AARP Bulletin - November 2010

Your Health ; In the News
36 million Number of employed U.S. workers who had at least one period of unemployment from December 2007 through May 2010.
Pharmacies, doctors’ offices and health departments are now rolling out the annual vaccine against that
age-old but unpredictable scourge, influenza. ; This
season, for the first time, some are offering not only the
regular flu shot but also a new form of the shot designed
to better protect people age 65 and older. Approved by
the Food and Drug Administration late last year, this more expensive flu vaccine
is covered by Medicare Part B. ; Flu shots work by stimulating the body’s immune
response, which is typically much weaker in older people, who need protection
the most. The new shot, Fluzone High-Dose, contains four times the amount of
dead virus as the regular vaccine. ; It is hoped—though not yet proven—that this
apparent boost in immunity will lead to fewer or less serious cases of the flu in
adults over 65. So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declined
to recommend for or against the use of the new vaccine in place of the regular
flu shot, citing a lack of evidence that it results in more protection. ; The CDC
recommends vaccination for all Americans over the age of six months. “Everyone
this season should get vaccinated, the sooner the better,” says Mary Andrawis of
the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. —Katharine Greider

Flu Shot
Aims for
Better
Protection
; The Poll

Prescription Advertising

; Where have you heard or seen prescription drug advertisements?

Television

74%
Ages 18-49 50-plus
84%
Magazines
31%
30%
No Verdict on Retirement for This Judge
Radio
18%
10%

Newspapers

13 21%
Internet
22%
14%
Pharmacy
17 %
11%
E-mail
12%
8%
When U.S. District Court Judge Wes- ley E. Brown convenes trials in his
Wichita, Kan., courtroom, litigants are
warned not to draw things out. That’s be-
cause, at 103, Brown has little patience for
wasting time. ; Currently the nation’s
oldest sitting federal judge, Brown was
already 55 when President John F. Ken-
nedy appointed him to the bench in 1962.
Compared with Brown, the judge who’s
currently the second oldest, Dan Russell
of the Southern District of Mississippi, is
a whippersnapper at 97. ; The passage

; Centenarian
Wesley E. Brown
of years has eased
Brown’s temper and
slowed his body, but
the twice-widowed jurist’s mind is as
sharp as ever, according to Michael La-
hey, Brown’s law clerk of 23 years. ; “He
applies common sense,” Lahey says when
asked about the legal outlook of his boss,
who declined to be interviewed. “He’s a
pragmatic guy.” ; If Brown is still working
on his 104th birthday next June 22, he’ll tie
an age record set by Eighth Circuit Judge
Joseph Woodrough in 1977. —Blair S. Walker
; Have you ever
asked your doctor
for a prescription
you saw in an ad?
Yes