Only 1 in 5 Iowans Vaccinated as Health Officials Urge Flu Shots Ahead of Holidays
With the holiday season approaching, health officials are urging Iowans to get their flu shots as vaccination rates remain low statewide. So far this season, only about 20 percent of Iowans have received a flu vaccine.
Iowa is currently seeing relatively few confirmed flu cases and just one reported flu-related death, but experts warn those numbers are likely to rise in the coming weeks.
Melanie Wellington, an infectious disease specialist with University of Iowa Health Care, says getting vaccinated is crucial not only for individual protection but for reducing the spread across communities.
“Flu vaccine doesn’t just work on an individual level. It’s very important that it works on a population level,” Wellington said. “So the more people that get immunized, the better it works for each individual person.”
Wellington says higher vaccination rates make it harder for the virus to move through the population.
“You can either have a long highway that the virus can travel on to you,” she explained, “or it could be a surface street with lots of stop signs, detours, and road closures.”
Health experts are concerned this year could bring a more severe flu season. However, early data from the United Kingdom suggests the current flu shot is performing well against the dominant strains circulating this year.
