PORTLAND — A new state report shows that although health care worker influenza vaccination rates have increased over seven flu seasons, facilities overall continue to fall short of national goals.

Health care worker flu vaccination rates increased by 46% since the 2011-12 flu season — from 52% for all health care facility types to 76% during the 2017-18 season. That means the state beat the national Healthy People 2015 goal of a 75% health care worker flu vaccination rate, but remains well below the Healthy People 2020 goal of 90%, according to the Oregon Health Care Worker Influenza Vaccination Annual Report.

The report was published this week by the Acute and Communicable Disease Prevention Section at the Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division.

“When you need to be in the hospital for a medical or surgical problem, the last thing you want is to catch the flu from your doctor or nurse,” said Dat Tran, public health physician in the Acute and Communicable Disease Prevention Section. “When health care workers are vaccinated against the flu, the people they’re caring for are protected.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services developed the Healthy People program with 10-year objectives for improving the health of all Americans.

Dialysis facility workers in Oregon have the highest flu vaccination rates of health care facility types covered by the report, topping both the 2015 and 2020 Healthy People goals. Their rate of 90% during the 2017-18 flu season represents a 5.8% increase from the 2016-17 rate of 85%.

Hospitals overall also beat the national 2015 goal for health care worker immunizations against the flu, coming in at a rate of 82% during the 2017-18 season, but still short of the 2020 goal. Since the 2011-12 season, rates of flu immunizations among health care workers at hospitals have risen by 37%.

Ambulatory surgery centers and skilled nursing facilities had the lowest rates of flu vaccinations among health care workers, coming in below both the 2015 and 2020 national goals. Ambulatory surgery centers saw only a slight rise between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, from 72% to 73%. The rate of increase at skilled nursing facilities was similarly sluggish: 57% to 59%.

Tran said publication of the report each year tracks progress toward the Healthy People 2020 goal and directs public health action, showing the need for additional support and education.