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Elderly or Children?
Study Questions Who Gets Priority on Flu Shots
WNEP News Station
February 15, 2005
Who should get priority when flu shots are given? The elderly or children?
It's an issue that puts two federal health agencies at odds, and one local doctor has strong opinions on the issue.
The study comes from the National Institutes of Health. It suggests flu shots should be given to children first, because they are biggest spreaders of the virus.
The study also says flu shots had not saved the lives of the elderly.
But, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which decides who gets first priority, says it will still put the elderly first.
Dr. Richard Blum of Wilkes-Barre agrees with the CDC. Seniors should come first. "I've been giving hundreds of flu shots to older individuals for many, many, years. I've never had to put an older patient into the hospital for that matter any patients in the hospital with a diagnosis of influenza. And I've never had a patient die of influenza," Blum says.
The flu can kill seniors in many ways. Dr. Blum, "They become weak, they fall, they fracture their hips, they become immobilized, they're unable to eat, they die of pulmonary embolism, clot problems that come about as a result of immobilization."
The reason the National Institutes of Health study suggests children should get first priority is because they are the vectors or main carriers of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and this doctor aren't buying that, "I think it's important to remember also that every person elderly or not who becomes immunized prevents the spread, of influenza at the time of an epidemic. For every person who doesn't get influenza will not give it to their 50-most recent acquaintances and those they run into," Blum says.
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