Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 16 February 2018
Flu shot only 36 percent effective, making bad year worse

By MIKE STOBBE worth getting a flu shot. It percent effective against
AP Medical Writer still provides some protec- Type B flu viruses.
NEW YORK (AP) — The flu tion, it can lessen the ill- The vaccine worked rela-
vaccine is doing a poor job ness’s severity, keep peo- tively well in young chil-
protecting older Americans ple out of the hospital, dren, but it performed
and others against the bug and save lives. There are worse in older people, in-
that’s causing most illness- as many as 56,000 deaths cluding seniors who are
es. connected to the flu during most vulnerable. Against
Preliminary figures released a bad year. H3N2, the vaccine was 51
Thursday suggest the vac- “Any type of vaccine is percent effective in chil-
cine is 36 percent effec- better than none,” said dren ages 6 months to 8
tive overall in preventing Scott Hensley, a University years. In every other age
flu illness severe enough to of Pennsylvania microbi- group, the numbers were
send a patient to the doc- ologist who has led studies low, falling in a range that
tor’s office. There’s only that raised critical ques- made them essentially in-
been one other time in the tions about the vaccine. effective in preventing flu,
last decade when the flu In this Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018 file photo, a nurse prepares a flu The effectiveness estimates statistically speaking.
vaccine did a worse job. shot from a vaccine vial at the Salvation Army in Atlanta. come from the tracking of That includes people 65
Most illnesses this winter Associated Press about 4,600 children and and older, a group that
have been caused by a severe season hitting the Disease Control and Pre- adult patients in five states. tends to suffer the highest
nasty kind of flu called Type United States this winter. vention. To make the effectiveness hospitalization and death
A H3N2. The vaccine was Based on these numbers, The numbers are a snap- calculations, researchers rates during H3N2 seasons.
only 25 percent effective the answer is yes. shot taken in the middle of tracked who got the flu, If the preliminary numbers
against that type. “The fact that the vaccine a frantic flu season. They and who among them had hold, it will mean that in five
This kind of virus tends to doesn’t work as well as we are based on relatively been vaccinated. of the last eight flu seasons,
cause more suffering and would like is clearly a con- small numbers of people The vaccine provided vaccine was essentially in-
have been responsible for tributing factor,” said Dr. and they are considered good protection — 67 per- effective in seniors.
the worst recent flu sea- William Schaffner, a Van- preliminary. Numbers may cent effective — against It points to a need for bet-
sons. But experts have won- derbilt University vaccine change as the season con- another common kind of ter flu vaccines, said Dr.
dered whether low vac- expert. tinues and more patients flu virus, Type A H1N1, which Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s
cine effectiveness is anoth- The estimates were pub- are added to the study. has not been seen much acting director.
er reason for the surprisingly lished by the Centers for And experts say it’s still this winter. And it was 42 “The vaccines that we
have today are not the
Idaho can keep data on animals tracked illegally amid appeal ones that we’d like to have
in 10 years,” she said.
mation collected from the Forest Service broke envi- Scientists think part of the
collars while the Idaho De- ronmental laws by autho- reason for that has to do
partment of Fish and Game rizing Fish and Game to with when people are born
appeals to the 9th U.S. Cir- land helicopters in the wil- and what kind of flu viruses
cuit Court of Appeals. But derness to collar elk. Idaho they’re first exposed to in
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn also collared four wolves life. Most seniors were first
Winmill rejected the agen- in an action the Forest Ser- exposed to H1N1 viruses
cy’s request to lift his ban vice didn’t authorize. Fish and their bodies seem
on using any of the infor- and Game blamed mis- to handle them better,
mation. communication with a he- but H3N2 viruses — which
“We’re proceeding with licopter crew. didn’t spread broadly in
the appeal to ultimately al- The judge said the case the United States until the
low us to use these scientif- was such an extreme vio- late 1960s — seem to be
ic data in future decisions,” lation that he ordered the harder for their bodies to
Fish and Game spokesman destruction of data from deal with. But some re-
searchers say part of the
In this Jan. 14, 1995 file photo, a wolf leaps across a road into Roger Phillips said. the collars. In delaying his problem is tied to how 85
the wilds of Central Idaho. The agency in January order for the appeal, Win-
Associated Press 2016 put collars on four mill wrote that “while the percent of the nation’s flu
By KEITH RIDLER and elk by a helicopter wolves and 57 elk in the court is confident in its rul- vaccine doses are made.
Associated Press crew that landed illegally Frank Church River of No ing, the circuit (court) may Manufacturers grow flu vi-
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho in a wilderness area where Return Wilderness. Western disagree.” He said Fish and ruses in chicken eggs. But
officials don’t have to de- engines are prohibited. Watersheds Project and Game would be harmed the viruses can mutate in
stroy information right away A federal judge earlier this other conservation groups if his order was overturned the eggs, and researchers
that came from tracking week agreed to delay his sued. but the information had al- are finding vaccine from
collars placed on wolves order to destroy the infor- Winmill ruled that the U.S. ready been destroyed.q the egg-grown viruses is
not a good match to the
H3N2 flu bugs in people.
Some research suggests
that newer vaccines, using
newer production meth-
ods, seem to work better
against recently circulat-
ing H3N2 strains, but not
enough people in the ef-
fectiveness study got those
kinds of shots to compare
performance.q