U.S. Health Officials Blame Vaccine For Harsh Flu Season

Washington (dbTechno) - U.S. health officials stated on Friday that the extremely widespread flu viruses this flu season are due to the fact that the influenza strains spreading are not covered by the flu vaccine.

U.S. health officials have been calling for a brand new, fully re-worked influenza vaccine for the 2008 - 2009 season next year, as it is clear that the current vaccine in place is not cutting it.

Dr. Joe Bresee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Influenza Division stating “After relatively low levels of influenza activity in the early part of the season, since January, influenza activity has been picking up in the nation. This season, we are seeing more disease out there and higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths than we’ve seen in the last couple of years.”

The CDC stated that the flu vaccine this year simply does not match up with this year’s strainsn of influenza in the U.S. The current vaccine is ineffective against two out of the three strains currently getting people sick.

Bresee stated that more than “half of the viruses that we are looking at in our lab are viruses that are different than the vaccine strain.”

He stated “they may not be well covered by the vaccine.”

The World Health Organization announced on Thursday that a new flu vaccine should be developed for next year, a re-worked vaccine to fight the other strains which are not in this year’s vaccine.

The CDC continues to state though that it is very important for people to receive the flu vaccine regardless, as it will still give partial protection to people.