Flu Shots Effective for Majority of Recipients, Says CDC - East Idaho News

Flu Shots Effective for Majority of Recipients, Says CDC

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Getty 080912 FluShot?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1361508647901iStockphoto/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) — Did you get a flu shot this year and still catch the flu?  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it happened quite a bit this year, but the shots did prevent millions from getting sick too.  
 
According to the CDC’s estimates of the effectiveness of the 2012-2013 influenza vaccine, shots were just 56 percent effective this year for types A and B flu.  

That may be good for those vaccine recipients included in that majority, but the news is not so great for the 44 percent of people whose shot didn’t help.   

And, it turns out, getting the shot worked better for those who caught influenza B. That vaccine stopped the bug nearly 70 percent of the time in those cases, the CDC reported. The vaccine for flu type A gave recipients a less-than-50-percent chance of staying healthy.

The shot for both A and B also gave children slightly better odds than elderly adults. The vaccine was more effective in 64 percent of child recipients, compared to just 27 percent of seniors.

Given that the CDC’s findings indicate the vaccine “provided substantial protection against influenza for most people who got vaccinated,” the center and experts maintain your best line of defense against the flu is vaccination.
 
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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