# 2098
With apologies to Cole Porter, of course.
Researchers at the Kuala Lumpur ICID Conference announced that flu shots given under the skin using a microinjection device with a 1.5 millimeter-long needle provided better protection for those aged 60-94, than shots given intramuscularly.
In recent years some studies have indicated that the elderly receive less benefit from flu shots than do younger people due to their less than robust immune system. This study showed a 7% improvement in the number of elderly recipients developing an immune response.
This report from Bloomberg, and a Hat tip to Kr105 at PlanForPandemic for this link.
Flu Shot Under Skin May Improve Protection for Aged (Update1)
By Simeon Bennett
June 20 (Bloomberg) -- Elderly people who received a flu shot under the skin instead of into a muscle were better protected against the deadly viruses, according to a study that may help prevent sickness and death in one of the most vulnerable groups.
Researchers at Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines unit of Paris- based Sanofi-Aventis SA, found people aged 60 to 94 given the shot under the skin using a short, thin needle were about 7 percent better protected against flu than those who received Sanofi's Vaxigrip shot in a muscle with a conventional needle. The findings were presented today at the International Congress for Infectious Diseases in Kuala Lumpur.
The study may lead to changes in the way doctors vaccinate the elderly, whose immune systems are less responsive to infections than younger adults, said Melanie Saville, who led the study. Previous research has shown flu vaccines protect as much as 60 percent of elderly people, compared with 90 percent of younger adults, she said.
``What's new with this vaccine is the system,'' Saville said in an interview yesterday. ``The idea of this is to have something any practitioner can use.''
