It kills more than 20,000 Americans each year and sends 250,000 to the hospital with complications and yet, new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) find that less than half of all Americans are being vaccinated for the influenza virus.   

(Robert Giroux, Getty Images News)
(Robert Giroux, Getty Images News)
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While it is too early yet to tell exactly what this year's strains of the virus will be like, when it will peak and how long it will last, infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Lyn Finelli with the Centers or Disease Control and Prevention recommends people start considering vaccination sooner rather than later.

"If you get the vaccine now, you will be protected through the flu season.  Sometimes, like last year, we have early flu seasons," Finelli said. "Normally, it peaks in February. Last year, it peaked in December.  So, if you hadn't gotten vaccinated early, you wouldn't have been protected."

According to the CDC, 46 percent of Americans were vaccinated. That is up from 45 percent last year. Progress is being made in important groups including pregnant women and healthcare workers.

"Pregnant women want to be protected because they have a higher rate of complications from the flu compared to non-pregnant women and babies less than six months can't be vaccinated, so vaccinating a pregnant woman can protect the baby. Healthcare workers should be vaccinated as well to prevent them from spreading the illness to very vulnerable patients that they take care of," Finelli said. "While we are making headway with these groups, less than half of all Americans still are not getting vaccinated and that's not good enough. We know that getting vaccinated can prevent flu and it's complications. It can protect your family, so why wouldn't you want to get vaccinated?"

Everyone over the age of 6 months should be vaccinated, according to the CDC.  But, the elderly, children under the age of 5, pregnant women and anyone with underlying health conditions are more susceptible to complications from the flu so those are the groups that should make flu shots and priority, according to Finelli.

"The flu shot not only prevents people from contracting the virus, but in people who actually get the flu, it prevents more serious complications," she said.

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