About one in three Twin Cities kids has had a flu shot so far this year -- better than the national average, but not as many as health officials would like.
Nearly 36 percent of children in the metro area had been vaccinated as of mid-November, compared to 30.6 nationwide, according to a national survey released Thursday.
"They're above average, but they're still not where we need them," said Kris Ehresmann, who heads the vaccination program at the Minnesota Department of Health. "We're still 64 percent shy of where we need to be."
By comparison, older Minnesotans had nearly twice the vaccination rate as children. Among the over-65 crowd in the Twin Cities, 70 percent have had a flu shot this year, one of the highest rates in the country, according to the survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although the flu season has started out slowly, Ehresmann said there's good reason for more people to get vaccinated. For one thing, this year's strain of influenza (H3N2) has a history of being especially severe among older people.
Moreover, research has shown that vaccinating kids can help protect their grandparents as well. "If you can get kids vaccinated, you reduce transmission within the community and everybody benefits," said Ehresmann.
Also Thursday, the Health Department reported one flu-related death and two additional outbreaks at schools and long-term care facilities in the past two weeks. The victim, who was not identified by name, was an elderly woman who had been hospitalized in northeastern Minnesota, officials said.
Ehresmann said flu vaccine supplies are plentiful in Minnesota, and that there's still time to get vaccinated before flu season peaks, typically in January or February.
