Nutrition educators should aim at increasing awareness of the quantity and nutrient density of foods that elders consume, because these are essential to meeting the recommended intake of the five major food groups. Get Vaccinated Combined, flu and pneumonia are the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. In flu enza causes an average of 20,000 deaths per year, and pneumonia approximately 40,000. Everyone age 65 and older, and anyone with a chronic disease or a weak immune system should get the pneumonia vaccine. The pneumonia vaccine is usually given once instead of every year like the flu shot.
Most people have mild or no side effects with either vaccine.
Influenza and pneumonia vaccines are both covered by Medicare. The article was published in the September 1999, issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases. According to the CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, the new report should not be compared to foodborne illness incidence data of the past. New calculations and surveillance systems provide the most accurate reporting system to date. Differences between this report and the previous data should not be compared longitudinally.