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Underused Vaccines: Pneumonia, HPV

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
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The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

While pneumonia is one of the top causes of death for seniors, only about half of Florida’s Hispanic seniors were vaccinated in 2011, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Experts say many Hispanics don’t know about the vaccine or don’t understand it; they recommend public awareness campaigns that model the multilingual push for flu shots.  
 
Meantime, a majority of teen girls have not been vaccinated against human papillomavirus, the New York Times reports. Health officials are trying to downplay the fact that the shot protects against a sexually transmitted disease, and instead emphasize cervical cancer prevention.  
 

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.