Last Friday marked the beginning of fall, which means colder weather and flu season to begin in October.

Researchers from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy led by Associate Professor Sachiko Ozawa released a study last year showing the flu to be the costliest preventable disease, costing $5.8 billion in health care costs and lost productivity in 2015.

Only 42 percent of US adults received the flu vaccine last flu season and Ozawa says she thinks it’s because people don’t take the flu seriously.

“I think a lot of people don’t see the flu being a severe disease and that because it’s a yearly vaccination and because people know that maybe it’s not always effective, and that when they get the flu it’s just an illness it’s just like a cold. However, it’s true that the flu does cause not just illness but also death in the United States among US adults,” said Ozawa.

Last year, there were 219 flu-associated deaths in the state of North Carolina, according to the state’s Influenza Surveillance Summary.

Other vaccine-preventable diseases causing large economic burdens include pneumococcal diseases like meningitis and pneumonia and herpes zoster which causes shingles.

In total, the cost of 10 different vaccine-prevented diseases in adults cost the US economy $8.95 billion in 2015, and 80 percent of those costs come from unvaccinated individuals.

Ozawa says the most frustrating part of doing this type of research is the lack of weight it carries with people despite the scientific data behind the research.

“There’s a lot of, quote, ‘fake news’ out there. There’s a lot of advocacy on behalf of the vaccine-hesitant groups to try to get communities to push back against getting immunization. And it’s frustrating in terms of working globally and seeing the effect of the vaccination in places where we actually have the disease and seeing them actually be prevented,” said Ozawa.

To find a location near you that provides flu shots or any other form of immunization click here.

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