4 ms·
The general sentiment was that this years flu shot was a dud. The flu shot is a guess at which viruses will be most prevalent this year. A recent study I saw (
by goodcanadian 7y ago
The general sentiment was that this years flu shot was a dud.
The flu shot is a guess at which viruses will be most prevalent this year. A recent study I saw (sorry, I don't have a link) suggested that a single flu shot has little impact on your likelihood of getting the flu this year. If you regularly get flu shots, however, after 4 years, your immunity is significantly increased (I presume because you have be immunised against enough different viruses).
No comment on your situation, exactly; I just thought it was an interesting and relevant factoid.
- throwaway3157 7y agoCorrect, I've been told by medical professionals that there are hundred(s) of strains but the flu shot only covers the handful of strains they expect to be prevalent for that flu season. I have been wondering how they come up with that prediction though...
- superkuh 7y agoThe morbidity and mortality weekly report from a month or so back said that in intentional lab infections the influenza vaccine was only 45% effective in preventing infection this year.
- dnautics 7y agoOne wonders if the flu metagenome is evolving to evade our primitive strain selection 'algorithm'
- baddox 7y agohttps://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-selection.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-selection.htm Seems pretty straightforward. They look at which strains people have been testing positive for and how successful the previous vaccines were.
- rolph 7y agothe challenge with influenza vaccines is that the virus can shift character faster than a vaccine can be produced so its a crap shoot of sorts for a good match. This is why we need to perfect much more expedient vaccine production technology other than the attenuated virus method