In order to save more of the almost 40,000 Americans who die annually of the flu, we should be mandating the vaccination of school children, in addition to infants and toddlers as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The experience in Japan over several decades supports this position.
When Japanese school children got a flu vaccine, the death and morbidity rate among the elderly there went down dramatically because of reduced exposure to the flu virus from their grandchildren in the home.
The current approach condemns our seniors to "business as usual" death rates. There is no reason why our vaccine-makers can't increase the amount of flu vaccine to the level required to vaccinate the elderly and the sick, as well as youngsters who bring the contagion home with them. For kids, the flu is a nuisance; for the elderly, it's often a death sentence.
Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Executive and medical director
The American Council on Science and Health; New York