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>The CDC released figures Thursday showing that this season’s influenza vaccine is only about 23 percent effective Yikes, is it normally that low? I looked up

>The CDC released figures Thursday showing that this season’s influenza vaccine is only about 23 percent effective Yikes, is it normally that low? I looked up a quick figure for 2013, and it was 60% effectiveness.

josephpmay 12y ago
I believe last year's was unusually effective, and this year's was unusually ineffective
DanBC 12y ago
It's not normally that ineffective. There has been some "drift" which is expected. It's not as bad as the 2009(?) swine flu outbreak.
- Intermernet 12y ago
  2009 is correct. Thanks for pointing out the concept that the efficacy of these drugs changes due to the mutations of the virus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_H1N1/09_virus#Nomenclature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_H1N1/09_virus#Nomencla... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic
hga 12y ago
As of 2015 "Week 1" ending Jan 10th (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/), almost all the flu tested is type A, almost all of that that is further tested is H3N2, and of those further tested, 35% responds well to the Northern hemisphere vaccine, 65% does not. What's annoying is that of the 65% that's further tested, it's a good match for the vaccine we're preparing for the 2015 Southern Hemisphere vaccine. So the public health types were on the ball, just not quite fast enough, especially given the very long lead time required for the current major egg based vaccine (both to develop new seed strains that'll grow well in eggs, and then production). Ah, well, it's a good time for introverts like myself to practice "social distancing", made a lot less onerous by the net. My father mentioned a couple of days ago that the local Catholic high school, wiped out by a tornado in 2011 and finally reopened in its new permanent building for this semester, elected to close and disinfect after not very many days, so many students had or were coming down with the flu.
debacle 12y ago
It's usually close to 40% effective but it's generally nowhere near 75%+

josephpmay 12y ago

I believe last year's was unusually effective, and this year's was unusually ineffective

DanBC 12y ago

It's not normally that ineffective. There has been some "drift" which is expected. It's not as bad as the 2009(?) swine flu outbreak.

Intermernet 12y ago
2009 is correct. Thanks for pointing out the concept that the efficacy of these drugs changes due to the mutations of the virus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_H1N1/09_virus#Nomenclature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_H1N1/09_virus#Nomencla... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic

hga 12y ago

As of 2015 "Week 1" ending Jan 10th (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/), almost all the flu tested is type A, almost all of that that is further tested is H3N2, and of those further tested, 35% responds well to the Northern hemisphere vaccine, 65% does not. What's annoying is that of the 65% that's further tested, it's a good match for the vaccine we're preparing for the 2015 Southern Hemisphere vaccine. So the public health types were on the ball, just not quite fast enough, especially given the very long lead time required for the current major egg based vaccine (both to develop new seed strains that'll grow well in eggs, and then production). Ah, well, it's a good time for introverts like myself to practice "social distancing", made a lot less onerous by the net. My father mentioned a couple of days ago that the local Catholic high school, wiped out by a tornado in 2011 and finally reopened in its new permanent building for this semester, elected to close and disinfect after not very many days, so many students had or were coming down with the flu.

debacle 12y ago

It's usually close to 40% effective but it's generally nowhere near 75%+