High-dose flu shot may be better for seniors: study

Older people are likely to benefit from a high-dose flu vaccine to ward off the seasonal malaise, which can be particularly dangerous to those over 65, researchers said. The findings in the New England Journal of Medicine are from the first randomized, controlled trial to compare high and standard doses of flu vaccine in older people. “Until this trial came out we didn’t know if it was going to be clinically better or not, and now we know it is better,” said lead author Keipp Talbot, assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University. The study was funded by Sanofi Pasteur and compared the company’s Fluzone High-Dose inactivated influenza vaccine to the standard-dose Fluzone vaccine. The high-dose contains four times the amount of antigen as the standard dose. The high-dose flu vaccine was 24 per cent more effective than the standard-dose vaccine in protecting those over 65 against influenza and its complications, which can include pneumonia...