LANSING – State Representative Robert Jones (D-Kalamazoo) and State Senator John Gleason (D-Flushing) announced today that they have introduced a plan to require hospitals and other health-care facilities to offer the flu vaccine to all patients 65 and older who are admitted for 24 hours or more.
"Because older folks are more likely to develop serious complications when they get the flu, we must do everything we can to make sure they receive the flu vaccine," said Jones. "More than 90 percent of people who die from influenza are 65 or older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This legislation will help prevent unnecessary long-term hospitalizations and deaths that the flu can cause."
The legislation requires that the patient consent to receiving the vaccine, that giving the vaccine must be medically advisable and that the hospital must possess an adequate supply of the vaccine in order to administer it. In addition to offering the vaccine to elderly patients, the measure requires hospitals to develop a plan for the management of their vaccine supplies.
About 5 percent to 20 percent of Americans get the flu each year and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications, according to the CDC. About 36,000 people die from flu each year.
Jones pointed out that although many health plans and Medicare pay for the flu shot, many older residents have limited mobility or support systems that restrict their ability to obtain the vaccine. A study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases concluded that health plans would be more effective by actively promoting the flu vaccine, rather than merely making it a covered benefit.
"With Michigan winters comes the threat of flu, and this legislation will make sure that as many at-risk people as possible are vaccinated," Gleason said. "What better way to administer vaccinations than to the people who are already right there in the hospital."