FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 24, 2006
Cambridge Health Alliance: Alison Harris, aharris@cha.harvard.edu (617) 499-8323 UCLA: Elaine Schmidt, eschmidt@mednet.ucla.edu (310) 794-2272
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RESEARCH ALERT
LESS THAN HALF OF U.S. HEALTHCARE WORKERS GET FLU SHOTS FINDS UCLA/HARVARD STUDY; HEALTHCARE WORKER’S LACK OF ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE PUTS PATIENTS AT RISK
FINDINGS: UCLA and Harvard researchers analyzed data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey to measure flu vaccination rates among U.S. healthcare workers. From a nationally representative sample of 1,651 workers, the overall vaccination rate was only 38 percent. Rates were particularly low in workers who were health aides (e.g. nurses aides, medical assistants or orderlies), African American, or under 50.
IMPACT: The low flu vaccination rate among healthcare workers increases their likelihood of contracting the flu and passing it to patients. Healthcare workers, especially those who are minority, poor, or young, need both better education and improved access to primary care in order to reduce the spread of flu. Inequalities in healthcare currently undermine our ability to stop flu transmission. Should an epidemic of bird flu emerge, such inequalities will hamstring efforts to contain it.
BACKGROUND: More than 36,000 people died between 1990 and 1999 from influenza, the sixth leading cause of death in the nation. A severe pandemic of bird flu might kill many times that number. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend vaccinating healthcare workers with direct patient contact as a priority in preventing spread of the disease. Yet many healthcare workers lack access to healthcare for their own medical needs. Earlier studies have found that 12.2% of healthcare workers have no health insurance coverage. Workplace vaccination programs are also failing to reach such workers.
AUTHORS: Dr. William King, visiting assistant physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; and Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, physician at Cambridge Health Alliance and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, are available for interviews. Two of the other authors work at Cambridge Health Alliance: David H. Bor (Infectious Disease Specialist and Chairman of the Department of Medicine) and David U. Himmelstein (Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School).
JOURNAL: The research will appear in the February edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of General Internal Medicine, Vol. 21, No. 2.
FUNDING: Funding from the National Institutes of Health supported the research.