The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that this season's flu vaccine provides little protection against mild cases.
The flu shot decreased a person's chances of contracting the most common strain of flu this season by 16 percent. However, it is not statistically significant, according to the CDC authors.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, stated that the flu vaccine was "essentially useless".
Research from earlier flu seasons found that vaccines were not compatible with the H3N2 strain. The University of Pennsylvania researchers posted the study as a preprint. This means that it was not peer-reviewed.
Thursday's CDC report confirmed H3N2 as the predominant strain this season. This strain is considered to be particularly dangerous by flu experts because it tends to mutate more quickly than other strains and historically leads to more deaths and hospitalizations.
These findings were made amid low flu activity overall and the nation's second flu-season in a row. Although flu cases did begin to increase in the fall there were fears of a "twindemic", which could have been caused by Covid-19 and flu. However, cases didn't take off as they do in normal flu seasons.
A few flu experts were particularly worried that this year's flu season could be a poor one. This is after flu cases fell to an all time low in the last year. Most of the country was shut down by the pandemic.
Schaffner suggested that the omicron spike in December and January could have had an effect on keeping flu cases at bay by making people wear masks again, social distancing, and taking other mitigation steps. These measures probably kept flu levels down in the 2020-2021 season.
Schaffner stated that the CDC's latest report on flu vaccinations highlights the need for better vaccines, as the flu "is not going away." ... It will return next year, and the years after that and after that."
According to the CDC, flu vaccines reduce the chance of getting sick from influenza viruses by 40% to 60%. Moderna and Pfizer are working together to develop flu shots using mRNA technology. This is the same platform that was used to create Covid-19. However, these vaccines will not likely be available until the latter half of 2023.
The CDC recommends that everyone older than 6 months receive the flu shot. This is to prevent severe complications from influenza such as hospitalization and death.
Thursday's report indicated that vaccination coverage was lower this year than in 2020-21 flu season.
