Each week, CDC issues a document with the rather serious name of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report best known as the MMWR. The tile makes you want to gulp doesn’t it?!?! The MMWR weekly contains data on specific diseases as reported by state and territorial health departments and reports on infectious and chronic diseases, environmental hazards, natural or human-generated disasters, occupational diseases and injuries, and intentional and unintentional injuries. Whew!
Last weeks MMWR contained the initial studies on the vaccination rates for the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus. The overall rates vary widely around the country, with New England having the highest rates and the South having the lowest. What are the two ends of the spectrum? Rhode Island had the highest rate of vaccination for swine flu, with about 39% of its population immunized, while Mississippi had the lowest rate, with 13% receiving the vaccine.
If you have not yet been vaccinated for the H1N1 pandemic virus, do it today! With the current flu brewing in the southern states, a third wave may be percolating. Don’t delay – get H1N1 vaccinated now.