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Flu News for Senior Citizens
Flu Vaccine Found to be Less Effective Last Year but
Worked for Seniors
Survey finds more people getting shot and flu than
in past years
 May
7, 2007 - A new Harris Poll suggests that the
flu vaccine used before last winter may have been less effective than
the vaccines used in some previous years. The adults who had flu shots
before last winter were only 24 percent less likely to get the flu than
those who were not vaccinated. In the two previous years Harris has
found a larger difference in protection – 45% in 2004/05 and 33% in
2003/04. The good news is 73% of senior citizens got a flu shot and
fewer got the flu last year than any other adult age group.
The survey had more good news. Fewer people (15%)
caught the flu this last winter than in the two previous winters Harris
studied (21% last year, 18% two years ago).
These are some of the results of a nationwide
Harris Poll of 2,563 U.S. adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive
between April 10 and 16, 2007.
All of these results should be treated with some
caution, warns Harris.
People's memories of whether they had flu shots may
not be completely accurate. This is not a double-blind clinical trial,
which is the gold standard for measuring the effectiveness of drugs.
Furthermore, experts on the flu say that it is easy to confuse it with
other infections, so some people who believe that they had the flu may
not actually have had it.
However, a large 71 percent majority of those who
received flu shots and who believe they had the flu say they are certain
they had it; but only just over a third (39%) visited a doctor who
diagnosed the flu. The techniques used in this year's survey are the
same as those used in previous years.
The main findings of this survey include:
● Approximately one-third (35%) of all adults
claim to have had a flu shot before the winter of 2006/2007. This
includes a much higher proportion (73%) of people aged 65 and over, who
are regarded as more seriously at risk from the flu if they catch it;
● Fifteen percent of all adults believe they had
the flu, somewhat below the 18 percent and 21 percent who believe they
had the flu in the winters of 2003/2004 (18%) and 2004/2005 (21%);
● The proportion of adults who had received flu
shots who believe they subsequently caught the flu (13%) was only
somewhat lower than the proportion of those who had not received flu
shots who subsequently caught the flu (17%).
The difference between these numbers (13% and 17%)
is smaller than the differences found after the winters of 2003/2004
(14% and 21%) and 2004/2005 (13% and 23%).
TABLE 1
Those Who Had Flu Shots and Those Who Got the
Flu This Winter
"Thinking back to this winter just ending ...
Did you get the flu this winter?
Did you have a flu vaccine shot before this winter?"
|
|
March |
March |
April |
|
|
2004 |
2005 |
2007 |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
Percentage
of all adults who had a flu shot before this winter |
35 |
27 |
35 |
|
Percentage
of all adults who got the flu this winter |
18 |
21 |
15 |
TABLE 2
How Many of Those Who Got or Did Not Have Flu
Shots Got The Flu?
"Thinking back to this winter just ending ...
Did you get the flu this winter?
Did you have a flu vaccine shot before this winter?"
|
|
March |
March |
April |
|
|
2004 |
2005 |
2007 |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
Percentage
of all adults who had a flu shot who got the flu |
14 |
13 |
13 |
|
Percentage
of all adults who did not have flu shots who got the flu |
21 |
23 |
17 |
|
How much
less likely were people with flu shots to get the flu than those
who were not vaccinated? |
33 |
43 |
24 |
TABLE 3
The Experiences of Those Who Believe They Got
the Flu After Having Had a Flu Shot
"Did you spend one or more days in bed with the
flu?"
"Did you visit a doctor who diagnosed the flu?" "How certain are you
that you got the flu, and that it was not just a cough or a cold?"
Base: All adults who had a flu shot and believe
they had the flu
|
March
|
March
|
April
|
|
2004
|
2005
|
2007
|
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
Spent one or more days in bed
|
79
|
85
|
74
|
Visited a doctor who diagnosed flu
|
51
|
53
|
39
|
Certain I got the flu
|
80
|
82
|
71
|
TABLE 4
Demographics of Those Who Had Flu Shots and of
Those Who Got The Flu
"Did you get the flu this winter?
Did you have a flu vaccine shot before this winter?"
|
Got the Flu
|
Had a Flu Shot
|
|
%
|
%
|
All Adults
|
15
|
35
|
Sex
|
|
|
Male
|
13
|
36
|
Female
|
17
|
34
|
Age
|
|
|
18-24
|
20
|
26
|
25-29
|
24
|
15
|
30-39
|
19
|
21
|
40-49
|
16
|
22
|
50-65
|
10
|
43
|
65+
|
9
|
73
|
Race/Ethnicity
|
|
|
White
|
14
|
36
|
African-American
|
15
|
33
|
Hispanic
|
24
|
32
|
Methodology
This Harris
Poll(R) was conducted online within the United States between April 10
and 16, 2007 among a nationwide cross section of 2,563 (aged 18 and
over) of whom 899 got a flu shot before the winter of 2006/2007. Figures
for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income
were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual
proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used
to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.
All surveys are
subject to several sources of error. These include: sampling error
(because only a sample of a population is interviewed); measurement
error due to question wording and/or question order, deliberately or
unintentionally inaccurate responses, nonresponse (including refusals),
interviewer effects (when live interviewers are used) and weighting.
With one
exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result
cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite
"margin of error" for any survey and the use of these words should be
avoided.
With pure
probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to
calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources
of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability
sample of 2,563 adults one could say with a ninety-five percent
probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- two
percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error
into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample
and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
These statements
conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on
Public Polls.
About Harris
Interactive
Harris
Interactive is the 12th largest and fastest-growing market research firm
in the world. The company provides innovative research, insights and
strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which
lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris
Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest
running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market
research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the
world's largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online.
Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States,
Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiaries Novatris in
France and MediaTransfer AG in Germany, and through a global network of
independent market research firms. More information about Harris
Interactive may be obtained at
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/. To become a member of the Harris
Poll Online and be invited to participate in online surveys, register at
http://www.harrispollonline.com/
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