Study: Only half in state got flu shot when vaccine was plentiful

A survey of more than 4,000 Tennesseans found 52 percent received the flu shot last year.

Of those who were not vaccinated, 33 percent didn’t think it was necessary; 21 percent thought it would make them sick; another 21 percent said they’d never thought about getting it and the remaining 25 percent offered an assortment of reasons including side effects, cost and lack of time.

Last year the flu season started early and killed 152 children nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 36,000 people die from the flu every year.

Health officials say misconceptions about the vaccine still exist.

Dr. Tim Jones, deputy state epidemiologist for the Tennessee Department of Health, led the study that appeared in December in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

“Obviously, many people make it through multiple flu seasons and do fine, and therefore I think they have the perception that they’re going to continue to do fine,” Jones said.

His medical experience convinces him that getting the flu shot has more benefits than risks.

“The problem is when you’re one of the unlucky ones that has one of those awful, heartbreaking, severe illnesses that ends in a hospitalization or death or an awful outcome,” he said. “It’s sad to see those, particularly knowing that it could have been prevented.”

More than half of health care workers didn’t get the vaccine, according to the study. Apparently they also believe many of the misconceptions, said the study’s co-author, William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“One of the comments we get from health care workers is, ‘Gee, I don’t like to get a shot,’ ” Schaffner says. “That’s pretty funny, but it’s true.”

The vaccine isn’t perfect. Last year’s formula was only 47 percent effective because scientists didn’t include the dominant strain, according to a CDC report.

The vaccine is normally effective 70 percent to 90 percent of the time in preventing flu in healthy adults and children. It’s effectiveness drops to between 30 percent and 70 percent for the elderly and people with medical conditions, according to the CDC.

“It’s very frustrating for a public-health person to know that we have a tool that can save lives and not see it be used,” Jones said. “It’s cheap, it works quite well and I just feel like it’s a shame if people who are most at risk are not getting the benefit of getting it.”

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Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com