Despite awareness campaigns and publicized risks, fewer than half of all Americans were vaccinated for the flu last season, according to findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In an online summary report released Sept. 28, CDC analyzed data from the National Immunization Survey-Flu and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to estimate vaccination coverage for the 2016-2017 flu season. Data was collected for people ages 6 months and older, and the report presented monthly coverage rates by age group, sex, race and ethnicity.
At a news conference held the day the report was released, then-U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, MD, said that vaccination coverage has plateaued in recent years. With overall coverage at 46.8 percent last season, many people did not receive a flu shot, despite the recommendations from medical and public health experts that everyone ages 6 months and older get vaccinated, except for rare exceptions.
Vaccination coverage for all age groups, except children under 2, fell below the national target of 70 percent. Among children under 18, coverage was 59 percent, and among adults 18 and older it was 43.3 percent, up 1.6 percent from the prior season. For adults 18-49, vaccination coverage was 33.6 percent, the lowest among any age group. Yet Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said that vaccinations are particularly important among children and seniors, who are more prone to develop severe illness from the flu.