The flu vaccine was nearly 60 percent effective this flu season, an improvement over last season’s poor results.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that overall the effectiveness was 59 percent this season, with the actual effectiveness varying by the type of influenza.
For instance, the vaccine for influenza B strains was 76 percent effective and about 51 percent effective against H1N1 viruses.
There wasn’t enough data, however, to estimate the effectiveness of the vaccine against H3N2, a strain of influenza that threw officials for a loop last season by being more severe than previously thought.
Last season’s flu shot was 18 percent effective against that strain.
The flu season started later this season and has been “lower so far than we’ve seen during the previous three seasons, but activity is still on the upswing and expected to continue for several weeks,” said Joseph Bresee, chief of CDC’s Epidemiology and Prevention Branch.
