Published: November 25, 2008
Last month at a luncheon marking International Infection Prevention Week at the National Press Club, some speakers reminded me of a shameful and frightening statistic: Almost 60 percent of American health-care workers do not receive the flu vaccine.
Let me put that in context: Influenza, commonly called the flu, strikes 5 to 20 percent of Americans annually. In an average year, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized with flu complications; nearly 36,000 die, either from the flu itself or from complications such as pneumonia or a heart attack. Read More