CDC Warns Flu Vaccine Only 23 Percent Effective, Still Recommends Getting Shot
DAVIS (CBS13) — The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention is reporting this year's flu vaccine is even less effective than previously thought.
While the shot doesn't mean you're completely immune—with only 23 percent effectiveness—experts still suggest people get the shot.
The spread of the flu is hard to stop this year, and health professionals have reported a major flu problem in 46 states.
"Widespread flu activity means that there's just flu everywhere and everybody's getting it," said Dr. Dean Blumberg. "For emergency rooms when patients come to see them it's somewhere around 10-20 percent of patients are testing positive."
The chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Medical Center says it's only a matter of time before the area is inundated.
"I would anticipate we will be in the next week or two," he said.
Experts say it's the second-least effective vaccine in the past 23 years. So what does that mean if you got the flu shot.
"If you're vaccinated and you get the flu, you have some partial immunity," he said. "So that it's not quite as severe as if you're completely unvaccinated."
