• A Rand study says half of Americans say that they will get the pandemic flu vaccine.
• The study was conducted in June, 2009. The pandemic still was being termed, “mild,” at that time. These studies may or may not reflect current attitudes as the experts’ views have changed markedly.
• Last year, a Rand study released on December 11, 2008, showed that fewer than one-third of U.S. adults had had a flu shot by that date. Only one-half said that they “intended” to get one, the survey showed. The same report said half of Americans said that they would not get a flu shot.
• If half of adults get pandemic flu vaccine, that will represent a 17% increase over 2008 seasonal flu rates.
• The other half of Americans, however, still are not planning to get vaccinated, even after months of news stories about the pandemic as it made its way around the globe. As noted above, the expectation that this pandemic could be more severe than predicted may change some people’s minds.
• This WebMD story says that younger adults said that they were more likely to get the pandemic vaccine. Adults 65 and above said that they were more likely to get the seasonal flu shot. Infectious disease experts have said that the seasonal flu may pose a bigger risk to the 65+ group because of the risk of complications from seasonal influenza and their assumption that people 65+ have acquired some immunity to this strain because they have lived longer. Their immunity would be to the Type A component of this strain. Older people would not have immunity to the avian or swine strains which also are part of “novel H1N1.”
• Experts have recommended that people get seasonal and pandemic flu shots.

WebMD

“Half of American adults say they’ll get the new H1N1 swine flu vaccine, a RAND survey shows.

“The Internet-based survey of a nationally representative panel of 2,067 U.S. adults took place in early June.

“Like people, pigs can get influenza (flu), but swine flu viruses aren’t the same as human flu viruses.

“At that time, 49.6% of those surveyed said they were likely to get the H1N1 swine flu vaccine. If they do, it means nearly 115 million U.S. adults will seek the vaccine when it becomes available.

“People who get their yearly flu shots were more likely than others to accept the new vaccine, found RAND Corp. researchers Jurgen Maurer, PhD, and colleagues.

“However, those ages 18-49 and 50-64 said they were more likely to get the new vaccine than to get their seasonal flu shot. Those over 65 said they were less likely to seek the new vaccine than the seasonal vaccine.”

Source: WebMD, September 23, 2009

Citation: Rand Survey, June, 2009