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Flu Vaccine Is Said To Fail Against Prevalent Strain -NYT
Thursday January 15, 2:02 pm ET
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- A small - but possibly flawed - study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that this season's influenza vaccine failed to protect against the Fujian strain that has caused most cases, the New York Times reported Thursday, citing a scientist who was briefed on the study.
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The report said the data may show that the vaccine protected zero to 14% of participants in the study.
CDC officials discussed the findings with dozens of influenza experts in a Wednesday teleconference before the study was published in Thursday's issue of the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Times reported.
However, the report said the scientist cautioned against drawing conclusions from the study because of flaws in its design.
The study, done in the middle of the flu epidemic, involved a questionnaire sent to 3,100 health workers at a Denver Hospital. It asked whether they had been vaccinated, and whether they had developed an illness compatible with influenza.
Because just 61% of the health workers responded, and many other infectious agents can cause flu-like symptoms, experts said the study has limitations, the Times reported.
An additional weakness, the Times reported, was that respondents weren't tested to determine what proportion of their reported illnesses were actually due to the influenza virus.
CDC officials said they hope continuing studies that will be completed in the spring will show the vaccine offered more protection than this study indicated, the Times reported.
Officials had warned of a mismatch between the current vaccine and the Fujian strain that was causing most illnesses this season, the Times reported, but they said the vaccine should still offer some protection to many people.
-By Steven C. Higgins, Dow Jones Newswires; 1-201-938-4378; hbsglobaldesk@dowjones.com |
