Indicator 9: Flu Vaccine in Past Year

• Influenza and pneumonia kill thousands of older adults annually even though both diseases are largely preventable through vaccination. An average of 36,000 people, the majority of whom are aged 65 years or older, die annually from influenza and its complications, and about half of the 5,000 annual deaths from invasive pneumococcal disease occur in this age group.(1)
• Major racial and ethnic disparities have been reported for these two indicators. Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks have the lowest rates of influenza and pneumonia vaccinations.
• Call to action:
  • Promoting healthy behaviors among older adults
  • Increasing older adults use of clinical preventive services
  • Increasing adult immunizations in racial/ethnic minority populations

Location Data C.I.* Rank† Grade‡ United States 68.1 n/a n/a n/a Alabama 66.2 (62.6 - 69.6) 37 Alaska 64.1 (55.8 - 71.7) 48 Arizona 66.2 (61.5 - 70.5) 37 Arkansas 68.7 (65.5 - 71.7) 23 California 70.9 (67.0 - 74.6) 18 Colorado 78.8 (75.6 - 81.8) 1 Connecticut 73.1 (70.4 - 75.6) 12 Delaware 69.3 (65.3 - 73.0) 21 District of Columbia 54.9 (49.5 - 60.1) 51 Florida 65.1 (62.4 - 67.8) 43 Georgia 64.4 (60.5 - 68.2) 45 Hawaii§ 76.4 (72.6 - 79.7) 4 Idaho 66.2 (62.8 - 69.5) 37 Illinois 65.4 (61.7 - 68.9) 42 Indiana 64.3 (61.4 - 67.1) 46 Iowa 74.1 (71.3 - 76.7) 10 Kansas 68.1 (66.0 - 70.3) 26 Kentucky 64.3 (61.0 - 67.5) 46 Louisiana 68.6 (65.9 - 71.1) 24 Maine 72.2 (68.6 - 75.5) 15 Maryland 64.6 (60.4 - 68.6) 44 Massachusetts 70.6 (67.7 - 73.3) 20 Michigan 66.9 (63.9 - 69.8) 33 Minnesota 78.3 (75.3 - 81.0) 2 Mississippi 66.9 (63.9 - 69.7) 33 Missouri 69.1 (65.6 - 72.4) 22 Montana 72.2 (68.8 - 75.3) 15 Nebraska 75.8 (73.6 - 77.9) 5 Nevada 59.0 (53.2 - 64.5) 50 New Hampshire 70.7 (67.6 - 73.7) 19 New Jersey 67.6 (65.6 - 69.5) 29 New Mexico 72.4 (69.8 - 74.9) 14 New York 65.9 (62.7 - 69.0) 41 North Carolina 67.0 (65.0 - 68.9) 32 North Dakota 74.3 (70.7 - 77.6) 8 Ohio 67.6 (62.9 - 71.9) 29 Oklahoma 75.0 (72.7 - 77.1) 7 Oregon 71.0 (68.0 - 73.9) 17 Pennsylvania 63.8 (61.1 - 66.4) 49 Rhode Island 73.0 (69.5 - 76.3) 13 South Carolina 66.0 (63.3 - 68.7) 40 South Dakota 76.9 (74.5 - 79.1) 3 Tennessee 66.4 (62.5 - 70.0) 36 Texas 67.1 (63.7 - 70.2) 31 Utah 75.5 (72.1 - 78.6) 6 Vermont 66.6 (64.0 - 69.1) 35 Virginia 68.6 (64.8 - 72.2) 24 Washington 67.9 (66.1 - 69.7) 27 West Virginia 67.9 (64.3 - 71.3) 27 Wisconsin 74.3 (70.9 - 77.3) 8 Wyoming 73.8 (70.5 - 76.9) 11

Make comparisons Healthy People 2010 Targets

= Upper Third (top performing 33%)   = Middle Third (middle 33%)   = Lower Third (lowest performing 33%)         * A confidence interval (CI) describes the level of uncertainty of an estimate and specifies the range in which the true value is likely to fall. The State of Aging and Health in America online report uses a 95% level of significance, which means that 95% of the time, the true value falls within these boundaries.         † Rankings are based on the relative numeric scores for each indicator, with a ranking of "1" indicating the highest rank.         ‡ Grades are calculated as tertiles (thirds) and show state performance relative to all other states.         § 2003 data are used for Hawaii because no 2004 data exist.           Note: When comparing prevalence of variables across states or years, we recommend the use of confidence intervals. If the confidence intervals overlap, the difference is not statistically significant.