Denton County Living Well Magazine March/April 2016 | Page 32

Is Flu Prevention Possible?
By Dr. Ron Babecoff

T

he mantra, “get your flu shot” is almost as common as “eat right and exercise regularly,” and
it gets louder with winter fast approaching. Senior citizens in the U.S. are reminded to get vaccinated for flu, but last year, the vaccine was
as low as 9% effective for older people according to the
World Health Organization (WHO). Each year in the U.S.,
about 21,000 elderly people die from the flu. The question
stands; why isn’t the flu vaccine protecting the people who
need it the most?

The Fluid Nature of Flu
Flu remains a huge public health issue, and despite the fact
that more people are getting vaccinated, the population
is not better protected. NIH data shows vaccination rates
for people 65+ increased from 30% to 67% from 1989–
1997, and remains at around 60–70% today. However, flu
related mortality and hospitalization rates have continued
to increase rather than decline.
Currently available flu vaccines have very low effectiveness rates because there is frequently a mismatch between
the flu strains included in the vaccine and the circulating
strains of flu that are most dominant in a given season. It
takes around six months to manufacture the vaccine and the
WHO has to make a prediction on what the predominating circulating flu strain will be far in advance of the actual
flu season. This “educated guess” approach of flu strain
selection is ineffective: The 2014–2015 mismatch resulted
in a 19% effectiveness rate for the vaccine in the general
population––the lowest rate reported by the CDC in the
past five years.

New Data Indicates More Reasons Why The Current
Vaccine May Be Less Effective in People 65+
According to the National Council on Aging, approximately 80% of people 65+ suffer from chronic illness and
research