Data for this diary comes from the CDC coverage information for 2014-2015 data set.
As someone who is chronically ill with multiple auto-immune diseases I have a special interest in not catching diseases that can be prevented.
I have to get the flu shot each year, or else I pay the price.
We all know the CDC suggestions:
People who should get the flu shot:
are approved for use in people as young as 6 months of age and up. Flu shots are approved for use in pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions.
People who should not get the flu shot:
- Children younger than 6 months are too young to get a flu shot.
- People with severe, life-threatening allergies to flu vaccine or any ingredient in the vaccine. This might include gelatin, antibiotics, or other ingredients
The priortization of people needing a shot:
- Children aged 6 months through 4 years (59 months);
- People aged 50 years and older;*
- People with chronic pulmonary (including asthma), cardiovascular (except hypertension), renal, hepatic, neurologic, hematologic, or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus);
- People who are immunosuppressed (including immunosuppression caused by medications or by Human Immunodeficiency Virus);
- Women who are or will be pregnant during the influenza season and women up to two weeks after delivery;
- People who are aged 6 months through 18 years and receiving long-term aspirin therapy and who therefore might be at risk for experiencing Reye syndrome after influenza virus infection;
- People who are residents of nursing homes and other chronic-care facilities;
- American Indians/Alaska Natives;
- People with extreme obesity (body-mass index [BMI] is 40 or greater);
- Health care personnel;
- Household contacts and caregivers of children younger than 5 years and adults aged 50 years and older, with particular emphasis on vaccinating contacts of children aged younger than 6 months; and
- Household contacts and caregivers of people with medical conditions that put them at higher risk for severe complications from influenza.
Table 1: Flu Vaccination Coverage,* United States,† 2014–15 Season |
Age Group |
Unweighted Sample Size
|
%‡ ± 95% CI§
|
Difference from the 2013–14 Season ± 95% CI
|
All People ≥6 months
|
451,358
|
47.1 ± 0.3
|
0.9 ± 0.5||
|
Children (6 months−17 years) |
128,143
|
59.3 ± 0.8
|
0.4 ± 1.1
|
Adults (≥18 years) |
323,215
|
43.6 ± 0.4
|
1.4 ± 0.6||
|
I also list here the rates for adults coverage:
Coverage among adults 18 years and older increased with increasing age:
- 18–49 years: 33.5%
- 50–64 years: 47.0%
- ≥65 years: 66.7%
So we see, as one would be expected to see, that not enough people that should be vaccinated are being so.
I present the numbers to open up a discussion on here and to see where we stand, compared to the US population as a whole.
If you’d be interested in a data breakdown by ethnicity I’d refer you to the above linked article.