How's the Flu Hitting You?

"Dave Stadt" wrote in message
y.com...
I'm with Jay on this. There have been numerous news reports that have
stated the flu shots being given do not prevent the A/Fujian strain which
is
the one causing the problems.

You are "with Jay" in claiming that all of the news reports are false?
Funny. There haven't been any well-researched news reports saying that the
vaccine does not prevent the dominant strain for this season.

Jim's comments are exactly right, at least according to all of the news
reports. The current vaccine includes three strains of flu, none of which
turned out to be the dominant one this season. However, they are similar
enough that health officials expect *some* protective effect from the
vaccine. No, it won't be 80-90%. But they are expecting as much as 50%
protection, even among those infected with the A/Fujian strain, due to the
similarities.

The vaccine does not need to include the *exact* strain for there to be a
protective effect in some percentage of individuals. For that matter,
having the exact strain does not guarantee a protective effect. It's just
that the percentage is higher when the vaccine is the same strain.

It's the same story every year. The shots
only work on the virus strains that were around last flu season and don't
work on any new strains that have mutated and spread this year.

The same story? Yeah, right. The flu vaccine is just a big scam. You
caught 'em with their pants down. Maybe you should get to the Wall Street
Journal or New York Times with this breaking news.

Seriously though, you don't appear to be getting it. The shots work to
varying degrees depending on the individual and depending on how closely the
virus strain in question matches the strains found in the vaccine. It's not
a binary either/or thing. For many people, this year's flu shot will
prevent them from being infected with this year's dominant flu strain (as
well as any number of others).

Sorry, I forgot...what does this have to do with flying?

Pete