Flu Vaccine Missed Its Mark This Year
Flu Vaccine Missed Its Mark This Year
Vaccine Protection a Question as Flu Epidemic Ebbs
Jan. 15, 2004 -- This year's flu shot didn't keep people from getting the flu, the CDC reports.
The findings are still preliminary, but they basically show that people who got the flu vaccine were just about as likely to get flu-like symptoms as those who didn't get the shot.
Of course, the vaccine isn't designed to stop people from getting flu-like symptoms. It's designed to prevent severe flu illness and death. Did it? Those numbers aren't yet in.
The CDC still urges people at risk of flu complications -- the elderly, the very young, and those with chronic diseases -- to get a flu shot. That's because the flu season isn't over yet and the vaccinedoes protect against two of the three kinds of flu included in the vaccine.
The CDC's down-and-dirty study looked at about 3,000 healthcare workers in Colorado. It didn't test them to see whether they actually got the flu. It just asked whether they had flu-like illness: Fever, cough, and/or sore throat.
Overall, in Colorado the flu vaccine did not appear to have any effectiveness at preventing flu-like illness, the CDC found.
The findings don't apply to the FluMist inhaled vaccine, which may be more broadly effective than the flu shot. The report appears in the Jan. 16 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Flu is now widespread in 20 states and in New York City. That's down from 38 states (plus New York City and Washington, D.C.) the week before.
Public health officials keep score according to the percentage of hospital visits stemming from "influenza-like illness." Last week, that rate was down in all regions of the nation. It ranged from a high of 3.4% in the Pacific region (Alaska, Calif., Hi., Ore., and Wash.) to 1.9% in the Mountain (Ariz., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nev., N.M., Utah, and Wy.) and West North Central (Iowa, Kan., Minn., Mo., Neb., N.D., and S.D.) regions.
SOURCE: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Jan. 16, 2003; vol 53: pp 8-13.
Flu Vaccine Missed Its Mark This Year
Vaccine Protection a Question as Flu Epidemic Ebbs
Jan. 15, 2004 -- This year's flu shot didn't keep people from getting the flu, the CDC reports.
The findings are still preliminary, but they basically show that people who got the flu vaccine were just about as likely to get flu-like symptoms as those who didn't get the shot.
Of course, the vaccine isn't designed to stop people from getting flu-like symptoms. It's designed to prevent severe flu illness and death. Did it? Those numbers aren't yet in.
The CDC still urges people at risk of flu complications -- the elderly, the very young, and those with chronic diseases -- to get a flu shot. That's because the flu season isn't over yet and the vaccinedoes protect against two of the three kinds of flu included in the vaccine.
The CDC's down-and-dirty study looked at about 3,000 healthcare workers in Colorado. It didn't test them to see whether they actually got the flu. It just asked whether they had flu-like illness: Fever, cough, and/or sore throat.
Overall, in Colorado the flu vaccine did not appear to have any effectiveness at preventing flu-like illness, the CDC found.
The findings don't apply to the FluMist inhaled vaccine, which may be more broadly effective than the flu shot. The report appears in the Jan. 16 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Flu Epidemic Continues To Wane
Flu is now widespread in 20 states and in New York City. That's down from 38 states (plus New York City and Washington, D.C.) the week before.
Public health officials keep score according to the percentage of hospital visits stemming from "influenza-like illness." Last week, that rate was down in all regions of the nation. It ranged from a high of 3.4% in the Pacific region (Alaska, Calif., Hi., Ore., and Wash.) to 1.9% in the Mountain (Ariz., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nev., N.M., Utah, and Wy.) and West North Central (Iowa, Kan., Minn., Mo., Neb., N.D., and S.D.) regions.
SOURCE: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Jan. 16, 2003; vol 53: pp 8-13.