Thursday, September 22, 2011

Big Plans for Influenza Vaccination this Flu Season

The public apparently has big plans for influenza vaccination this year. 


I have already noticed many patients requesting the vaccine in the clinic. Is this just hype? Will there be higher than usual influenza activity this year? Time will tell.


From my experience with healthcare workers, there is a always a significant fraction who are recalcitrant to seasonal influenza vaccination. The excuses are many, including, fear of needles, too busy, anti-vaccination tendencies, etc. To overcome this, some healthcare systems have made seasonal vaccination for influenza mandatory


Will the (seeming) public enthusiasm for the vaccine spill over to healthcare workers?


Your guess is as good as mine.