Last year, less than half of all American got a flu shot, which has led to U.S. health officials urging everyone six months and older to get vaccinated for the coming season, according to WebMD.
Catching a flu will most likely lead to "lost days from work and school and a lot of preventable suffering, hospitalizations and deaths," according to Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 100 children died from flu-related complications last year, Friedman noted during a morning news conference.
"Many of those deaths might have been prevented if children had gotten a flu vaccination," explained Frieden.
He added the 90 percent of the children who died were unvaccinated.
Although the latest report on influenza vaccination coverage revealed that overall coverage has increased, it still remains low for 18 to 64-year-olds, according to Fox News.
The percentage of healthy adults between this age group to get a flu shot has reportedly yet to reach 40 percent. Nearly 60 percent of flu-associated hospitalizations reported to the CDC were adults in this group last year, according to the news outlet.
"It is encouraging that over the past few years more people are getting their flu vaccine, but we need to encourage more young and middle-aged adults to get vaccinated because they can also suffer serious consequences from the flu. Vaccination is the single most important step everyone 6 months of age and older can take to protect themselves and their families against influenza," Frieden stated.
Research has reportedly identified three or four influenza strains most likely to spread during the 2014-2015 season while researchers have emphasized that there are different options to get vaccinated.
"Influenza vaccines are safe, plentiful and we have more vaccine options than ever before-at least one is right for everyone. People should not wait to get vaccinated if their first choice is not available," stated Dr. William Schaffner, past President of NFID and preventative medicine and infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
