Did You Get Your Flu Shot Yet?

by Mike Hall, Dec 6, 2008

If you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, this coming week is a great time to go ahead and protect yourself and your family from those nasty ravages of the flu. Dec. 8 kicks off the third annual National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with Families Fighting Flu, designated the week to remind families who have not yet been vaccinated about the seriousness of influenza, the value of vaccination and that it is not too late to get a flu vaccine. The AFL-CIO is part of the coalition.

Tuesday has been designated Children’s Flu Vaccination Day and will focus on vaccinating children and their close contacts. Thursday is set as Seniors’ Vaccination day and Healthcare Professionals Vaccination Day is Friday.

NIVW is designed to promote vaccination to anyone who wants to remain healthy during influenza season, and it also is specifically focusing on high-risk groups for whom flu vaccination is especially important. These include:

• Children, ages six months through 18 years;
• Pregnant women;
• Americans, 65 and older;
• Adults and children with chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, or HIV/AIDS;
• Parents, family members and caregivers of infants under six months of age who are too young to get vaccinated and need to be protected against the flu;
• People in nursing facilities; and
• Individuals who care for people in the high-risk groups.

CDC also recommends that people ages 50 or older and health care professionals also get vaccinated. According to CDC officials, an otherwise healthy person may be sick in bed for a week with the flu, but passing the flu on to someone in one of these groups could kill that person.

Each year, on average, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized and nearly 36,000 die in the United States from serious flu-related complications. In addition, 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized.

As CDC officials note, even if flu has hit your community, it is still beneficial to get vaccinated. Flu season typically doesn’t peak until January or February and can extend into May.

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