Officials say flu shots available this year should do a better job than last year’s version, which turned out to be poorly matched against the most prevalent influenza virus around, resulting in a bad flu year for Americans.
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Health officials in the United States are aiming to make this year’s flu vaccine more effective to prevent and put a stop to the outbreaks considering the difficulty in curbing the intense flu season last year.
The live vaccine, or the nasal spray, is approved for healthy individuals between 2 and 49 years of age.
“Vaccination is the single most important step people can take to protect themselves from influenza”, Frieden said.
Frieden says this year’s vaccine appears to be a good match.
Still, “flu is fickle”, said Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Insurance claims that were billed to Medicare provided information about flu vaccination rates and influenza-related illnesses among more than 3 million Medicare patients during the same period. “It’s very hard to predict what the influenza virus is going to do”, said Bieluch.
In an email, Dr Michael L Jackson of Group Health Research Institute in Seattle said about the findings, “Previous studies have shown that vaccinating school-aged children can reduce rates of influenza infection in adults”. That means people who were vaccinated were just 23% less apt than those who did not have a flu shot, to be sickened with an illness that is flu-like that was sufficiently harsh to send them to their doctor.
There must be a new flu vaccination each year because the disease is constantly mutating.
The Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging all residents above the age of 6 months to get vaccinated against the flu as soon as possible.
Last year’s shots were only 13 percent effective against H3N2 because of what scientists call “drift” or antigenic change in the virus that involves a change in its surface proteins that evades a host’s immune response.
Annual flu vaccines are created to reflect the viruses experts expect will circulate in the upcoming season.
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Health officials are hoping this year’s flu vaccine is more effective than the batch brewed last year. That same H3N2 strain is still circulating in other countries, and in low levels in the US says Frieden. Cases typically peak between December and February. Antiviral drugs can minimize the symptoms and help people get better faster, he said.
