Researchers say they've found a way to prevent tens of thousands of premature deaths of elderly people. The secret lies in a common vaccination that is free for seniors on medicare. Despite its widespread availability, though, medical experts report many physicians across the country are neglecting to administer this life-saver: the simple flu shot.

Doctor Kristin Nichol says she's frustrated. She says thousands of lives and billions of dollars per year are lost in this country because people aren't opting to get a simple shot in the arm.

"I am aware of nothing else that we do in medicine that will reduce the risk of hospitalization or death death over a three or four month period to this degree. " - Doctor Kristin Nichol, Senior Researcher at the Minneapolis VA Research Center

"People are dying," she says. "They're developing serious pneumonias. They're being hospitalized. They're dying because they're not being immunized."

Nichol is a senior researcher at the Minneapolis Veteran's Affairs Medical Center. She says people are needlessly dying because they aren't getting their annual flu shot.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers took two years to study almost 300 thousand seniors. The study covered six US states and reached into Canada. They found the mortality rate, a projection of people who die from the flu from previous data, could be reduced by up to 54 percent if people had received the flu vaccination. Nichol, a senior author of the study, says the findings highlight the deadly nature of the virus.

"I am aware of nothing else that we do in medicine that will reduce the risk of hospitalization or death over a three or four month period to this degree," she says. "These are phenomenal benefits."

The numbers are staggering. Every year, 65 million people in the US get the flu. Half of them will seek medical treatment. Of those, 300 thousand are hospitalized.

And 25,000 people die.

The vast majority of deaths are among the elderly. The vaccination is widely available, and Medicare provides full coverage for it. But a study by the Centers for Disease Control shows that only 63 percent of Americans over 65 were vaccinated for the flu last year. In Minnesota, the number is a little higher, at 65 percent.

"To us, this data is so compelling and the number of deaths so outrageous that we had to ask ourselves: Why does this still continue?" - Mayo Clinic Vaccinologist Gregory Poland

Mayo Clinic Vaccinologist Gregory Poland says these figures, coupled with the new findings, are a wake-up call.

"To us, this data is so compelling and the number of deaths so outrageous that we had to ask ourselves: Why does this still continue?"

Poland is trying to get the word out about the study.

"How is it possible that we can have 20,000 or more deaths of Americans per year due to a disease that we already have a safe and effective vaccine for?" he says. "This is coming on the heels of a nationwide concern and anxiety and fear over five anthrax deaths."

In addition to premature deaths, Poland says lack of immunization produces a huge financial cost. He says 12 billion dollars are wasted each year treating unimmunized Americans for the flu. Most of this is spent on treating seniors.

Poland blames a lack of education. He says some seniors and even some doctors have misconceptions about the disease.

Some think the flu vaccination will actually give the patient the flu. Others think the vaccination won't protect them from the virus. Although ignorance about the flu among seniors may be somewhat common, Poland says there is no excuse for a lack of awareness among physicians.

Just last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed 6000 physicians nationwide. 10 to 15 percent of them admitted not strongly recommending flu vaccinations to their patients.

"If I were a physician, I would say: 'I care about your health. I care about preventing you from going to the hospital. And I care about you dying a premature death. In fact, the only thing I know to do that will cut the odds of that by 50 percent is to give you this shot.'"

Poland says if more doctors took fifteen seconds out of each appointment to recommend flu shots, it could save thousands of lives every year.