. I have never had a flu shot and never get the flu. No mercury for me thank you. If I do get it I will go the herbal homeopathic route.

[4marlene]

Every year my friend C gets a flu shot, and she always gets bronchitis from it lasting a month. I''ve never had a flu shot and never plan to ever stand in that line. It took me 4 years to recover from my last tetnus booster. Now that I know the dangerous additives in each dose of injectables, NO THANK YOU. My youngest son spent 10 years of his life recovering from his baby shots. He is still labeled autistic, but at least now he can talk and he is out of the fog and can describe what it was like in ''there''.

What a great idea to load the coffers of Big Pharma. Come up with a "Flu Shot" that will tear down on own immunities not to mention the side effects of a synthetic product that our liver will have to process. Nope not for me, I would rather have the flu.

[slim1h2o]

It''s not a good report card for public health, says William Schaffner, MD, president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and chairman;

Hey doc, wanna see my reprt card of your health care system?

I have seen more doctors in my life, the last 3 or 4 yrs, and in the worst health that I have ever been.

My question to you is,,Why?

Why can''t Americans get good health care anymore?

Why do you, and others spend soooo much money on useless studies, but yet seem to have no money to treat people?

Why do you doctors have people take these Big Pharma drugs to treat symptoms, when clearly, there is a underlying medical problem of the cause?

Maybe if doctors would treat their patients correctly, and get off this "I''ve had more education, so therefore I know better than you do" kick, maybe we would get flu shots.