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Flu vaccines didn't work that well in the US, officials find (apnews.com)

submitted 22 hours ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

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As the U.S. flu season winds down, health officials say the flu vaccine didn’t work very well, with one of its worst effectiveness rates in more than a decade.

A new strain that dominated the early winter was not well matched to the vaccine, leading to an intense early onslaught of flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday posted data that showed a continued decline in doctor’s office and hospital visits for flu symptoms through last week. The number of states reporting high flu activity dropped to 16, many of them in a belt stretching from Colorado to Virginia.

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[–] can_you_change_your_username@fedia.io 5 points 18 hours ago

25-30% effective and what's considered successful is 40_60% effective. So about half as effective as what's considered successful. Yes, they got the mix wrong this year but that's still millions of people less sick than they otherwise would have been, thousands less deaths than there would have been, at least millions less spent on healthcare than there would have been. And that's not even considering the knock on effects. How many suffered and/or died during the pandemic because there weren't enough healthcare resources to treat everyone who needed it? Absent vaccines the flu has the potential to overwhelm our healthcare system every year. The 4th, 10th, 11th, and 17th deadliest pandemics in history were strains of the flu.

At least 101 children have died so far this season. For those whose vaccination status is known, about 85% were not fully vaccinated against flu.

85% of the children who died from flu this year were unvaccinated. A "not very effective" vaccine year is still a huge net positive. Get your flu vaccine every fall.