It’s National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW) – a national awareness week established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that focuses on the importance of the flu vaccine.
The main goals of NIVW are to encourage people to get flu vaccines during the holiday season and to stress the importance of the vaccine for those who are at most at-risk for flu-related complications.
Adults age 65 and older face a higher risk of complications from the flu compared to younger adults. According to the CDC, people 65 and older make up between 60 to 80 percent of seasonal flu-related deaths and 40 to 75 percent of seasonal flu-related hospitalizations.
With these figures in mind, it is very important for older adults to be vaccinated.
If you are interested in learning more about vaccines, check out the CDC’s vaccine information page. You can also visit our health information page to read a white paper on vaccination in older adults, learn more about our vaccines workshop kit, and get vaccine-related stats.
