Vaccines: not just for kids

Each year 50,000 Americans die from a vaccine-preventable infections, and almost all of them—95%—are adults. 

Influenza, for example, causes an average of 36,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations in the U.S. every year, but less than half of the adults for whom the vaccine is recommended get the shot.

Pneunococcal infections, when can cause lung, blood stream and nervous system infections, kill 5,000 Americans a year, yet only one in three adults age 18-64 at high risk for these infections has had the vaccine.

Hepatitis B, which causes liver disease including cirrhosis and liver cancer, kills about 5,000 people a year, yet only one in five adults age 18 to 49 has been vaccinated.

By contrast, 90 percent of U.S. children are up-to-date on their shots. But many, when they grow up forget that in order to stay protected they need to get booster shots for diseases like tetanus and diphtheria. 

In fact, in a survey conducted by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, nearly half of adults polled said they thought they had received all the shots then needed when they were children or that they thought adults didn’t need vaccines.

PHOTO CREDIT: Hepatitis Viruses / CDC

To learn more about adult vaccinations:

• Visit AdultVacinations.com
• Visit the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases Web site.
• Washington State Department of Health Immunization Program: www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/immunize, which has specific information about adult immunizations and links to national and ocal resources.
• Visit the Public Health – Seattle & King County immunization information page.

Tags: Diphtheria, Flu, Hepatitis, Immunizations, Influenza, Pertussis, Pneumococcus, Tetanus, Vaccines

Category: Infections, Influenza, Pertussis, Prevention, Vaccines