More than four in 10 Americans have no plans to get a flu shot this season.
That's according to new research from NORC at the University of Chicago, which is one of the country's largest impendent social research groups.
Even among people over 60, who have the highest risk for flu-related issues, there remains a good portion of people who are not getting the vaccine. In fact, only 62 percent of people in that age group have been vaccinated this season. And, while some of them plan to do so, 24 percent of them say they don't want it, the study found.
Young adults are least likely to be vaccinated. A whopping 50 percent of respondents ages 18-29 told researchers they have no plans to get a flu shot.
Thirty-nine percent of adults with children under 18 said they won't vaccinate their kids.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates only 37 percent of American adults were vaccinated against the flu last season, which had notably high rates of flu-related hospitalizations and deaths. According to National Public Radio, more than 80,000 people died of flu-related illnesses in the United States last winter.
It didn't help that last year's flu vaccine was only about 30 percent effective against that season's most common strain. Still, most doctors recommend flu shots because they say having some protection against the viral infection is better than having none.
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