Q: Is it important for seniors to keep up on their vaccines?
A: Yes. A number of diseases which can be prevented with vaccines can cause significant illness, hospitalization, disability, and even death.
Older adults are more affected than most people by these diseases. According to the Alliance for Aging Research, more than half of the annual flu-related hospitalizations, and 90% of the annual flu deaths, are in people age 65 or over. Roughly half of the 1 million annual cases of shingles in the U.S. are in people over the age of 60. Even though seniors are hit harder by these illnesses, vaccination rates among the elderly are low. Q&A Jan 2017 Vaccines and the Elderly
