To help save more than $100 million in taxpayer money annually, flu-vaccine efforts should be focused early in the flu season, with a stronger emphasis on children and seniors, according to preliminary findings of research.
The report, from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, was recently presented to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. The department challenged the researchers to look at the financial burden of the flu following the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
"Finally, we are able to quantify through modeling just how big a deal flu really is in our community," said Dr. Bob England, director of the Maricopa County Public Health Department.
The study used programs containing the basic information about how the flu moves through the county's population in conjunction with cost estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
To learn more about the programs developed for the study, see www.knowwpcarey.com.
