This year's influenza season fairly typical of last decade

This year's U.S. flu season was typical of those of the last decade, with the prevalence of flu and those who got flu shots close to average, a survey says. A Harris Poll of 2,345 U.S. adults, surveyed online from April 10-15 by Harris Interactive, found 44 percent of all adults report they had flu shots. This compares with 40 percent, 39 percent, 44 percent and 40 percent over the four previous winters. Fourteen percent of adults said they had the flu last winter, compared with 18 percent, 12 percent, 11 percent and 11 percent over the four previous winters, the poll said. As in most of the Harris Polls on this topic over the last nine years, the number of people who said they had the flu was almost the same for people who had flu shots -- 14 percent -- and those who did not -- 15 percent. Seventy-three percent of people age 65 and over were vaccinated, and only 7 percent reported they had the flu, but only 22 percent of those ages 18-24 had flu shots, the survey said. No margin of error was provided.