New flu shot more effective than past year

By including components of H3N2 in this season’s flu vaccine, health care professionals hope to raise vaccine effectiveness against predominant strains back up to the 50 to 60 percent range. The elderly are more susceptible to influenza than other populations and there’s a “high dose” version of this year’s vaccine that’s recommended for seniors. The H3N2 strain became the most predominant strain for the season, rendering the 2014 vaccine only 13 percent effective. They change the vaccine every year to keep up with any mutations.

“Previous year it was not a good match”, said Barbara Cole, Director of Disease Control for the Riverside County Public Health Department. Though the vaccine should protect the people who have willingly accepted the vaccination, the common concern isn’t the efficacy of the vaccine, but the acceptance rate towards vaccinations. “I get it every year and it seems to work well with me, I’ve had no problems at all, and no side effects”. The Department makes an effort to offer flu vaccine to those areas where flu shots are not easily accessible. Flu activity in the United States generally peaks between late December and early March. According to the CDC, vaccination is especially important for people at higher risk of severe influenza and their close contacts, including healthcare personnel and close contacts of children younger than 6 months. But only about a third of adults ages 18 to 49 were, making them the least protected group. It can take 2-3 weeks to develop immunity after receiving the shot.

Most are covered by private and government health insurance, often without a co-pay.

One option this year is a needle -free device called a jet injector that forces the vaccine into a stream of fluid that penetrates the skin. But the CDC does warn it can, at times, lead to the same soreness as a traditional shot.

Vandra Kok, a clinical pharmacist at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley, stands at the refrigerator where the new flu vaccine is stored Friday, Sept 18.

The strains of influenza that seasonal vaccines are created to protect against are determined in advance by global health agencies and the CDC determines which strains people will most likely encounter during a given flu season.

Another 20 of the specimens were H1N1 viruses similar to the A/California/7/2009 strain that caused the so-called swine flu pandemic in 2009 and 2010.