Charlie Hinderliter wasn’t opposed to the flu shot. He didn’t have a problem with vaccinations. He was one of about 53 percent of Americans who just don’t get one. An estimated 80,000 Americans died of the flu, or flu-related complications, last winter, according to initial estimates from CDC presented in September. It was the highest number of flu related deaths in decades, and Hinderliter was nearly among them. Now, after 58 days in the hospital, a week in a medically induced coma, two surgeries and three weeks in a nursing home, he’s speaking out to encourage everyone to do something he’d never done before: Get a flu shot.

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