Drop in adult flu vaccinations may be a factor in last season's record-breaking deaths, illnesses

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post



More people were killed by influenza last season than in any other since the 1970s.

By Lena H. Sun October 25 at 12:57 PM

Fewer than 4 out of 10 adults in the United States got flu shots last winter, the lowest rate in seven seasons and one likely reason why the 2017-2018 season was the deadliest in decades.

Reports released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide new details outlining the severity of the past flu season during which more people were killed than any seasonal influenza since the 1970s.

Flu vaccination is the main way to prevent sickness and death caused by flu. But last season, vaccination coverage among adults was 37.1 percent, a decrease of 6.2 percentage points from the previous season. That’s the lowest rate for adults 18 and older since 2010-2011.

“That’s huge. It’s a striking inflection down from the previous year,” said William Schaffner, an infectious-diseases expert at Vanderbilt University and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2018/10/25/drop-adult-flu-vaccinations-may-be-factor-last-seasons-record-breaking-deaths-illnesses/

[northoftheborder]

1. I would like to see how many of those flu cases came in spite of a flu shot.

That's not to discourage people from getting it; I always get one and haven't had the flu in decades. But do know several people who did, and actually had the flu twice. Did the shot not match the type of flu going around?

[Aristus]

12. As a medical clinician, I tend to distrust patients who claim they got the flu in spite of

receiving the vaccine.

While there is some justification for concern regarding efficacy, i.e. some seasons, the vaccine does not match the strain of flu that emerges (OTOH, even a mismatched vaccine can provide partial immunity to the prevalent strain of flu), these concerns seem to be less and less founded in reality the more one questions patients about their symptoms.

For example, a patient receives the flu vaccine, and then develops nausea and vomiting and calls it the flu, or 'stomach flu' (that's a popular one). In this case, a patient mistook a case of gastroenteritis for the flu, and decided to blame the vaccine.

In other cases, a patient develops a perfectly ordinary, harmless, garden-variety cold, and thinks it's the flu, and again blames the vaccine.

Vaccine development is based in hard, objective medical science.

A patient's perception of the vaccine's efficacy is almost always entirely subjective.

Bottom line: get the flu vaccine. It will not give you the flu.

[TexasBushwhacker]

19. Do you recommend the super duper vaccines

they have available for the elderly?

[Journeyman]

20. I remember last year, the word was the vaccine was "only 20% effective" . . .

to which I told naysayers, well, it's 20% more than I had before the shot, and who knows, it may be 100% effective against whatever strain I come in contact with.

[Ms. Toad]

29. Last year's vaccine was only around 25% effective

against the worst form of influenza circulating last year. The last time it was over 50% effective was in 2014 (I beleve,without retracing my steps to double-check it).

With a vaccine only 25% effective, it is pretty likely that a number of people will be infected wtih the flu, despite the vaccine.

While you are correct that many people don't understand the difference between other viral infections and influenze, it is equally likely that the vaccine just missed the mark. My perception of the vaccine's efficacy is grounded in science, which can be found reported on the CDC website which tracks, among other things, efficacy of the vaccine.

[Aristus]

33. Please see my other posts regarding the importance of partial immunity.

Your concern is duly noted...

[hibbing]

2. Got mine Monday

Stupid insurance company does not cover it. Now I just need to wait two weeks for it to be effective.


Peace

[DownriverDem]

6. Got mine today

The Henry Ford Health System nurses came to the law firm I work at and anyone who wanted one could get it.

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. I've never heard of insurance not covering it

That's just nuts!

[KT2000]

3. as I recall, the shot

was not a good match last year. I got one and the doctor said even though it isn't a good match it would help reduce severity if I did get the flu.
I know some people decided not to get one because it was not a match.

[Ms. Toad]

30. You are correct - it was only about 25% effective

against the most virulent form of the flu circulating last year.

[mbusby]

4. They opened the door....

...and in flu enza.

[montana_hazeleyes]

9. !

[littlemissmartypants]

22. It's a children's chant, used while jumping rope.

I heard it first when I watched this on PBS's American Experience. You can stream it free here, if I'm not mistaken.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/influenza/

Influenza 1918
Film Description
In September of 1918, soldiers at an army base near Boston suddenly began to die. The cause of death was identified as influenza, but it was unlike any strain ever seen.?As the killer virus spread across the country, hospitals overfilled, death carts roamed the streets and helpless city officials dug mass graves. It was the worst epidemic in American history, killing over 600,000 — until it disappeared as mysteriously as it had begun.

♡lmsp

[montana_hazeleyes]

23. Thank you for the info.

[littlemissmartypants]

39. You're welcome. It's a really interesting documentary.

The American Experience series has lots of good stuff.

I just watched Circus (two parts) also very interesting. Here's part one: https://www.pbssocal.org/programs/american-experience/the-circus-part-1-intzsl/

[Brainstormy]

5. that, and the fact

that the efficacy rate runs from 20 to 40%.

[Maxheader]

7. Got mine...9-20-18

Never had one before but after acquiring the flu twice..

[LanternWaste]

8. I've learned to keep my mouth shut around the anti-vaxxer moon-man talk.

Otherwise, my hide ratio would be sky-high.

But please.... everyone, get the vaccination if possible. If not for yourself, then for your elderly neighbors and co-workers.

[wasupaloopa]

10. It could also be attributed to the fact that last year's vaccine was

not effective against the strain of virus going around.


I remember a discussion on that point

It is not as black and white as get vacinated and you won’t get the flu.

[Aristus]

13. It's more accurate to state that the vaccine was not a perfect match to the strain that emerged.

Even a mismatched vaccine will provide at least a partial immunity to the prevalent strain of flu.

The Spanish Flu epidemic is proof-positive that a partial immunity can be the difference between life and death.

[Ms. Toad]

31. "not a perfect match" is stretching the facts.

It was only about 25% effective. That's barely in the same ballpark.

[Aristus]

34. Not entirely sure what it is you're trying to accomplish with all this.

Perhaps increasing the number of influenza-immune people, and the consequently-increased barrier of transmissibility, by 25% instead of 50% or so, is not a worthy goal in your eyes.

Having that 25% suffer and possibly die so you can feel validated in your anti-vaccine views, however, is?

[Ms. Toad]

36. I don't oppose vaccines.

But I do make choices based on personal healh, the threat caused by the condition itself, the risks caused by the vaccines (not a particular issue here, but it is with the shingles vaccine, as an example, which does actually increase the incidence of shingles)

In my opinion, a flu vaccine that is less than 25% effective, for an illness that is not inherently deadly, is not worth the risks because I am living with autoimmune disorders.

You seem to be completely dismissing the extremely low effectiveness of this vaccine. Other vaccines are closer to 100%, not 50%. Mumps, for example, is around 88% effective. So your comparison is as misleading as your repeated dismissal of the possibility that someone vaccinated woudl still get the flu. With last year's vacine, out of 100 people who had the vaccine, 75 people exposed to the virus would have contracted it. That is not an insignificant number.

[SunSeeker]

11. I've been getting an annual flu shot ever since I had my son. Get him one too.

I can't imagine why a parent wouldn't. Indeed, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't, short of medical/immune problem reasons for not being able to have the vaccine.

[Chakaconcarne]

14. The vaccine was 20% effective at best.....

[BumRushDaShow]

15. "lowest rate for adults 18 and older since 2010-2011"

That was the year after the big Swine Flu (H1N1) pandemic/outbreak, when there was a big push to get people vaccinated.

My doc was able to get the quadrivalent flu vaccine and I got my shot last week.

[scarytomcat]

16. maybe the up tick in cases was because last years vaccine was the wrong one

as I recall the vaccine didn't cover the most common flu strain last year

[GulfCoast66]

17. Ya think? Less people getting the vaccine, more illnesses?

Anti-vaccine is the one anti-science belief that is truly non-partisan.

As the percentage of the public that refuse to get vaccinated goes up, so do the numbers of all kinds of preventable illness and deaths.

Too many internet scientists.

[geralmar]

21. Finally resumed shots; but still resentful

This year I resumed my annual flu shot after nearly a two-decade boycott fueled by anger and disgust at the Red Cross and the vaccine itself. The short version: About ten days after receiving the vaccine I made my routine blood donation to the Red Cross. The nurse assured me there was no problem with having had the shot. Several weeks later I received a cryptic letter from the Red Cross stating my donated blood had been rejected and that I was directed to meet with an agency representative at a specific time and office in a different city. At the appointment I was told I had tested positive for HIV and was then interrogated on my sexual history with a barrage of increasingly offensive questions. When my responses were all in the emphatic negative I was finally asked about anything "out of the ordinary" before the donation. I mentioned the flu shot and the tone of the meeting softened instantly. Something in that year's flu vaccine formulation was causing donors to test positive for HIV. The CDC was aware of the problem and my blood had been sent there for testing. The CDC and the Red Cross were secretly collaborating in investigation of the false positives. The meeting ended more amicably than when it began. Nevertheless a month later I got a terse letter from the Red Cross bluntly stating I had been banned for life from blood donation and there was absolutely no right of appeal. I never found any reporting on the serious glitch in that year's vaccine.

[FDRLincoln]

24. Flu shot, got sick anyway

I got my flu vaccine last September, as did my wife and children.
We all got the flu anyway, and yes, it was diagnosed as Influenza A according to the tests. That was in December. In February we all came down with Influenza B.

My therapist had her flu shot in October. She caught influenza A in December, a week before I caught it, and she died four days later.

The vaccine was not a good match last year.

Nevertheless, I got my flu shot the first week of October this year. Most years it does help.

[GulfCoast66]

25. Good for you. A science believer!

It happens. The vaccine is not perfect. But better than no protection at all.

I get so tired of people who have the shot and then get a bad 3 day cold and claim they got the flu.

Obviously not what happened to your family but is very common.

I had an Aunt die from the flu last spring. It sucks.

[Aristus]

35. Not to mention the concern trolls who clutch their pearls and bleat: "It's only 25% effective!"

I'm dealing with this shit right now...

[Chemisse]

26. Lower effectiveness resulted in fewer people getting it.

And both led to more deaths.

[Draugr]

27. Used to watch my parents get their shots every year

... And end up with the flu most years anyways. Meanwhile I have never had a "flu shot" in my life and the last time I had the flu was when I was 12. Will be passing on the Big Pharma poison again this year as well.

[GulfCoast66]

28. What other vaccines do you skip?

Cause the science that helps prevent flu is the same science that prevents polio, mumps, scarlet fever, lockjaw, hepatitis, whooping cough, rabies, chicken pox, and on and on. All with vaccines.

You doubt climate change as well? Bacause the science behind vaccines is as strong, if not stronger, than that behind Climate Change.

This is a fact based site. People who get the flu shot are less likely to die from the flu.

I had an aunt who thought like you. Her sisters disagreed and all get their flu shots yearly. All over 80. She died this past spring from the flu.

And every year your parents were bedridden for 1-2 weeks? If not, they did not have the flu.

[Ms. Toad]

32. Most influenza lasts 3-7 days. 1-2 weeks is a considerable exaggeration

as a measure for whether someone has the flu or not. (Complications can last much longer, but most healthy individuals do not develop complications - certainly not every time they develop influenza. I haven't had influenza in more than 8 years, but whenI did, any need to stay bedridden (i.e. 24 hours past a fever of 100 or more). was no more than 5 days.

Speaking of fact-based sites.

[Freddie]

38. I had the flu last winter

I was sick as a dog for a week and had a lingering horrible cough, weakness and fatigue for 3 more weeks. And I’m normally very healthy. It was an especially nasty flu. Got my shot already.
My FIL (age 85, with a bad heart) got suddenly sick with pneumonia, couldn’t fight it off, and died exactly a year ago. I think he was an early victim of that awful flu.

[Ms. Toad]

40. I'm not saying all bouts of influenza last only 3-5 days, in all people.

I was giving an average duration to counter the assertion that one's parents did NOT have the flu UNLESS they were bed-ridden for 1-2 weeks.

[RobinA]

42. I Don't Get

the flu shot, and I don’t skip any other vaccination. Got #1 of my Shingrix series in July and will get #2 in November. AND I believe in global warming. Crazy, uh? Actually, all vaccines are not created equal and the flu vaccine is a lot less equal than some others. Flu vaccination science is all over the map. There’s even some research indication that a flu shot today hurts immunity later. Maybe so, maybe not, but I’ll stick with my pretty damn good natural immunity, at least until they figure that one out and probably even then.

[Rhiannon12866]

37. Got my flu shot this afternoon

My arm hurts a little, but it's sure better than getting the flu...