BRFSS visual inspection: Where did people get their flu vaccine in 2019?

At what kind of place did you get your last flu shot or vaccine?


We wanted to look at where people were receiving their flu vaccines nationally. By looking purely at counts, we can see that the leading locations are at doctor’s offices and at supermarkets/vaccines, although other options do exist. Interestingly enough, 3 people reported getting their flu vaccine in either Canada or Mexico.

Another location-related question that came up was if there were any differences in percentages of the surveyed population among the regions of the United States. Click along on the other frames in this dashboard to see how these percentages compare among the regions.

Northeastern United States


Looking through the states in the region, what trends do you see?

  • The split seems to be approximately equal between those who did/did not get the flu shot
  • How do these trends compare with the other regions?
  • Toggle over the graph to get the exact number of the proportion response
  • Of note: this graphic excludes missing values, ie people that did not answer or refused we not included

Midwestern United States


Looking through the states in the region, what trends do you see?

  • The split seems to be approximately equal between those who did/did not get the flu shot
  • How do these trends compare with the other regions?
  • Toggle over the graph to get the exact number of the proportion response
  • Of note: this graphic excludes missing values, ie people that did not answer or refused we not included

Western United States


Looking through the states in the region, what trends do you see?

  • The split seems to be approximately equal between those who did/did not get the flu shot
  • How do these trends compare with the other regions?
  • Toggle over the graph to get the exact number of the proportion response
  • Of note: this graphic excludes missing values, ie people that did not answer or refused we not included

Southern United States


Looking through the states in the region, what trends do you see?

  • The split seems to be approximately equal between those who did/did not get the flu shot
  • How do these trends compare with the other regions?
  • Toggle over the graph to get the exact number of the proportion response
  • Of note: this graphic excludes missing values, ie people that did not answer or refused we not included

Using the BRFSS dataset, we visually inspected only a few variables that could influence decision to vaccinate. Generally, it is important to visually inspect and explore the data prior to performing statistical analyses. The questions that this graph and that the other plots in this dashboard elicit are:

  • Is there a significant difference between getting and not getting a flu shot depending on your geographic region?
  • Is there a significant difference between getting and not getting a flu shot depending on location accessibility?
  • What other variables might be influential in an individuals decision to get vaccinated?

And finally, we would also be interested in what motivated people, ie, what were some qualitative reasons that drive the data that we are inspecting visually? Please toggle to the Statistical analysis for quantitative analyses, and to Qualitative analysis for qualitative data exploration.