Despite promoting its benefits, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the flu vaccine has been largely ineffective this season. The vaccine was mostly ineffective for people 65 and older, partially explaining why the season’s hospitalization and death rates have been near record highs. “We know that any vaccine, including flu vaccines, is less effective as you get older,” Joe Bresee, chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch in the CDC’s influenza division, told USA Today. “We often see lower effectiveness in people over 65, though not always.” “Everyone at CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting was scratching their heads over this,” William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine, told the national newspaper, adding that it’s still worth getting vaccinated. “We obviously need a new and better vaccine but this is the one we have now,” he concluded. “It’s still prevented many hospitalizations and deaths.” According to...
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