Flu shots could save 6,500 elderly a year

WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) -- Researchers in Michigan say U.S. health officials could save the lives of more than 6,500 seniors a year with an aggressive flu vaccination campaign.

The researchers say that if the Department of Health and Human Services did a campaign similar to the pharmaceutical industry's direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns, it could save more than 6,500 lives at a cost of $37,600 per life-year saved over a 10-year period.

The study, the first to analyze the cost-effectiveness of an intense federal advertising campaign aimed at vaccination, appears in Preventive Medicine.

"Despite being an efficient and cost-effective way to prevent mortality from flu among the elderly, it's still an underutilized tool -- with vaccination rates falling more than 25 (percent) below the national goal of 90 percent," said study author Dr. Matthew Davis of the University of Michigan Health System.