This year’s flu vaccine was far less effective than officials previously thought, particularly for the elderly, according to officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vaccine was 9% effective in protecting people in that age group. An H3N2 flu strain has been the most dominant and has been especially hard on the elderly.
The flu vaccine ineffectiveness was particularly was true for those 65 or older, according to a recent CDC report. “One possible explanation for this is that some older people did not mount an effective immune response to the H3N2 component of this season’s vaccine,” the report said. Among those over 65, 146 per 100,000 were hospitalized for the flu virus, compared with a rate of just 30 per 100,000 last year.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC’s director, said “It seems that this year’s flu vaccine is not nearly as effective as we would like among people over the age of 65 for one particular strain of flu.” Officials maintained, however, that those 65 and older should be vaccinated yearly, for reasons including that this population is at high risk of serious illness, hospitalization and death from the flu.
There is a risk of various types of adverse reactions to the flu shot, including neurological injury such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome. If you feel as though you may have a vaccine injury claim caused by the flu vaccine, contact a vaccine injury attorney as soon as possible to discuss making a claim with the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.