SACRAMENTO—The Assembly on Tuesday approved a bill by Assemblywoman Patty Berg that would require hospitals to offer senior citizens a flu shot before discharging them.

“Inoculating seniors saves lives. It’s really that simple,” said Assemblywoman Berg, D-Eureka. “With just a simple injection, we can keep our older neighbors healthy during flu season, and prevent them from contracting pneumonia.”

Assembly Bill 106 requires hospitals to offer both flu and pneumonia vaccines to elder patients before discharge.

Under existing law, hospitals don’t have to offer vaccines, but skilled nursing facilities do.

“This is a common-sense measure,” said Berg. “We should offer a flu shot at every opportunity.”

The bill incorporates recommendations by the Federal Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Senior citizens are at a greater risk for complications from pneumonia, which is a leading cause of illness and death among the elderly. In 2005, the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator reported that about 36,000 deaths occur from flu and pneumonia in the United States each year. Of those deaths, more than 90 percent occur in people 65 years of age and older.

AB 106 now goes to the Senate.