Dive Brief:

• Few college students — as little as 8% or 13% — get flu vaccinations , according to recent surveys.
• One reason: Students are overly optimistic about their health and overestimate how safe they are from the flu, the Huffington Post reports.
• Colleges are trying to make vaccinations easier with on-campus clinics with free or low-cost vaccines.

Dive Insight:

Another factor that deters students from getting vaccinated: They overestimate their flu knowledge, so they don’t seek accurate information about the virus and are susceptible to false assumptions, such as the belief that one can get the flu from a vaccination. About 200,000 people are hospitalized every year because of the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends administering flu vaccinations by October each year. A Swarthmore College study found that even when students were offered $30 to get their vaccination, only 43% of them followed through with getting the shot.