Influenza vaccines provide less protection to the elder people
against the flu than they do for younger people, a study in the
Lancet medical journal was quoted by media reports as saying
Wednesday.
Researchers said the benefit of giving elderly people the flu
vaccine has been vastly overestimated, because there is not enough
evidence to show to what extent flu jabs cut the death toll for
people over the age of 65, if indeed they reduce it at all.
"We need to find a way to better estimate what the true benefits
are," said Dr. Lone Simonsen of George Washington University in the
U.S.
Because older people have lower immune activity, they in fact
get less benefit than younger people from vaccination, Simonsen
added.
But she stressed that the elderly should continue to get flu
shots and suggested health officials should also be looking for
other ways to prevent some of the 36,000 deaths that come each year
from flu in the United States alone.
"There is no question about the vaccine working in people under
the age of 65," she added.
In the U.S., the annual flu vaccination campaign starts in
Autumn targeting people over 65 and those who have long-term health
problems. Flu deaths usually peak in January or February.
(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2007)