February 4th, 2010

Did you know that tens of thousands of adult Americans die each year from diseases that could be prevented by routine vaccinations?

Reports Reuters:

Tens of thousands of American adults die each year from pneumonia, influenza and other infectious diseases that could be prevented by routine vaccinations, according to a report released Thursday.

Only about a third of seniors were vaccinated in 2008 against pneumonia, a complication of seasonal flu, according to the report released by the Trust For America’s Health, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Merck and Co makes a vaccine called Pneumovax to protect adults against Streptococcus pneumoniae infections, which cause pneumonia and a range of other illnesses. But U.S. health officials say only about a quarter of adults who should get it ever do.

Children are protected against seven strains of S. pneumoniae bacteria with Pfizer Inc’s Prevnar.

Overall, adult vaccination rates are particularly low for minority groups, according to the report.

Sixty-nine percent of older whites received the seasonal flu vaccine in 2008, compared to 53 percent of older African Americans and 51 percent of older Hispanics, the report found.

Only 36 percent of all adults were vaccinated against the seasonal flu in 2008 and only about 2 percent of adults had tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough vaccines, the report found.

Limited health insurance coverage, high out-of-pocket costs and limited access are major reasons adults skip vaccinations, but misinformation is also an obstacle, the report said.

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