In 1996, influenza and pneumonia were the fifth leading cause of death among persons aged > or =65 years in the United States. A national health objective for 2000 is to increase influenza and pneumococcal vaccination levels to > or =60% among persons at high risk for complications, including those aged > or =65 years. To monitor states’ progress toward achieving this objective, data from the 1997 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) were analyzed. This report summarizes the BRFSS findings, which indicate the influenza vaccination objective was exceeded by 45 states and by the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) combined, but the pneumococcal vaccination objective was not reached by any state.
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