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A smaller percentage of people in the highest-risk group were vaccinated this flu season than a year earlier despite attempts to steer the nation's limited flu vaccine to them, the CDC said Thursday.
The lower vaccine usage indicates the government must do a better job of telling the elderly and others at risk whether and when they should be vaccinated, said public health experts who heard the announcement Thursday at the winter meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
From September through December 2004, 58.9 percent of Americans over 65 were vaccinated against flu, compared with 65.5 percent during the same months a year earlier, said Dr. Jeanne Santoli of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The failure to vaccinate more of the elderly reflects inconsistent availability of the vaccine across the country and disinclination by some people to be vaccinated once the flu season turned out not to be severe, said committee member Dr. Greg Poland of Mayo Medical School.
"Part of it is not stepping up, but part of it is giving up when the vaccine is not available after a certain amount of time," Poland said.
To improve vaccination rates next flu season, the CDC is considering changing the way priority groups are offered the vaccine.
If priorities are stated clearly and vaccine is available, Americans will be vaccinated, scientists at the meeting said, citing statistics that showed more young children were vaccinated this season.
From September to December, 57.3 percent of children 6 to 23 months old received the vaccination, compared with 7.7 percent the year before. The huge jump reflects the committee's recommendation that children in that age group be vaccinated, published just before this flu season began, the scientists said.
Copyright 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
