Healthcare workers who receive earlier flu shots have fewer symptoms and spend less time away from work, according to a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. Researchers, led by Adrian Camacho-Ortiz, M.D., of the University Hospital Dr. Jose Eleuterio Gonzalez in Mexico, studied data on more than 6,000 healthcare workers at a Mexican teaching hospital over two flu seasons, administering vaccines later during the first season than the second. In the first year, study participants took 52 leaves of absence, compared to 15 the second year, and lost 150 more total days of work. Study abstract