Shannon Curran, RN, clinical nurse manager, provided both the injections and the root beer to the Cook County Hospital Board at the board’s October meeting. “Jennifer Dowden, RN, Infection Control coordinator, has been encouraging our employees and board members to come and have ‘a shot and a beer,”’ said North Shore Health director Kimber Wraalstad, who noted that “more than 85 percent of our employees have received their flu shot.” Brave board members from L-R: Sharon Bloomquist, Steve Nielsen, Kay Olson and Justin Mueller.
On September 28, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that flu shots reduced the number of doctor visits for flu-like illnesses by over 50 percent.
Yet apprehensions, myths, and doubts surrounding vaccines – and in particular flu shots – persist. On October 19, JustAnswer, a website where people can connect with doctors and other professionals, reviewed tens of thousands of customer questions about flu shots spanning back to the start of 2015 in order to uncover changing attitudes about vaccinations.
Casual observers might think that vaccinations dominate the medical conversation especially given the controversy surrounding the link between vaccines and autism. In reality, there were more vaccination questions about relatively rare conditions like Japanese encephalitis than questions about more contentious early childhood vaccinations like MMR.
This point is further cemented when looking at the types of questions inside our medical category. Interestingly, it was noted there is greater interest in neurological problems than vaccines. But whereas about one million U.S. adults are diagnosed with a chronic brain disorder each year, 140 million U.S. adults got a flu shot.
Highlights:
. There was a 52 percent increase in questions about vaccinations from 2016 to 2017.
. Allergies and hives together made up 41 percent of the most common reactions to flu shots.
. Of all vaccines, the vaccine for chickenpox was the most asked about, comprising 41 percent of total vaccine questions, while flu shots came in second with 13 percent.
. While the JustAnswer study found a large increase in questions about vaccinations from 2016 to 2017, most of these questions concerned immediate reactions to vaccines instead of the link between vaccines and developmental issues.
. When zeroing in on regional trends, it was found that interest in influenza and its side effects varies significantly by state, suggesting a difference in health resources, education programs, and media coverage across America.
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