Social Impact Of Influenza

Introduction Influenza is a serious viral respiratory illness that causes annual epidemics worldwide and results in more than 200,000 hospitalizations and 40,000 deaths per year in the United State (Lynch, Mertens, Whimbey, & Dellit, 2013). The burden from influenza is twofold. Firstly, there is the severity of the disease and deaths. Secondly, the large numbers of mild-to-moderate cases results in time off work and losses to production, as well as pressure and costs on the health and social care services. This burden varies from year to year, which makes it difficult to estimate the annual number of deaths or the economic impact.

Influenza Basics Influenza or the “flu” is a contagious respiratory disease that is caused by influenza viruses

One of the health objectives in the United States for 2010 was to achieve HCW vaccination rates of coverage of 61.9% (Nowalk, Lin, Raymund, Bialor, & Zimmerman, 2013). Frequently reported barriers to vaccination among HCP include concerns about adverse reactions, low perceived vaccine efficacy, low perceived susceptibility to influenza infection, and inconvenience (Nowalk et al., 2013). Recent literature suggests that vaccine coverage rates among HCP can be increased beyond the Healthy People 2020 goal of 90% by requiring vaccination as a condition of employment, and many institutions have recently moved forward with mandatory employee influenza vaccination programs (Bellia, Setbon, Zylberman, & Flahault, 2013). In addition, the Joint Commission infection control standard has required that accredited hospitals, long-term care facilities, and home health providers evaluate healthcare personnel vaccination coverage annually and take appropriate measures to increase it (Naleway, et al., 2014). Despite these recommendations and standards, HCW rates of influenza