More than 80,000 people in Hawai ' i suffer from diabetes. Physicians with no vaccine should direct patients to places that have a supply. Deaths among people with diabetes increase 5 to 15 percent during flu epidemics, according to the CDC and the Hawai ' i State Diabetes Control Program. People with diabetes are three times more likely than those without the disease to die of complications from pneumonia or flu. People should consult their doctors before getting vaccinated.
Some conditions make taking the vaccinations unadvisable.
Information on where to obtain vaccinations is available through the Diabetes Control Program on O ' ahu, 692-7462. The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co .