Influenza Vaccine: A Literature Review

United States healthcare is known as one of the best in the world providing excellent healthcare services to various populations nationwide. Each year, billions of dollars are used in prevention and treatment of diseases in the United States, among them: influenza (Center for Disease Control & Prevention). In this article, the authors target the Haitian elders and assess their health approach to the influenza virus, their awareness to the flu vaccine, and their willingness to receive it. When assessing their knowledge, researchers realized that they were less informed about the scientific approach to flu, and they were more aware of the traditional view of fighting against it. The researchers approach vaguely the cultural context to explain the elderly understanding of flu. While the authors were focusing on showing the unawareness of the elderly about the influenza vaccine, they create an imbalance by showing less understanding of the Haitian culture. In the process they did not assess well and explain the signs and symptoms of the flu to the patients, as it can be confused to other respiratory infections. The authors of the study aim at a population of 10 Haitian elders, between 55 and 75. They did not target this population by their education

Laurel Halloran was right to believe that “above all, there is no quick fix to cultural competence; it is a process” (2008). This research article is a good way to investigate the attitude of Haitian elders toward health practices such as flu vaccine, but it did not consider enough their health beliefs. It deeply shows the compliance and respect of Haitians for Healthcare providers when they teach them about health practices. On the other hand, it would be more accurate to use a broader sample, and consider a holistic approach towards those elders that were