LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Fewer than half of U.S. healthcare workers get a seasonal flu shot, a University of California at Los Angeles and Harvard University study found.
Researchers analyzed data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey to measure flu vaccination rates among U.S. healthcare workers and found the overall vaccination rate was 38 percent.
Rates were particularly low in workers who were health aides, African-American or under the age of 50, said Dr. William King, visiting assistant physician at the Department of Infectious Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; and Dr. Steffie Woolhandler of the Harvard Medical School.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has recommended vaccinating healthcare workers with direct patient contact as a priority to prevent spread of the disease.
The findings are scheduled to be published in the February edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
