Paquita Bonillo, 84 years old, receives the fourth dose of Covid-19 and flu vaccine within the garden of the Feixa Llarga nursing home on September 26, 2022 in Barcelona, Spain.
Zowy Voeten | Getty Images
The flu vaccine has been 68% effective at stopping hospitalizations in children but has been less protective for seniors this season, in response to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vaccine was 35% effective at stopping hospitalization for seniors in a single study, and 42% effective in a second evaluation.
For individuals with weak immune systems, the vaccine reduced the chance of hospitalization by 44% in a single study and 30% in one other.
The flu hit early this season, because the weekly hospitalization rate peaked in December and has declined since then, in response to CDC data. The flu has caused 25 million illnesses, 280,000 hospitalizations and 18,000 deaths since October. Greater than 100 children have died from the flu this season.
Flu cases surged last fall after two years during which the virus circulated at low levels as a result of the masking and social distancing measures put in place through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Jose Romero, head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, said the simultaneous circulation of Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus put significant pressure on hospitals and drug supply chains within the U.S.
“After a transient and anticipated uptick of hospitalizations and cases around the vacations, we are actually seeing a continued decrease in Covid, influenza and RSV cases and hospitalizations nationally,” Romero told the CDC’s independent advisory committee Wednesday.
“While influenza activity is declining, it stays possible that a second wave may occur later within the season because it has previously,” Romero said.
Kids and seniors are typically at highest risk of severe disease from the flu. About 52% of youngsters and 70% of seniors had received a flu vaccine as of late January, in response to CDC data. The CDC recommends seasonal vaccination for everybody ages 6 months and older.
The effectiveness of flu vaccines can vary widely season to season depending on how well the strains included within the shots are matched to the circulating viruses. Dr. Lisa Grohskopf, a CDC official, said the vaccines and circulating flu strains were reasonably well matched this season.
Hospitals were slammed last fall by the simultaneous spread of Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus. The Kid’s Hospital Association had called on the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency in November, calling the surge in hospitalized children at the moment “alarming.”
While there are widely available Covid and flu shots, no vaccines exist for RSV. Several corporations are developing shots for older adults that might receive Food and Drug Administration approval this 12 months.
Pfizer is developing a vaccine that protects infants from RSV, and Sanofi has asked the FDA to approve an antibody called nirsevimab that also protects children as much as two years old.
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