CDC says the vaccine is not obviously effective and 450+ people have died from the flu in Alberta

CDC says the vaccine is not obviously effective and 450+ people have died from the flu in Alberta This year's flu vaccine in the United States is less than 40% effective, but medical experts say the vaccine is still...

The effectiveness of this year's flu vaccine in the United States is less than 40%, but medical experts say the vaccine is still valuable and call on the public to get vaccinated as soon as possible, especially children, to reduce the probability of influenza infection.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Thursday (February 15) that a preliminary evaluation of the effectiveness of the 2017-2018 influenza vaccine showed that the influenza vaccine can reduce the probability of influenza infection by about one-third (36%), but is only 25% effective against influenza A viruses.

Many epidemiological experts have said that this year’s flu season is the most serious in recent years. According to information previously released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the circulating virus strains of influenza this season are mainly type A viruses, including B strains (Yamagata and Victoria), H1N1 and H3N2.

Among them, the H3N2 virus has caused three-quarters of influenza cases so far this season. The H3N2 virus has been a "bad perpetrator" of many flu seasons throughout history, causing more complications, hospitalizations and deaths.

During a typical flu season, the vaccine prevents 40% to 60% of flu illnesses that may become severe enough to require medical attention.

This year's influenza vaccine is less than 40% effective (36%) and only 25% effective against the H3N2 virus. Medical experts say there is no need to be surprised and recommend that people choose to get vaccinated under the current circumstances.

"We have a good vaccine, but not a great one, and its effect is not obvious." said Arnold Monto, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan and one of the authors of the CDC report. The report is based on an analysis of clinical data from 4,562 influenza patients.

Monto pointed out that compared with Australia's previous report of only 10% effectiveness of this season's influenza vaccine, the United States has 25% effectiveness against H3N2, which is higher than Australia. In addition, Canadian researchers estimate that the country's flu vaccine is only 17% effective.

At the same time, the clinical data also contains a new highlight: among children aged six months to eight years old, the vaccine is more effective, reaching an overall effectiveness of 59%.

Experts said that even compared with the 2014-015 flu season, this year's flu vaccine prevention rate is higher. The 2014-2015 flu season was medically defined as "moderately severe" and was used to compare and refer to previous flu outbreaks. That year, the CDC found that the vaccine was only 19% effective because the virus strain in the vaccine did not match the virus strain that caused the disease.

Complete prevention of the flu is not the only goal of vaccination, as more people vaccinated can reduce the severity of flu symptoms in those who are sick, Monto said.

As of February 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the number of deaths among children due to influenza since October had reached 53, and a total of 126,000 influenza case reports had been received. These statistics do not include all cases of influenza infection because many people do not choose to see a doctor when they become sick.

Aaron Glatt, director of the Department of Medicine at South Nassau County Community Hospital in New York, also said that even with imperfect vaccines, it is valuable to choose to inject them.

As a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Greit said that according to the latest reports, 70% of children who died from influenza in recent years were not vaccinated.

The medical community still hopes that the flu vaccine will be more effective, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been calling on the public to get the flu vaccine as soon as possible and continue to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of existing vaccines.

In Arizona, according to official data, as of February 14, more than 23,000 cases of influenza have been recorded, including 461 deaths due to influenza. Among them, 30% of the cases are in people over 65 years old, and the other 25% are children 18 years old or younger.

Arizona Department of Health officials said there were more influenza A some time ago, but cases of influenza B have increased recently. In contrast, influenza B has milder symptoms than influenza A, but fatigue, pain, and runny nose are inevitable.

Health officials recommend that those concerned about the flu should get vaccinated if they haven't already, and that those who are sick should stay home to avoid spreading the disease.