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This season’s flu vaccine offers little or no protection against mild or moderate cases of flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week.
In a study of more than 3,600 Americans in seven states, the CDC said, in a report He said the vaccine was only around 16 percent effective, saying it was “not statistically significant”.
Former chief scientist of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. “It’s not ineffective, but its effectiveness is clearly sub-optimal,” Jesse L. Goodman said on Thursday. He reviewed the report, but was not associated with it.
Still, despite the vaccine’s lackluster performance this season, which began in October and lasted until May, the CDC has recommended that people get vaccinated, saying it “could prevent serious consequences.”
Scientists have warned that if flu season is severe in 2020, it could possibly combine with Covid to create a dire epidemic.twin epidemicHowever, coronavirus restrictions, including working from home and wearing masks, combined with a high flu vaccination rate helped reduce caseloads Cases have been at record lows over the past few seasons, the CDC said.
Still, even a mild flu season can be devastating. The CDC estimated During the 2019-20 flu seasonAbout 22,000 people died in the country and 400,000 were hospitalized.
This season, “flu activity” fell in December and January, when the Omicron surge was at its worst, but increased in early February, the agency said.
Agency in October and November of 2021. Flu epidemic at the University of MichiganThere were 745 cases, mostly involving students who were not vaccinated against the flu. inspectors there. Also found He said the vaccine did not provide much protection.
Dr. Goodman said this season’s results show how much flu vaccines can be improved.
Dr. “The next epidemic may be a flu epidemic, so we need better vaccines,” Goodman said.
Every year scientists decide. they need to update their flu vaccine to guard against strains they predict will dominate next season.
Dr. The low efficacy rate this season “indicates a mismatch between the virus strains in the vaccine and those in circulation,” Goodman said.
scientists updated This season’s vaccines provide protection against four flu viruses, including H3N2, the dominant strain this season, the report said. H3N2 predominated during 2017-18 flu season“moderately severe,” as experts say.
Since the agency started calculate the effectiveness of the vaccine In 2004, the event rate was as high as 60 percent — for the 2010-11 season — and as low as 10 percent in the first season the CDC had tracked. Dr. Goodman said he would consider 50 to 80 percent as good.
flu a life-threatening respiratory illness It can fill hospital beds. shares symptoms with Covid, including fever, cough, sore throat and fatigue. Adults aged 65 and over, pregnant women, immunocompromised persons, and children under 5 most at risk from the flu.
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