Photo Credit – CDC
# 6853
Last Friday, in FluView Week 1 & MMWR Vaccine Effectiveness Report, we looked at the first estimate of this year’s flu vaccine’s effectiveness, and early numbers suggest it to be around 62%.
An estimate that is very close to what the 2011 study by Michael Osterholm and his team at CIDRAP - A Comprehensive Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Meta-Analysis - found; that most years the flu vaccine was `moderately’ protective.
Unfortunately for the elderly and for those with immune problems – the people most at risk of complications from the flu – the flu vaccine’s effectiveness is often even lower (see Study: Flu Vaccines And The Elderly).
Today the inimitable Helen Branswell, ace health reporter for The Canadian Press gives us a terrific look at the vaccine effectiveness issue, with interviews of Dr. Michael Osterholm of CIDRAP, Dr. Nancy Cox at the CDC, and Dr. Danuta Skowronski of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, and Dr. Edward Belongia of the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin.
At this point, I’ll just step out of the way and invite you to read:
Flu studies suggest vaccine `match' not super predictor of effectiveness
Helen Branswell,
Sunday, January 13, 2013 7:55 PM
Highly Recommended.
