(Mather, CA) — California Governor Gavin Newsom wants the people of his state to get a flu shot. He drove that point home Monday as he got a flu shot while giving an update on many topics including wildfires and the coronavirus. Newsom isn’t the first governor to undergo a health check during a briefing. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo took a coronavirus test back in May in an effort to urge New Yorkers to get tested themselves. Newson also referred to a full reopening of the California economy when a vaccine for COVID-19 is available- in his view–in spring 2021.
An article published by UCLA in 2016 shows flu shot vaccinations are shockingly low:
More than 60 percent of all adults in California fail to get an annual flu shot, according to a new journal article by UCLA researchers that also found wide disparity in flu immunization rates among Asian subgroups.
Using California Health Interview Survey data for 2011-12, the article, which was published in the American Journal of Infection Control, reports immunization rates for two adult Asian ethnicities in the state — Koreans and Vietnamese — were the highest at 48.9 percent and 46.7 percent, respectively, compared to a 40.2 percent rate for whites. Rates for other ethnic groups studied — Latino, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, South Asian, Asian other, and other — were not significantly different from whites. African-Americans had the lowest rate of the groups studied, 28.5 percent.
What is the likelihood that more Californians will get a COVID shot than get a flu shot?