Flu vaccine maybe not effective this season.

[Handsup]

There's several articles circulating describing how the flu vaccine will not be effective against the strain currently circulating this season.
As an asthmatic on steroids I'm really quite worried - are the media exaggerating or are those with chronic conditions in trouble this season?

I would be interested to know this, have been almost completely bedridden for several days with what seemed like the last bout of flu I had 19 years ago when I was pregnant with DS2 and flu jab wasn't advised for pregnant women. I had my jab at the beginning of October and as a fellow asthmatic now have a bad chest infection and am on antibiotics

It should still provide a degree of protection, especially as they're predicting the version coming will be a H3N2 strain and there is H3N2 in the vaccine, just not taking into account recent mutations. If it were a HxNy strain not in the vaccine at all, I'd be worried.

Given small children have been vaccinated this year, reducing chances of circulation, it's probably less likely you'll get infected with flu than in previous years.

Where were the articles?

I just found a guardian article referring to this but the warning is in the US for their flu vaccine.

In fact can only find CDC waming discussed anywhere.. which is US health protection agency.

Hi Fango - the article was in the Guardian and Forbes (US). I assumed we'll be breathing the same germs as our 'cousins', I'm probably wrong though
Notcitrus, you sound very knowledgable on this subject - so am I to assume if I get the flu after being vaccinated, it's less likely to be as 'hardcore?'
evanstar funnily enough, I last had flu around 19 years ago and although my asthma was much milder I still felt I was going to die - REAL flu is no joke.

I think the flu strains there will probably be different from here. But that is just my uneducated opinion :)

Hopefully your uneducated opinion is accurate

I've been feeling under the weather recently and I did have the jab, I did wonder if I'm coming down with something.

Not good.

Won't be flu then Ottilia..it comes on very quickly and makes you feel suddenly awful

That's what I'm hoping.
I've been feeling off for over a week now.
Maybe just a common cold.

I have had something similar..doesn't really cone to anything. I think it's sinusitis or a mild virus. Hope you feel better soon :)

Thanks!
You too!

Handsup I know a lot about flu and vaccines from public policy point of view, but not much about individuals.
Flu mutates a lot as big chunks of key proteins (H and N) rearrange themselves easily, like a jigsaw that fits in dozens of different ways, and then the pieces also mutate.
Each year flu mutates loads in birds in Asia, then gets passed via pigs or directly to humans, and then travels round the world, hitting us around now. They have to decide what to put in the vaccine back in March, so it's always a bit of a guess. At least the key blocks are correct.

Hopefully it would be way less hard-core if you did get it after a vaccine as you'd have some white blood cells already recognising it, but also its spread should be much reduced by people being vaccinated.

It's always hard to tell as there's so many other viruses producing flu-like lurgy at the same time, and flu can be fairly mild especially if vaccinated, and it would be impossible to test most people - and you want them to stay home not infecting others no matter what they have!

The key concerns for flu from my point of view are how a country would cope if say 1/4 of the population had flu at the same time.

There is something 'going round' at the moment that feels a lot like flu but doesn't last as long.

On my birthday I managed to get from my bed to the setee and have 1/2 a glass of wine - the day before I was lying in bed, I could see my ventolin inhaler on the bedside table but did not have the energy to get it,

It feels bad but only lasts a few days so not as bad as flu