Immunizations in Adults

Immunization rates among adults appear to be low.
McClatchy (2/4, Goldstein) reported that data compiled by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the "Trust for America's Health, a nonpartisan health research group, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest healthcare philanthropy in the country," indicated that immunization rates among adults are low. In fact, "millions of Americans forgo routine vaccinations for preventable diseases," and "some 40,000 to 50,000 adults die every year as a result," according to the report titled "Adult Immunization: Shots to Save Lives."
This trend is especially pronounced in the elderly population, according to the Los Angeles Times (2/4, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog. "Nationally, 33.1% of adults over the age of 65 have not received" Pneumovax, "a vaccine against the most common bacterial cause of pneumonia." Notably, "even in Oregon, the state with the highest vaccination rate, 26.8% were unprotected." In "California, 39% were not immunized," and the "the only places with a worst record were the District of Columbia, where 45.6% had not been vaccinated, and Illinois, where 40.4% had not."