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Doctors: Focus of flu shots should be flu©Washington Post
© St. Petersburg Times, WASHINGTON -- Health authorities are recommending that elderly Americans, those with heart and lung problems and children with asthma get flu shots to protect against influenza, a killer that claims more than 20,000 American lives a year. While acknowledging that many healthy people want the flu vaccine this year -- to quell fears about anthrax, which initially manifests with flulike symptoms -- doctors say they want the focus of immunization to be on the flu. "We want to separate the idea that getting vaccinated increases or decreases your fears about getting anthrax," said Keiji Fukuda, an epidemiologist and flu expert with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's because many people who get flu shots are still likely to come down with flulike symptoms, and doctors don't want these people to conclude they have anthrax. "If we look at all influenzalike illnesses during the year, less then half will be due to influenza," he said. "A minority will be due to influenza. A majority will be due to other viruses. When people get vaccinated against influenza they have decreased their chances of getting the flu, but they can get infected by cold viruses." Fukuda said the CDC would support people in lower-risk groups who wanted to get flu shots, and plans proposed by some employers, like the postal department, to immunize their employees. Some 85-million doses of the flu shot will be available by mid December.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
