No patient can take a seasonal flu shot and the pandemic flu vaccine, when available, in one trip to the doctor’s office.

So, don’t wait.

Get your seasonal flu shot now, say experts.

The startlingly low level of immunization against seasonal flu needs to improve and a lot. Influenza is a serious threat which may not seem so because people use “the flu” so often to describe more minor respiratory illnesses.

Seasonal flu causes complications and deaths every single year. The statistics about who is getting vaccinated are in the item below. Most surprising:  Roughly 60% of health care workers did not get shots, this story says.

Why? There is no explanation for the low rate among health care workers but for the rest of us, here is what the infectious disease specialists think may be problems.

The Medpage Today story says:

“One reason for the low immunization rates might be lack of information. A survey of 1,000 adults commissioned by the NFID found 48% of respondents had questions about seasonal influenza. Of those with questions:

• 13% were related to how to avoid catching the flu
• 12% were on vaccine effectiveness
• 11% were on the seriousness or lethality of the flu
• 9% were on how easily the flu spreads
• 8% were on the best time to get vaccinated“

If you also don’t know the answers to these questions, use MedlinePlus to find out. MedlinePlus is part of the National Library of Medicine.

Medpage Today

“Don’t wait for the pandemic H1N1 vaccine to become available before getting an inoculation for seasonal flu, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases warned.B (Emphasis added)

“Putting off routine flu shots in hopes of one-stop-shopping would defeat the primary line of defense against a proven threat, according to a panel representing some of the nation’s top medical organizations assembled by the NFID.

Officials said they expect enough H1N1 vaccine to be available for at-risk populations later this fall, but seasonal influenza vaccine is already available.”

“Seasonal flu, which hospitalizes 200,000 Americans and kills 36,000 annually, is not a threat to be ignored, they said.”

“Last flu season, more than 70% of children 6 months to 18 years old, about 55% of adults ages 19 to 64, and nearly 30% of adults 65 and older went unvaccinated.“(Emphasis added)

“Roughly 60% of healthcare workers didn’t get shots, either, even though studies have suggested this can reduce the ICU mortality of their patients by up to 60%, said Gregory A. Poland, MD, of the Mayo Clinic and chair of the Adult Immunization Advisory Board).” (Emphasis added)

Source: Medpage Today, September 11, 2009