Myths and Misinformation Are Keeping Patients from Getting Flu Shots. Educate Them!

Millions of confirmed cases and thousands of deaths aren’t enough to convince a lot of Americans that many of their beliefs about influenza and vaccination are just plain wrong. So, more than half fail to get a flu shot and leave themselves and loved ones at increased risk. Clearly, the healthcare community in general has to do a better job of countermanding erroneous conceptions. New data released by the American Academy of Family Physicians may be helpful in figuring out where the biggest gaps exist. When asked a series of basic, fact-based questions about influenza, 80% of adults got at least one wrong, and 28% got them all wrong. Trends emerged among certain demographic categories; men were more likely than women to skip vaccination for themselves and their children, while Millennials and African Americans were more likely to buy into antivaccine propaganda. It should come as no surprise, then, that Millennials were the group least likely to get a flu shot (with 55% saying they hadn’t gotten a flu shot and one third saying they had no intention of doing so). Over 60% of millennials who were familiar with the antivaccination movement agreed with some antivaccination beliefs, compared with 52% of all adults who took part in the survey. Arming yourself with these data may be helpful in anticipating objections patients have to getting a flu shot.