Too Many High-Risk Teens Not Getting Flu Shots

In children and adolescents with high-risk conditions, flu can lead to severe illness, hospitalization and even death. By conswequence, influenza vaccination has been recommended for adolescents with high-risk conditions for well over a decade.

A newest study finds few American adolescents with asthma and other high-risk illnesses are getting flu shots.

Researchers analyzed vaccination rates from 1992 to 2002 for 18,703 adolescents with asthma, cardiac disease, immune system disorders and other conditions.

During the study period, vaccination rates improved, but only from 8 percent to 15 percent. From 1999 to 2002, only 11 percent of the patients received vaccinations during all four seasons, and more than 56 percent received no flu shots during those four years.