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CDC Announces Free Flu Shots to be Offered to Elderly The China Post August 7,
2003 Taiwan - To prepare for a possible recurrence of SARS this fall and to avoid confusion between SARS and influenza, Taiwan's Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced yesterday that free flu shots will be offered to senior citizens in mid-September, earlier than in past years. In addition, for the first time, all hospital workers and caregivers will be required to have the shots, evening newspapers reported. The CDC has purchased 1.93 million flu shots, of which 1.63 million will be allotted to people aged 65 or over. The rest will be given to medical staff. The agency hopes that this year, about 80 percent of elderly people in Taiwan will be inoculated against the flu virus. A CDC official said that flu shots, which are effective for three to six months, greatly decrease the number of deaths and complications associated with the flu among older people, although it does not actually prevent them catching the disease. When taking the shots, senior citizens will be given a card which should be shown to a doctor if fever and other symptoms develop. Also, the CDC said it will begin using oral samples to test feverish patients at medical care facilities and airports beginning August 15. For two months, the center will check for SARS and dengue fever, and then it will switch its focus to SARS and influenza. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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