Flu vaccines do a great job of limiting the number of people who end up in hospital with the illness. Last winter, getting vaccinated cut the risk of being hospitalized by 66% in children and 25% in adults over 65. But there are persistent misconceptions about the vaccine that put some people off from getting it.
Whether you’re eligible for the NHS vaccine, your workplace is offering jabs or you’re considering paying for one out of your own pocket, here’s what you need to know. It is impossible to get flu from the flu vaccine, because it does not contain the live virus.
You might feel a bit shivery or have a slight fever – but that’s an immune response, not the flu – Professor Peter Openshaw, a virus expert at Imperial College London, told Sky News. “It’s showing that your body is doing what it’s meant to do, which is to create an immune response against influenza, which is protective,” he said. “So it isn’t flu, but it does have some resemblances to flu.”….Story Continues…
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A vaccine is assessed by its efficacy – the extent to which it reduces risk of disease under controlled conditions – and its effectiveness – the observed reduction in risk after the vaccine is put into use. In the case of influenza, effectiveness is expected to be lower than the efficacy because it is measured using the rates of influenza-like illness, which is not always caused by influenza.
Studies on the effectiveness of flu vaccines in the real world are difficult; vaccines may be imperfectly matched, virus prevalence varies widely between years, and influenza is often confused with other influenza-like illnesses. However, in most years (16 of the 19 years before 2007), the flu vaccine strains have been a good match for the circulating strains, and even a mismatched vaccine can often provide cross-protection.
The virus rapidly changes due to antigenic drift, a slight mutation in the virus that causes a new strain to arise. The effectiveness of seasonal flu vaccines varies significantly, with an estimated average efficacy of 50–60% against symptomatic disease, depending on vaccine strain, age, prior immunity, and immune function, so vaccinated people can still contract influenza.
The effectiveness of flu vaccines is considered to be suboptimal, particularly among the elderly, but vaccination is still beneficial in reducing the mortality rate and hospitalization rate due to influenza as well as duration of hospitalization. Vaccination of school-age children has shown to provide indirect protection for other age groups.
LAIVs are recommended for children based on superior efficacy, especially for children under 6, and greater immunity against non-vaccine strains when compared to inactivated vaccines. From 2012 to 2015 in New Zealand, vaccine effectiveness against admission to an intensive care unit was 82%.
Effectiveness against hospitalized influenza illness in the 2019–2020 United States flu season was 41% overall and 54% in people aged 65 years or older.One review found 31% effectiveness against death among adults. Repeated annual influenza vaccination generally offer consistent year-on-year protection against influenza.
There is, however, suggestive evidence that repeated vaccinations may cause a reduction in vaccine effectiveness for certain influenza subtypes; this has no relevance to current recommendations for yearly vaccinations but might influence future vaccination policy. As of 2019, the CDC recommends a yearly vaccine as most studies demonstrate overall effectiveness of annual influenza vaccination.
There is not enough evidence to establish significant differences in the effectiveness of different influenza vaccine types,but there are high-dose or adjuvanted products that induce a stronger immune response in the elderly. According to a 2016 study by faculty at the University of New South Wales, getting a flu shot was as effective or better at preventing a heart attack than even quitting smoking.
In April 2002, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) encouraged that children 6 to 23 months of age be vaccinated annually against influenza.In 2010, ACIP recommended annual influenza vaccination for those 6 months of age and older. Currently the CDC recommends that everyone except infants under the age of six months should receive the seasonal influenza vaccine.
Vaccination campaigns usually focus special attention on people who are at high risk of serious complications if they catch the flu, such as pregnant women, children under 59 months, the elderly, and people with chronic illnesses or weakened immune systems, as well as those to whom they are exposed, such as health care workers.
As the death rate is also high among infants who catch influenza, the CDC and the WHO recommend that household contacts and caregivers of infants be vaccinated to reduce the risk of passing an influenza infection to the infant. In children, the vaccine appears to decrease the risk of influenza and possibly influenza-like illness.
In children under the age of two data are limited. During the 2017–18 flu season, the CDC director indicated that 85 percent of the children who died “likely will not have been vaccinated”. In the United States, as of January 2019, the CDC recommend that children aged six through 35 months may receive either 0.25 milliliters or 0.5 milliliters per dose of Fluzone Quadrivalent.
There is no preference for one or the other dose volume of Fluzone Quadrivalent for that age group. All persons 36 months of age and older should receive 0.5 milliliters per dose of Fluzone Quadrivalent. As of October 2018, Afluria Quadrivalent is licensed for children six months of age and older in the United States. Children six months through 35 months of age should receive 0.25 milliliters for each dose of Afluria Quadrivalent.
All persons 36 months of age and older should receive 0.5 milliliters per dose of Afluria Quadrivalent. As of February 2018, Afluria Tetra is licensed for adults and children five years of age and older in Canada. In 2014, the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) published a review of influenza vaccination in healthy 5–18-year-olds, and in 2015, published a review of the use of pediatric Fluad in children 6–72 months of age.
In one study, conducted in a tertiary referral center, the rate of influenza vaccination in children was only 31%. Higher rates were found among immuno-suppressed pediatric patients (46%), and in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (50%). In unvaccinated adults, 16% get symptoms similar to the flu, while about 10% of vaccinated adults do. Vaccination decreased confirmed cases of influenza from about 2.4% to 1.1%. No effect on hospitalization was found.
In working adults, a review by the Cochrane Collaboration found that vaccination resulted in a modest decrease in both influenza symptoms and working days lost, without affecting transmission or influenza-related complications. In healthy working adults, influenza vaccines can provide moderate protection against virologically confirmed influenza, though such protection is greatly reduced or absent in some seasons.
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