The
condition puts patients at a higher risk
for developing other
heart complications, and also puts a strain on the healthcare system due to the medications, procedures and possible
hospitalizations needed to manage the
condition.
Influenza remains a major health problem in the United States, resulting each year in an estimated 36,000 deaths and 200,000
hospitalizations.4 Those who have been shown to be at high risk
for the complications of influenza infection are children 6 to 23 months of age; healthy persons 65 years of age or older; adults and children with chronic diseases, including asthma,
heart and lung disease, and diabetes; residents of nursing homes and other long - term care facilities; and pregnant women.4 It is
for this reason that the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that these groups, together with health care workers and others with direct patient - care responsibilities, should be given priority
for influenza vaccination this season in the face of the current shortage.1 Other high - priority groups include children and teenagers 6 months to 18 years of age whose underlying medical
condition requires the daily use of aspirin and household members and out - of - home caregivers of infants less than 6 months old.1 Hence, in the case of vaccine shortages resulting either from the unanticipated loss of expected supplies or from the emergence of greater - than - expected global influenza activity — such as pandemic influenza, which would prompt a greater demand
for vaccination5 — the capability of extending existing vaccine supplies by using alternative routes of vaccination that would require smaller doses could have important public health implications.