NEW YORK, Jan. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite
doctors recommending flu shots for nearly all healthy individuals,
a startling 43% of Americans will not get a flu shot this year
according to a new ValuePenguin.com survey.
Yet, the cost of not getting a flu shot is steep. The average
American spent an average of $495 on
doctor's visits for the flu in 2017–2018, nearly 11 times more than
the cost of the flu shot without insurance. The flu also led to
810,000 hospitalizations and 61,000 deaths in just the 2017–2018
flu season. So why aren't more Americans getting a flu shot?
- Younger Women Are Less Likely To Get Flu Shots. The
willingness to get a flu shot increases with age among women, while
men were more consistent as they aged. Older women planned on
getting flu shots at a rate 134% higher than women aged 18 to
22.
- Americans Worry About the Effectiveness And Safety Of the
Flu Shot. 74% of survey respondents who did not want the flu shot, cited
"Don't think it works," "Flu shot makes me sick" or "Concerned
about what's in the shot" as their top reasons to avoid the flu
shot. Gen X respondents were most likely to feel this way.
- Cost is a Concern for Uninsured Americans. Uninsured
Americans were more than 6.5 times more likely than people with
insurance to decline getting a flu shot over cost reasons.
- Should the Flu Shot Be Mandatory? Opinions were mixed on
whether schools and businesses should require the flu shot. 66%
agreed that flu shots should be mandatory for public school
students; but only 55% felt that employers should require the
same.
To understand Americans' attitudes towards the flu shot,
ValuePenguin.com commissioned Qualtrics to conduct an online survey
of 1,226 Americans, with the sample base proportioned to represent
the general population. To view the full report, visit:
https://www.valuepenguin.com/flu-shot-survey
About ValuePenguin.com: ValuePenguin.com, part of
LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE), is a personal finance website that
conducts in-depth research and provides objective analysis to help
guide consumers to the best financial decisions. ValuePenguin
focuses on value, assessing whether the return of a particular
decision is worth the cost or risk of that option, and how this
stacks up with the other possible choices they may have. For more
information, please visit www.valuepenguin.com, like our Facebook
page or follow us on Twitter @ValuePenguin.
Media Contact:
Divya Sangam (Ms.)
646 693 8445
divya@valuepenguin.com
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SOURCE ValuePenguin.com