by Scott Richter and Dr. Patrick Jones
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine every season with rare exceptions.” and to do so “…before flu viruses begin spreading in your community, since it takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against flu.”
The only people the CDC definitively say should not get a flu shot are those less than 6-months-old and anyone “with severe, life-threatening allergies to flu vaccine or any ingredient in the vaccine.” Even those with egg allergies or who have had Guillain-Barré Syndrome are not excluded from these recommendations but need to decide with their doctor. The nasal spray flu vaccine has more limits on who it is recommended for than the flu shot.
Looking at Indicator 4.3.5: Share of Persons Age 18+ Receiving Influenza Vaccinations on Walla Walla Trends, the county and state have leap-frogged each other nearly each year in the series as to what population, ages 18 and older, had the higher share of the population receive an influenza vaccination.
Walla Walla County had both the lowest and highest shares in the series: 28.6% during 2012 and 54.4% during 2016. Washington State started and ended the series at 37.1%, tied for the lowest share in the state. Walla Walla County ended the series less than one-percentage point above the state at 38.5%. Aside from 2012 and 2016, the state and county have generally been very close to each other.
The high mark of Walla Walla County, 54.4% during 2016, is the only data point in this indicator where more than half of the population ages 18+ received a flu vaccination.
The source for this indicator, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) Community Health Assessment Tool (CHAT), uses a completely different methodology.
Therefore, shares for the U.S. are not available from CHAT since CHAT only collects data in Washington State using an actual count, or the precise number of flu vaccinations and the estimated number of people ages 18+ population from the Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) Estimates of April 1 Population.
The task to collect this data on the state level is likely monumental, if not borderline. While technically not impossible on the national level, it might take longer to collect the data and produce the analysis than the data would remain relevant.
But using estimates of both the number of flu vaccinations and the population ages 18+, the CDC estimates 48.4% of residents ages 18+ in the U.S. received a flu vaccination during the 2019-20 flu season; 45.3% during the 2018-19 flu season; and 37.1% during the 2017-18 flu season.
While there is an apples to oranges aspect, it does provide some perspective to where the county and state compare.
Ultimately, the flu vaccination is an important public health tool only individuals can decide to take part in. During a pandemic, it is perhaps more important than before, if only to help take stress off the healthcare industry, including the people employed in health care, but so people are not stricken with influenza and COVID-19 at the same time – increasing the chances of requiring hospital care and other negative outcomes.