Hispanic and African American Seniors Urged to Take Flu Shots
New America Media, News Report, Viji Sundaram, Posted: Oct 03, 2006
With the onset of the flu season, health officials are targeting their “Get the Flu Shot, Not the Flu” campaign at the large populations of Hispanic and African American seniors living in counties in Southern California and Nevada.
In a conference call with the ethnic media Oct. 2, hosted by New America Media, Peter Bauer of Medicare and Medicaid Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said his agency is urging Hispanic and African American seniors 65 years and older living in San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties, as well as those living in Las Vegas, to get their flu shots, and also get vaccinated against pneumonia and hepatitis B.
“We find the utilization rates there are very low,” Bauer said, noting that budgetary constraints has forced his agency to confine its campaign to a limited area.
Medicare will pay for all those shots, he said, provided they are given by recognized providers. There is no co-insurance or co-payment applied to this benefit.
According to the HHS, about 50,000 adults die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S. Pneumonia and influenza are the fifth leading cause of death in older adults living in this country.
Medicare is the federal health care program for U.S. residents 65 and older, as well as for those younger than 65 but who have been disabled for two or more years. Immigrants can get a Medicare card if they can prove they have worked for at least 10 years in the U.S. and paid into Social Security for as long.
“So get your documentation squared away” as soon as possible, Bauer said.
Regardless of their Medicare eligibility, all seniors should get a flu shot, Bauer said, even if they have to pay for it. The cost of the shot would depend on whether it was an injection or mist.
Despite Medicare’s offer to vaccinate seniors for free against influenza, pneumonia and hepatitis B, Bauer said, not many take advantage of it. In 2002, for instance, only 66 percent of Medicare beneficiaries took a flu shot.
Paulette Brown-Hinds of The Black Voice News suggested that Bauer’s office could have a wider reach into the African American communities in the Inland Empire by leaving flyers in the many churches there.
Bauer said the flyers his agency has currently printed as part of the flu campaign are bilingual, they are in both Spanish and English. But he agreed that more Hispanics could be reached if they were given flyers in Spanish.
When some reporters pointed out that the biggest barrier seniors currently face in accessing the flu shot clinics is transportation, Bauer said he would discuss the issue with the network of senior centers counties have to see how the problem could be solved.
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