Surprising Racial Disparities Found In Flu Vaccine Rates

FILE-This Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 file photo shows vials of flu vaccine in Philadelphia. As the flu season winds down, health officials say it wasn't as bad as last year and the vaccine worked better. But younger adults were hit harder because of a surge of swine flu. Overall, hospitalization rates for the flu are only about half what they were last winter. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
 (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

This year’s flu strain was particularly brutal, disproportionately affecting children and the elderly. A record-breaking rate of 217 of every 100,000 people over the age of 65 have been hospitalized for the flu, while 80 children so far have died from the disease, reports AP. And while flu season is officially in retreat as of Feb. 14, researchers are hoping to take lessons from this year that can be applied to the 2015-2016 season.
A small survey presented on Feb. 23 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in Houston illustrated one area of concern: racial disparities in flu vaccine rates. The survey, conducted in the suburbs around Detroit, found that black people are less likely to get vaccinated for the flu than either white or Asian people.
The survey data shed light on an opportunity to improve the communication around vaccines — especially when it comes to dispelling myths about the injections in some communities, according to lead researcher Dr. Melissa Skupin of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there about vaccines in general, but particularly the flu vaccine,” said Skupin in a phone interview with The Huffington Post. “People don’t think it works, and when they don’t think it works, they’re less likely to get it.”
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