3 ms·
It's not, each year we have to guess which strains will be prevalent, and sometimes they get it wrong.
by philjohn 9y ago
It's not, each year we have to guess which strains will be prevalent, and sometimes they get it wrong.
- epmaybe 9y agoThat brings up an interesting question: what does the CDC do to predict strain prevalence each year?
- icegreentea2 9y agoThey're tell you! https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/vaccine-selection.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/vaccine-selection.htm Ars Technica also did a nice breakdown (with many related Q&As) https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/12/this-years-flu-season-is-upon-us-and-it-looks-bad-heres-what-you-should-know/2/#h1 https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/12/this-years-flu-seaso...
- rflrob 9y agoNot only that, the strains they choose not to include will likely spread more effectively than the ones that they do. So even if the vaccine magically protected 100% of people against the most prevalent N strains, the (N+1)th strain will be the one that most people get. Did the CDC “guess wrong”, or are they doing their best to fight an impossible battle?
- richardw 9y agoIs developing or producing the vaccine the costly bit? If producing, then what about creating more and patchworking them? It might reduce the monoculture type issue. I.e. everyone gets the worst two, then two of the next 8/16, whatever models best. I assume this has already been modelled to death but asking in case anyone knows.