Sixty Percent of Doctors Refuse to Get Flu Shots...Hmmm

According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a significant chunk of health care professionals declined to get vaccinated against the influenza virus during the 2006-07 flu season, with only about 40 percent opting for a jab. It's an "abysmal and profoundly sad" statistic, according to Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville, Tenn.

"Both the professional and ethical responsibility of all health care workers is to be vaccinated annually against influenza," Schaffner said.

Vaccination serves to protect both patient and health care provider from becoming infected with influenza, as well as from transmitting the contagious virus to others.