Castanet

only 10% effective this year people not worth the side effects it comes with https://qz.com/1143420/the-2017-2018-fl ... han-usual/

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1714916

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Even if the outlook is bleak, you should still definitely get a flu shot if you haven’t already, as it does provide effective protection against several strains, and a quick shot with minimal side effects is worth it to avoid days of being stuck in bed.

However imperfect, though, current influenza vaccines remain a valuable public health tool, and it is always better to get vaccinated than not to get vaccinated. In this regard, the CDC estimates that influenza vaccination averted 40,000 deaths in the United States between the 2005–2006 and 2013–2014 seasons.2 Yet we can do better. Although targeted research to improve current vaccine antigens, platforms, and manufacturing strategies may in the short term lead to enhanced effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccines, to achieve the ultimate objective of a universal influenza vaccine, a broad range of expertise and substantial resources will be required to fill gaps in our knowledge and develop a transformative approach to influenza-vaccine design

the truth wrote:-wow-- new england journal of medicine not good enough for ya http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1714916 you people kill me

The cornerstone of influenza prevention and epidemic control is strain-specific vaccination.

The consequences of the wrong assessment of the flu vaccine effectiveness
Authors of this article forecast the flu vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 10% for the North Hemisphere. This prediction is based on assumption that H3N2 viruses circulating in Australia in the flu season 2017 will be similar to viruses in the North Hemisphere. Comparison of Australian H3N2 viruses and viruses isolated in US in the beginning of the flu season 2017/2018 showed significant difference between these two groups of viruses (https://f1000research.com/articles/6-2067/v1). This result suggests that the flu vaccine in US could work as well as in last flu season (according to CDC this VE was 42%). In addition, CDC reported that viruses isolated in US until the end of December 2017 were well-inhibited by ferret antisera raised against the vaccine virus (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm). In spite of these data and the warning of CDC that real VE can be defined only at the end of the flu season, media aggressively quoted predicted VE of 10% from this article. As a consequence of this misinformation about the low VE, many people refused to get vaccinated and this could significantly worsened the flu season 2017/2018 in US.

Seasonal influenza epidemics cause 3 million to 5 million severe cases and 300,000 to 500,000 deaths globally each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The United States alone sees 140,000 to 710,000 influenza-related hospitalizations and 12,000 to 56,000 deaths each year, with the highest burden of disease affecting the very young, the very old, and people with coexisting medical conditions

The flu shot is tweaked each year in an attempt to target what are projected to be the most prevalent strains of the disease, but the process isn’t foolproof. The CDC estimates that the vaccine will be effective against roughly 30% of H3 viruses this year.

That said, the CDC still recommends that you get vaccinated if you haven’t already, as there could be as many as 13 weeks of flu season still to come. Plus, the shot may protect against influenza B strains, which typically come out later in the season.

Can the flu vaccine provide protection even if the flu vaccine is not a “good” match?
Yes, antibodies made in response to vaccination with one flu virus can sometimes provide protection against different but related flu viruses. A less than ideal match may result in reduced vaccine effectiveness against the flu virus that is different from what is in the flu vaccine, but it can still provide some protection against flu illness.