# 3399
The uptake of influenza vaccines in the United States and Canada is pretty low, with just over 1/3rd of Americans getting shots, and slightly less than 1/3rd of Canadians taking the jab.
Even more concerning is the very demographic – teenagers and young adults – who are the most severely affected by this pandemic strain are traditionally the least inclined to get a flu shot.
Complicating matters, it will probably take two shots, 3 or 4 weeks apart, to convey immunity.
That means 2 visits to a clinic.
Which may be a tough sell after all we’ve heard from officials about how `mild’ this virus is and how `it’s no worse than seasonal flu’.
How receptive the public is going to be to any mass immunization plan is going to be a big question.
The Canadian Press has the results of a recent poll showing the rates of vaccination from last flu season.
Flu shot data points to swine flu challenge: Young adults don't get flu shots
Fri, 2009-06-26 12:28.
By: THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO - New data on who got a flu shot in Canada last year underscores a challenge public health officials may face as they plan for a mass swine flu vaccination campaign: most young adults don't get flu shots.
Just under a third of Canadians aged 12 and older got a flu shot last year, Statistics Canada reported Friday in data drawn from the Canadian Community Health Survey, an annual effort to collect health information on a broad cross section of Canadians.
But that average was drawn upwards by the fact that 67 per cent of people 65 and older were vaccinated against influenza last fall.
The rates were substantially lower among people in their teens, 20s, 30s and 40s - the group which currently appears to be at highest risk of catching the novel H1N1 flu virus and of having severe disease or dying if infected.
Only 26 per cent of those aged 12 to 64 took the preventive seasonal flu vaccine in 2008, Statistics Canada said.
Among healthy males, about 21 per cent of teens, 15 per cent of those 20 to 34 and 19 per cent of those aged 35 to 49 had a flu shot. Among healthy females, the rates were a bit higher in most age categories: just over 20 per cent of teens, 23 per cent of 20 to 34 year olds and 25 per cent of those aged 35 to 44 got a flu shot.
