Almost Half of Nursing Home Workers Don’t Get Flu Shots
Published at
iStock/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) — Here’s news to send shivers through anyone who has a loved one being cared for at a nursing home: just over half of the workers at these facilities got vaccinated for the flu.
Researchers at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health and the Florida Health Care Association suggest that since this is the case, many of the 7,300 people who die from the flu at nursing homes annually didn’t have to get sick in the first place.
Based on a survey of 2,000 nursing home workers at 37 facilities in three states, a mere 54 percent were vaccinated during the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 flu seasons. Meanwhile, other studies reveal that seven in ten nursing home residents typically get a flu shot.
The researchers say that basic education might boost the number of workers who go in for a shot. For instance, those who know that the vaccine doesn’t cause the flu were 12 percent more likely to get inoculated.
Also, nursing home workers who understand that these vaccines are effective in preventing the flu were 28 percent more likely to receive the vaccine.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.