30 million school kids targeted for flu shots

[Guest guest]

OMG, what a bunch of complete crap!! Make sure you read the part about " Vote

and Vax " and the free flu vaccination days in over 140 schools (good grief!).

There is space for comments on the website if interested ... Becca

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/09/24/20080924flu-vaccine0924-ON.htm\

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Flu shot season begins with ample supply coming

Sept. 24, 2008

03:40 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Just about everybody needs a flu vaccine - unless you're an

infant or a healthy adult hermit - but far too few of the Americans who need

protection the most get it.

That's the message as flu-shot season officially began Wednesday with a call

for a record number to be inoculated - including 30 million more school-age

children than ever before targeted.

" Get out there and get protected and protect others and for sure protect your

children, " said Dr. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention.

" People should start getting vaccinated now, yesterday actually, " added Dr.

Schaffner, president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious

Diseases.

There's ample supply: 143 million to 146 million doses, more than ever before

manufactured. Unlike last year when a surprise new influenza strain emerged,

CDC's checks of parts of the world where flu virus already is circulating show

that this year's vaccine is a good match and should offer plenty of

protection.

Flu kills about 36,000 Americans a year, and hospitalizes about 200,000.

Add up everyone the CDC recommends get vaccinated, and 261 million Americans

now qualify. Yet last year, just 113 million of the 140 million doses produced

were used - spurring a bid for new ways, from inoculations at schools to

voting booths, to spread the advice.

" I should have got a flu shot, " a mother says with despair in a

hard-hitting video of families who lost children to the flu that CDC just posted

on

YouTube, part of this year's special push to vaccinate children.

For the first time, the CDC is advising that every child age 6 months to 18

years be inoculated, unless they have a serious egg allergy.

Until now, flu vaccine was recommended only for children under 5 and those

with chronic health problems like asthma - the youngsters most likely to be

hospitalized. Why the change? Healthy school-age children actually have higher

rates of flu than other age groups, and research increasingly shows they spread

it to the rest of us.

Worse, seemingly healthy children of any age can die from the flu - 86 last

year, from babies to teens.

Parents may need to schedule an appointment early: Any child under 9 who's

being vaccinated for the first time will need two doses, a month apart. A single

dose suffices for everyone else.

CDC released disappointing counts Wednesday of how many people at highest

risk from influenza get vaccinated - including just 72 percent of those age 65

and older, even though Medicare offers them free shots.

Roughly one in five children under 2 got vaccinated during the 2006-07

season, the latest data available. And just 35 percent of young adults at high

risk

because of chronic illnesses, such as asthma or heart conditions, comply.

Also on CDC's get-vaccinated list: Anyone 50 or older; health care workers;

caregivers and relatives of the high-risk; and pregnant women. Newborns can't

be vaccinated, but a fetus does absorb protection from a vaccinated mother.

A closer look shows where people live greatly influences their flu

protection. Young adults are least likely to get vaccinated in Florida, while

Rhode

Island does the best job at vaccinating seniors. As for babies and toddlers,

fewer

than one in 10 in Mississippi are fully vaccinated compared with nearly half

in Rhode Island.

Perhaps most stunning, just 42 percent of health care workers get vaccinated,

people who could be infecting patients in doctors' offices and hospitals.

CDC's Gerberding called it " unconscionable " for health workers to avoid

vaccination: " This is a patient safety issue. "

Schaffner, of Vanderbilt University, said Tennessee has begun requiring

health facilities to report employees' vaccination rates, a move under

consideration by more states.

Vaccine costs about $25. Choices include the old-fashioned shot for all ages,

and the nasal vaccine FluMist, which can be used in healthy people age 2 to

49.

Beyond the usual doctors' offices, health departments and grocery stores,

more than 140 schools around the country are scheduling flu-vaccination days,

some with free vaccine, according FluMist maker MedImmune Inc.

And a Wood -funded program called Vote & Vax will offer vaccine

at numerous polling places on Election Day.

Voting isn't required, and the vaccine provider is supposed to charge the

same price it would any other day, at any other location. The idea: The

convenience of avoiding an extra stop might encourage more people to get

vaccinated.

It's not clear how many polling places will participate. But during a pilot

project on Election Day 2006, some 13,790 doses were administered at 127

polling places in 14 states - and nearly 30 percent of the recipients said they

hadn't gotten vaccinated the previous year

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