3 ms·
This is going to sound insanely pedantic to this commenter, but was the fatal strain in this case even present in this year's vaccine? I'd bet that it wasn't.
by masonic 9y ago
This is going to sound insanely pedantic to this commenter, but was the fatal strain in this case even present in this year's vaccine?
I'd bet that it wasn't. Fact is, for the past several years, the three/four candidate strains chosen for the USA vaccine were badly mismatched for what strains actually circulated in the wild.
Flu vaccines aren't like genetic vaccines (like for HPV), which are essentially foolproof for the targeted strain(s) and carry little risk of side-effects. Flu vaccines are more of a scattershot approach, with the "misses" generally ignored by the media.
- maxerickson 9y agoCDC is estimating this year's vaccine is ~30% effective against the A(H3N2) virus in circulation. https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00409.asp https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00409.asp In addition, influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) in general has been lower against A(H3N2) viruses than against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 or influenza B viruses. Last season, VE against circulating influenza A(H3N2) viruses was estimated to be 32% in the U.S. CDC expects that VE could be similar this season, should the same A(H3N2) viruses continue to predominate.
- DrScump 9y agoThat's overall effectiveness against all H3 viruses, meaning that it isn't even totally effective against the strain it was specifically designed to protect against. Plus, it's very early in the season. That's 70% failure already, and every new case grows that number. Edit: typo
- maxerickson 9y agoI think you mean H3 viruses.
- DrScump 9y agoYes, sorry.
- timcederman 9y agoIt probably was. H3N2, mentioned in the article, is the most prevalent and deadly this season - "2017-18 vaccine component strains are A/Michigan (H1N1), A/Hong Kong (H3N2), B/Brisbane (all vaccines), and B/Phuket (the quadrivalent vaccines)."