CDC: This Year’s Flu Vaccine Not Effective for Seniors

February 22nd, 2013

This year’s influenza vaccine earns a failing grade for senior citizens.

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, overall, this year’s flu vaccine has proved to be 50-65% percent effective which is slightly below average compared to previous years.

But when it comes to people over the age of 65, the vaccine’s success combating this year’s most prevalent strain of flu is a dismal 9%, putting a vulnerable population at higher risk.An audio version of this story

According to CDC spokesman Tom Skinner, “We simply don’t understand totally why the elderly did not develop a really immune response to this vaccine. And that’s something we’re going to have to continue to look at and study more closely.”

With about a month left in this year’s flu season, the mode now moves to treatment. Skinner says older people, especially, should not try to tough out the flu alone, adding that “anti-viral medications can help lessen the severity of the disease, prevent hospitalization, and prevent some of the serious consequences that sometimes accompany a bout of the flu.”

The CDC estimates the flu kills some 24,000 Americans each year.