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This year flu vaccine failed to tackle the flu outburst in the United States. Merely 23 percent of flu shots and vaccines fought against the infection, according to the Morbitidity and mortality Weekly Report
Generally, the work efficiency of the flu vaccine changes from one year to another. Since the past few decades vaccines used to cover nearly 50 to 60 percent of the flu strains.
This time, such a low proportion of effectiveness of flu vaccine has marked a new history. Dr. Alicia Fry, a flu vaccine expert at the Center of Disease Control and Prevention called it an “uncommon year” in terms of flu epidemic.
Earlier, the federal health agency had announced that flu vaccine would not be that much beneficial. The health officials informed that a new flu virus known as H3N2 would probably infect a large number of people. The virus H3N2 emerged after a short time period of the creation of these flu drugs. Therefore, the majority of the available flu vaccines were not designed to remove the mutated strain.
Eventually, all the predictions of CDC turned out true. This winter season, H3N2 were responsible for two third of the illness in the United States. The strain sent thousands of people to the hospitals. Children and people above 65 were the main target of the infection.
As per the reports of health agencies, around 2,231 people were hospitalized. The figures only include the data of five major states such as Texas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Washington
Additionally, CDC says it does not mean that flu shots are completely useless. It is a misconception that January and February are the only month in which flu attacks. The flu infection can also affect people after the winter season.
