Hispanic Seniors Less Likely to Be Immunized Against Flu and
Pneumonia Seniors of Hispanic descent are far less likely to
become immunized against the flu or pneumonia compared to
similar White seniors, according to a new RAND Corporation
study. Researchers found that Hispanic seniors who prefer
speaking Spanish and live in linguistically isolated communities
such as the Southeast that are newer immigrant destinations are
least likely to be immunized. The findings suggest that such
groups should be targeted with special education efforts in the
future. "All Hispanic seniors are less likely to become
immunized, and we found the problem seems to be the worst in new
immigrant communities where Spanish is the predominant
language," said Amelia M. Haviland, the study's lead author and
a statistician at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.
"These findings suggest new strategies may be needed to target
an important problem." RAND researchers say that increasing
immunization rates among all groups helps cut disea