Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit newsroom, is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Sign up for our newsletter for more stories straight to your inbox.
Yes.
According to data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, flu shot rates in Wisconsin have fallen in the past couple seasons. As of Dec. 8, 31% of Wisconsinites — about 1.83 million — have received the flu shot during the 2022-23 flu season. During the 2021-22 season, 2,147,516 Wisconsinites (37%) received a shot by December. During the 2020-2021 season, 2,408,722 Wisconsinites (41%) did.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services tracks influenza vaccination rates among six age groups. As of Dec. 8, Wisconsinites 65 years and older had the highest percentage, at 63.3%. Residents ages of 18 -49 had the lowest rate, at 19.7%.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends getting a flu shot by the end of October, but vaccination after October “can still provide protection during the peak of flu season.”
Health officials say Wisconsinites aged six months and older can get a flu shot and a COVID-19 booster at the same time.
Sources
Wisconsin Department Of Health Services: Immunizations: Influenza Vaccine Data
Wisconsin Public Radio: Wisconsin health leaders encourage flu shots ahead of what may be a more severe season for the virus
Wisconsin Department Of Health Services: Wisconsin Influenza Vaccine Update: 2019–2021
Centers for Disease Control: Frequently Asked Influenza (Flu) Questions: 2022-2023 Season
Wisconsin Department Of Health Services: DHS Urges Wisconsinites to Protect Themselves Against Respiratory Viruses this Holiday Season
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- Credit should be given, in this format: “By Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin Watch”
- If published online, you must include the links and link to wisconsinwatch.org
- If you share the story on social media, please mention @wisconsinwatch (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram)
- Don’t sell the story — it may not be marketed as an individual product.
- Don’t sell ads against the story. But you can publish it with pre-sold ads.
- Your website must include a prominent way to contact you.
- Additional elements that are packaged with our story must be labeled.
- Users can republish our photos, illustrations, graphics and multimedia elements ONLY with stories with which they originally appeared. You may not separate multimedia elements for standalone use.
- If we send you a request to change or remove Wisconsin Watch content from your site, you must agree to do so immediately.
For questions regarding republishing rules please contact Andy Hall, executive director, at ahall@wisconsinwatch.org