Seniors most interested in swine flu shot, poll finds

Share this: Email | Facebook | X

WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans are getting more worried about catching swine flu - but the people who most want that vaccine are the age that will be last in line, says a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

As the government races to get swine flu vaccine ready to ship next month, just over half the population - 57 percent - is likely to line up for it, said the poll released Thursday.

Unlike the regular winter flu that kills mostly people 65 and older, the new swine flu - what doctors call the 2009 H1N1 strain - is mostly a younger person's infection. That older generation appears to have some resistance to it.

Yet 82 percent of seniors said they're likely to seek a swine flu shot, the new poll found.

Overall, concern is rising: About 56 percent of people are concerned about themselves or someone in the family getting swine flu, a 13-point jump since the last AP poll on the subject in July.