Flu shot recommended despite low protection rate

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – This season’s flu shot is once again offering a lower than ideal level of protection, but is still recommended.

The flu shot is expected to be about 30 to 50 percent effective.

Far from ideal says provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall, but an improvement from last year’s vaccine which offered negligible protection.

“We are recommending people get this year’s flu vaccine, definitively,” says Kendall. “It also contains the H1N1 and a B component, so if H1N1 is circulating it will offer protection against that.”

The shot is especially recommended for children, older people and those with chronic health issues.

“We’re targeting the vaccine to people who have more serious effects if they get the flu and complications,” says Kendall. “People with underlying chronic diseases, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, young children…pregnant women.”

Ideally, Kendall says a vaccine would offer 80 percent protection.

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