Just about everybody
|
|
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Who should get a flu shot this year? The latest recommendations simplify things: Just about everybody. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Thomas Frieden, talked about who should be vaccinated, and why:
``Everyone over the age of 6 months should get a flu shot. Every year, millions of people get sick, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized, and thousands of people die from influenza.'' (12 seconds)
Dr. Frieden told a news conference held by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases that, if you're old enough to ask, you should get vaccinated - and, for some youngsters, even if they are not old enough to ask.
The CDC says the vaccine supply is expected to top 150 million doses, so there should be more vaccine than ever, and more places to get it.
Learn more at hhs.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss