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Black Senior Citizens and Flu Shots

Why Blacks Don't Get Annual Vaccinations

Dec 8, 2008 Jo Anne Moore

The eighth leading cause of death in America is influenza and pneumonia. More than 36,000 people succumb to these viral infections, every year.

Another 200,00 are sickened and must seek treatment. Fully 90% of those who die are over the age of 65, and nearly half of those who die, are African American.

Center for Disease Control statistics also show that Black Americans, even with health care, tend to by-pass the shot; while nearly 70% of White Americans are vaccinated yearly, regardless of their personal risk factors. Blacks get the shot only 45% of the time. These figures hold true even when the flu shots are free. Doctors say that blacks are at risk because of rampant obesity and the large numbers of African Americans who suffer from adult onset diabetes.

A study done several years ago (JAMA 2001 Sep 26; 286(12): 1455-60), put forth two other reasons why Blacks tend not to seek out the vaccination. One is simple distrust of the vaccine itself. The other is Black cultural distrust of doctors in general, dating back to the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiments of the 1940s. Recent statistics for this variance apparently have not changed according to the CDC. Doctors are unanimous in their opinion that the only way to reach African Americans is through education about the impact of the flu, on the community, as a whole.

Since 2005, researchers have engaged in vigorous debate about the effectiveness of the yearly flu shot for the elderly. Two studies published in recent years, and found in the Journal of American Medicine, speculate that the overall statistics are skewed, with the death rate being too high, because otherwise healthy seniors are actually the ones getting the vaccinations, rather than the ones who are truly at risk. In other words, the differences in the health of those who get the shot and those who don’t, make it hard to get a real read on the actual death toll. This is true for both blacks and whites. A study done by the National Institute of Health echoes these findings.

Regardless of statistics, however, some doctors and researchers say the key to cutting infection for everyone, especially the elderly, is stepped up vaccination of children, care givers, and nursing home workers. Children are major purveyors of the disease according to the CDC, because they pass it around to each other, and then take it home to their families. Reasoning like that angers groups like anti-vaccination organization, Moms Against Mercury, which disputes the need to add yet another vaccination on the long list that children must undergo.

In addition to children and senior care givers, the CDC still recommends that all people in high risk groups get vaccinated yearly.

People who are 50 years and older should get the shot annually
People with chronic lung or heart disease such as asthma and high blood pressure
People who need regular medical care (or needed hospitalization in the past year) for diabetes, kidney problems, blood cell diseases, or immune disorders.

Flu Symptoms:

Fever (usually high)
Headache
Muscle aches
Chills
Extreme tiredness
Dry cough
Runny nose may also occur but is more common in children than adults
Stomach symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, may also occur but are more common in children than adults

The copyright of the article Black Senior Citizens and Flu Shots in General Medicine is owned by Jo Anne Moore. Permission to republish Black Senior Citizens and Flu Shots in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.