Sixty-one percent of Americans plan to or have already received the flu shot this season, compared to 55 percent for the 2018-19 flu season, according to a Stericycle consumer report published Nov. 19.
Pollfish conducted a mobile survey on behalf of Stericycle, polling 1,200 U.S. adults in October.
While 33 percent of Americans surveyed don't intend to get a flu shot this season, another third already got one and 28 percent still plan to get vaccinated.
Fifty-eight percent of Americans were concerned about catching the flu this season. A majority of Americans (89 percent) reported taking preventive measures against the flu, such as hand-washing or getting vaccinated, marking a 12 percent increase from the last flu season.
One-third of Americans reported being most worried about feeling sick, 26 percent were most concerned about giving the virus to a child or vulnerable family member, 16 percent were most worried about missing work/pay and eight percent were concerned about death.
Of those who don't plan to get a flu shot this season, the most common reason was not believing the vaccine will prevent the flu (68 percent), followed by fear (9 percent), cost (4 percent) and access (3 percent). Of those who opted not to get vaccinated, women (72 percent) were much more likely than men (63 percent) to doubt the flu shot's effectiveness.