Not Everyone Loves the Flu Shot

SOUND: flushot.vox.wav [You’re not allergic…ow…ow…I hate shots] 13 seconds

Fade down on 10:00, bring up EG1

EG1: This is the sound of a great deal.

Technically it’s the sound of someone getting a flu shot at a workplace clinic.

But according to Dr. John Santa of Consumer Reports Health, it’s also one heck of a bargain. 13 seconds

BITE: SANTA1.Wav [The flu vaccine couldn’t be a better buy. I mean, this is a best buy for consumers.] 7 seconds

EG2: Getting the shot should be a no-brainer – because, says Santa, some studies show that it’s 70 to 90% effective at preventing the illness or at least making it less acute.

And for most people it costs little or nothing.

The state of New Hampshire has embarked on an ambitious campaign to vaccinate 90% of the state’s 315,000 kids.

It’s purchased $2 million worth of the vaccine and is making it available to doctors for free.

State immunization program manager Marcella Bobinsky: 26 seconds

BITE: Marcella1.wav [The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has decided that all children, not just six month through five years, but all children six months through 18 years should be getting influenza vaccine. And likewise we’re learning that it’s very important for the entire population to be immunized because we can carry it.] 23 seconds

EG3: The CDC claims that the flu costs the country at least $87 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity – not to mention making 200,000 people miserable for a week or so, and killing about 36,000.

But about half of Americans yawn at these scary statistics.

No matter how much arm twisting public health departments do, these folks just aren’t going to roll up their sleeves.

In a recent survey, Consumer Reports Health uncovered what it calls a wealth of dumb excuses for not getting the shot – including about 5% of people who would rather get the flu than go to work.

Ask any group of people why they’re avoiding the shot and you’ll get a variety of answers. 35 seconds

FLUMONTAGE: 26 seconds

EG4: Dr. John Santa isn’t buying these excuses.

For instance, he says, he hates it when people say they don’t get sick. 7 seconds

BITE: Santa.sick.wav [People are being lulled into thinking, oh, this won’t happen to me. This is a very infectious epidemic disease that those of us who’ve had it don’t want to get it again.] 12 seconds

EG5: But not every scientist is a flu shot fan.

Dr. Stephen Wool-ocean is with the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.

He’s the coauthor of a new book called Know Your Chances, which evaluates health claims.

He says the CDC greatly exaggerates the risks of dying from the flu and the effectiveness of the shot.

Take, for example, those 36,000 flu deaths each year.

The number sounds huge.

But the risk of dying is pretty small.

Among the general population, the flu causes only 2 percent of all deaths. 29 seconds

And because the risk is relatively low, the notion that you should get a flu shot to save your life is overblown, Dr. Wool-ocean says.

BITE: Dartmouth1.wav [If you see public health advertisements that imply it’s going to save your life that’s misleading. If you want to get the shot because you want to do what you can to avoid getting sick it seems like it’s a perfectly safe thing to do and that’s fine but that’s an individual’s decision.] 19 seconds

EG6: Wool-ocean does say that kids should probably get flu shots.

And he acknowledges that health care workers should too.

But he’s not sure whether he will. 8 seconds

BITE: Dartmouth2.wav [I’m a doctor and so I feel like I ought to. I haven’t decided yet. I’m afraid of needles.] 5 seconds

EG7: Dr. Wool-ocean says he feels like he should, so that he doesn’t infect patients. But first, he says, he has to get psyched up.

For NHPR News, I’m Elaine Grant.