Encourage residents to get vaccinated against flu

Those working in senior living environments should ensure that residents and older workers are vaccinated against the flu, health officials recommend.

“We can’t predict what this season is going to be like—severe or less severe,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, said at a recent press conference held by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) in collaboration with the CDC and several other organizations. “We can’t predict exactly which strains are going to be circulating. But we can predict that the best way you can protect yourself against flu is to get a flu vaccination this year, and now’s the time to start getting one.”

People aged more than 65 years are especially vulnerable, the officials relayed. “Last year, 65 percent of 65-year-olds got a flu vaccination. Typically, most of the hospitalizations and deaths are in this population,” Frieden said, also noting “big differences between different states and how they do on flu vaccination.” (See sidebar, right.)

Overall vaccination rates during the 2013-2014 flu season were 45.3 percent for those aged 50 to 64 years and, as Frieden noted, 65 percent for those aged 65 or more years. Vaccination rates were higher among women aged 50 to 64 than among men in the same age group, but rates were similar among men and women aged at least 65 years. Of men, 42.7 percent of those aged 50 to 64 were vaccinated, and 65 percent of those aged at least 65 years were vaccinated. Of women, 47.7 percent of those aged 50 to 64 were vaccinated, and 65.1 percent of those aged at least 65 were vaccinated. (See chart, below.)

A high-dose flu vaccine is now available for those aged 65 or more years, noted William Schaffner, MD, professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and past president of the NFID. It “provides a larger dose of antigen—that’s the part of the vaccine that actually stimulates the body’s immune response to create antibodies,” he explained. “New data, recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, indicate that the high-dose vaccine leads to significantly higher antibody levels in people aged 65 and older and also, those higher antibody levels translate into greater protection against influenza. So the vaccine really does its job as intended.”

The CDC has posted flu vaccination information for healthcare professionals on its website.

Because getting the flu increases a person’s chances of getting pneumococcal disease, health officials also recommend that older adults are vaccinated against pneumonia at the same time they receive the flu shot.

Related content:

Flu vaccination low among long-term care workers

CDC recommends 2 pneumonia vaccines for older adults

I Advance Senior Care

I Advance Senior Care is the industry-leading source for practical, in-depth, business-building, and resident care information for owners, executives, administrators, and directors of nursing at assisted living communities, skilled nursing facilities, post-acute facilities, and continuing care retirement communities. The I Advance Senior Care editorial team and industry experts provide market analysis, strategic direction, policy commentary, clinical best-practices, business management, and technology breakthroughs.

I Advance Senior Care is part of the Institute for the Advancement of Senior Care and published by Plain-English Health Care.