ATLANTA, April 1 (UPI) -- The number of U.S. healthcare personnel who received the seasonal flu shot was highest than any other year, but still too low, health officials said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, released Thursday, said seasonal influenza vaccination coverage for healthcare workers for the 2009-10 influenza season was 62 percent -- higher than any other season -- but all those working with patients should be vaccinated annually for influenza.
The survey of 1,417 healthcare personnel, conducted in January, also indicated the vaccination coverage rate for influenza A H1N1 2009 for the 2009-10 influenza season was 37 percent, the report said.
Influenza vaccination rates increased up to eightfold for healthcare workers in facilities with occupational requirements for vaccination, the report said.
A separate report, published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, indicated that by the end of January, just less than one-quarter of the U.S. population had been vaccinated against H1N1, with more than one-third of all U.S. children and nearly one-fifth of U.S. adults receiving the H1N1 vaccine.
