Flu Vaccination Acceptance among Elderly People in Japan

Background: In Japan, a number of people who die from influenza are still increasing and 80% of them are elderly people over 65 years old. However influenza immunization rates among elderly people are still low and estimated to be 48%. Given these circumstance we organized questionnaire surveys from 2009 to 2010 to examine the factors influencing the immunization acceptance among elderly people. Method: From 2009 to 2010, we sent questionnaires to randomly selected university graduated people 65 years and older. The questionnaire asked their age, immunization status, working status, subjective life standards, regions where they live and their reasons, if any, for non-vaccination. Also, we asked their anxiety over flu vaccines. The correlation was tested by spearman test (SPSS 17.0). Results; We sent 1457 questionnaires and 581(Age 73.19±4.48) responded. Among respondents, 66.8% lived urban, 23.1% urban adjacent and 2.2% rural. 36.1% had jobs, 17.2% responded their life standards as good, 42.0% moderate, 39.1% average and 1.0% bad. 46.8% responded they took flu vaccine every year and 28.9% responded sometimes and others responded never. The reasons for non-vaccination were vaccine was unnecessary (52.8%, p<0.0001), time consuming (21.8%, p<0.0001), not effective (23.9%, p<0.0001), fear from side effect (19.8%, p<0.0001), expensive (5.1%, p<0.0001), no time (4.1%, p<0.0001). In open-ended question, 58% responded yes. Gov't vaccine policy, vaccine accessibility, correct information dissemination, need flu vaccine subsidy were among them. Discussion; Correct education and knowledge dissemination for elderly people and government system renovation including subsidies are necessary to raise the low coverage rate.