This season’s flu shot far more effective than last year’s, researchers find
TORONTO — This season’s influenza vaccine appears to be highly effective, reducing the risk of infection with the dominant circulating flu strain by more than 70 per cent — far better than what was seen with last year’s shot, Canadian researchers say.
Their mid-season analysis, published online Thursday in the journal Euro Surveillance, shows this year’s flu vaccine is 72 per cent effective in preventing infection with the H1N1 respiratory virus overall across all age groups.
The finding is “good news,” said lead researcher Dr. Danuta Skowronski of the BC Centre for Disease Control, considering that the efficacy of last year’s shot was less than 20 per cent, due primarily to a mismatch between the vaccine and the H3N2 strain that prevailed during the 2017-18 season.