The effectiveness of this season's flu shot has been extremely low, with the vaccine preventing only 10 to 20 per cent of infections caused by the dominant H3N2 strain affecting Canadians, researchers have found. The same vaccine was used last season in Canada and found to be 42 per cent effective in preventing cases of H3N2 in this country. The researchers, members of the Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network, found the flu shot was 17 per cent effective in preventing the respiratory illness from the H3N2 virus overall, but only 10 per cent effective for working-age adults 20 to 64. The bottom line is the protection for the H3N2 virus is low this season, says Dr. Danuta Skowronski. (CBC)"Neither estimate was significantly different from zero, so we can't rule out the possibility of no protection," Skowronski said of the Canadian and Australian findings.

Source: CBC News February 01, 2018 19:41 UTC