FTA: this year’s flu vaccine has even less protection than previously thought.
Overall 23%
under 18 26-percent
age 18-49 12 %
age >50 14%
FTA: If you’ve already had the flu, health experts warn it is possible to get sick again. There are four strains of the flu this season, which is why they strongly recommend that you should still get the flu shot, if haven’t done it yet.
I think Albert Einstein had a comment for this.
Neuraminidase inhibitors like Relenza and Tamiflu were developed with a sense of urgency that a new flu pandemic was overdue. The effects in 1918 were devastating with 50 million or more deaths. Once these new drugs were approved however, the Package Insert (Prescribing Information)I (Tamiflu) (Relenza) was required to say "...not a substitute for early influenza vaccination on an annual basis as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices."
The effort has been to minimize use of neuraminidase inhibitors which has the side effect of decreasing research efforts into improved or new approaches to flu intervention. That approach also makes manufacturers cautious in the amount of drug they produce which in years like this leads to drug shortages.
I could go on... Here's hoping you avoid the worst this year.
