Flu is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality every year. Flu vaccines are safe and effective, but far too many Americans decide to forgo them. The result is preventable illnesses and deaths. We must do better at encouraging flu vaccination.
influenza vaccine
The process of selecting viruses for the yearly flu vaccines is complex and inexact. For the 2023-2024 flu season, there is reason to be optimistic that the vaccines will provide good protection.
A clinical trial of various schedules for administering the two vaccines found that when they were administered together, "the quantitative and functional antibody responses were marginally lower compared to [COVID-19] booster vaccination alone. Lower protection against COVID-19 with concurrent administration of COVID-19 and influenza vaccination cannot be excluded." Thus, the data are somewhat equivocal, but I'll opt to get the two shots at different times.
ACSH advisor Dr. Robert Popovian's commentary on how biomedical innovation remains critically important, despite advances against the Covid pandemic.
Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is more than a bad cold. Seasonal outbreaks cause not only tremendous misery but huge numbers of hospital admissions and fatalities. Although the "holy grail" – a universal flu vaccine that recognizes all strains, including newly-arising ones – is not yet available, this does not mean that you should not get the seasonal vaccine. You should, and soon.
As ACSH's Ana Dolaskie approaches the final weeks of pregnancy, she is making sure all her vaccinations are up-to-date. This includes the TDAP vaccine (Tetanus-Diphtheria-Pertussis) and influenza shot. And she also wants to makes sure dads, partners, and others who are spending time with baby understand why getting vaccinated is key in protecting a newborn baby against potentially life-threatening illnesses, like pertussis (whooping cough).
There have been some remarkable advances in medicine over the past two decades. HIV infection is no longer a death sentence. Hepatitis C is now readily curable. There is now a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer one of only two cancer vaccines in existence. Targeted approaches to cancer, as well as the use of genetic information for personalizing therapies for individual patients have the potential to completely change the way that cancer and maybe other diseases are treated.
But, science is unpredictable. There are still diseases that simply won t yield, despite the huge amount of research that is thrown at them.
Influenza is one of them.
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Flu season is considered to begin in October and last until as late as May. However, the peak of flu season does not usually occur until January or February. According to the United States influenza surveillance system, a
Flu season is here, and once again the question arises as to whether or not flu vaccinations should be mandatory for health care workers. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends that all healthcare workers get the vaccination in order to protect both themselves and the patients with whom they
According to Dr. Mark Grabowsky, of the Office of the (UN) Secretary General s Special Envoy, referring to the dramatic reduction in contagious diseases over the past century, The elimination of the diseases from the Americas is a triumph of public health. And how do we explain that triumph? It s
A new high-dose vaccine against the flu shows evidence of significantly enhanced efficacy for older people. If the CDC vaccine committee agrees, it will become part of the routine program for seniors, and many lives may be saved.