Sixty Percent of U.S. Unvaccinated for Flu

If the CDC’s guidelines are for EVERYONE to get flu shots annually… why don’t we hold prescribers and pharmacist responsible for pts failing to get flu shots… like we are holding them responsible for pts getting/needing more than 90 mg/day morphine equivalents for chronic pain therapy.. after all there are up wards of 49,000 people that die annually from catching the flu… MORE than the people that die from a opiate – including illegal opiates – OD’s ? Why does some CDC guidelines have more influence of being observed/followed than others ?
Only about two out of five people in the U.S. reported having gotten this season’s flu vaccine as of early November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week. The vaccination level is similar to this time last season. Breaking it down, the CDC said 40 percent of people overall reported having received a flu vaccine, including 37 percent of children ages 6 months to 17 years, and 41 percent of adults ages 18 years and older.

Separately, the American Academy of Pediatrics this week released a new interactive tool to highlight state immunization rates for vaccine-preventable diseases, including influenza.

Filed under: General Problems