Via Bloomberg:
Swine flu is refusing to give up its hold on U.S. states with low vaccination rates, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Only Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina — states where the share of immunized population was among the country’s lowest — reported outbreaks last week that spread beyond a single locality, according to reports today from the CDC. Eight states reporting local outbreaks were in U.S. regions that had fewer vaccinations than the national average.
Ya think?
In Georgia, where less than 17 percent of the population was vaccinated, hospitalizations unexpectedly rose to the highest level since October, prompting the state to request a CDC investigation.
Georgia’s Surge
Georgia’s low vaccination rate may have contributed to the late surge in cases, a pattern that may be repeated elsewhere, said Anne Schuchat, head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC. Georgia had 40 hospitalizations with laboratory-confirmed swine flu last week.
The median state vaccination rate through January was 24 percent, with 33 percent of people in the riskiest groups getting vaccinated, according to the CDC. New England states had the highest vaccination rate — a third of the population — and New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Massachusetts are among eight states reporting no flu cases. [emphasis mine]
Please tell me when being stupid became a badge of honor?
Swine flu, the first pandemic in 40 years, disproportionately targets younger adults and children, with ninety percent of deaths in people younger than age 65, the reverse of a typical flu season.
“It’s too early to say that we’re not going to see outbreaks in other areas,” the CDC’s Schuchat said. “We do know that the virus is still around, and the vaccine is very safe.” [emphasis mine again]
Now I don’t expect facts to sway stupid, but you’d think – given the target group – that parents wouldn’t roll the dice when it comes to their children’s well-being. Looks like quite a few are ready to chance it.