More Seniors Getting Pneumonia Shots, But Some Lag Behind

AHRQ News and Numbers

Release date: November 9, 2011

The overall proportion of Americans age 65 and older who have ever been vaccinated against pneumonia, a leading killer of seniors, increased from 53 to 60 percent between 2000 and 2008, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Specifically, AHRQ found that in 2008:

• Almost two thirds (65 percent) of high-income seniors reported ever being vaccinated against pneumonia compared with less than half (46 percent) of poor seniors.
• Only 52 percent of seniors who live in a large inner city area, where residents tend to be low-income and minority, reported ever being vaccinated against pneumonia compared with 64 percent of seniors who live in medium-size cities.
• Just 37 percent of Hispanic seniors reported ever being vaccinated against pneumonia compared with 65 percent of white seniors. The proportion of Asian and black seniors who have ever been vaccinated against pneumonia fell in between—46 and 45 percent, respectively.

This AHRQ News and Numbers is based on information in Chapter 2 of the 2010 National Healthcare Quality Report. The report examines Americans' access to, and quality of, health care.

For additional information, or to speak with an AHRQ data expert, please contact Linwood Norman at Linwood.Norman@ahrq.hhs.gov or call (301) 427-1248.

Current as of November 2011

Internet Citation:

More Seniors Getting Pneumonia Shots, But Some Lag Behind. AHRQ News and Numbers, November 9, 2011. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/nn/nn110911.htm