Last winter’s flu jab ‘effective for 1 in 3’

“And we do see every year pediatric and elderly death from the flu”. She said the flu is so easily transferrable and that it can linger on objects a sick person touches.

Flu, along with cold weather, was said to have led to the number of deaths over the winter being up to a third higher than in previous years but officials said the vaccine remained “the best protection” against the virus.

Even if you shrug off the fact that sometimes people die of the flu, why would you want to risk suffering even a week’s misery if the yearly vaccine minimizes the chances?

“Getting your flu vaccine is important, it’s important you get it for yourself because it protects you, it protects your children”, said Rhynes. If you have an egg allergy, you should get Flucelvak or FluBlok instead.

Taksler and colleagues were also able to conclude that states with at least 31 percent of the 18-to-64 year old population immunized against flu get to reduce the risks for elders by 21 percent.

In case you were wondering, there are two types of vaccines: the trivalent versus the quadrivalent vaccine. Different flu strains have different combinations of these proteins – for example, the strains targeted by recent flu vaccines are H3N2 and H1N1. They must receive the inactivated vaccine, or the flu shot. Physicians say the protective qualities of the vaccine is only active for 90 days or so, which means the best time for vaccination is a month or two before the influenza season begins in earnest.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on its website that as of now, “flu activity is low in the United States”. The candidate vaccine is now licensed in more than 30 countries, and approximately 76 million doses have been distributed since first approved. Since 2010, the Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practices has recommended that everyone older than 6 months receive vaccination for influenza. If you have the flu, stay home from work or school.

The next step was to immunise mice and ferrets, then injecting them with the H5N1 “bird flu” that has a mortality rate of more than 50% among people but is not very contagious. “Individuals in these groups are at high risk of serious complications, if they come down with the flu”.

Unfortunately, the influenza virus is microbiology’s answer to Miley Cyrus: it can change enough in just one year to become completely unrecognizable. Between day 2 and 4 of the illness, the body aches and fever may start to wane, but other symptoms including dry cough, sore throat, runny nose often appear.

The CDC is now recommending that all seniors, 65 or older, get two vaccinations – Prevnar 13 and Pneumovax 23.