Guilty as charged! That is my mea culpa for my past behavior. I regret that Latin is no longer in fashion and we have to resort to the more imprecise bribery term in vogue today. My "guilty as charged" admission has to do with avoiding the flu shot in my early 20's. Now I run to get a shot when the new vaccine is available. Maybe because normally, old people are more vulnerable when they catch the flu.
Here are two factoids that put the flu in perspective:
- Flu killed 8 times more people last year (79,000) than drunk drivers (10,585) in the United States.
- And yet only 37.1% of the population gets vaccinated - often due to "flu vaccine hesitancy."
For more information and resources, check out
Overcoming Flu Vaccine Hesitancy: the Caregiver’s Resource Sheet
Encourage others to get their vaccination!
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.
