Flu Vaccines Offer No Protection For The Elderly
November 23 2006
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In a comparison of monthly death rates from 1970-2001, researchers from Italy and the United States found no change in the mortality rate of seniors, even after stepped up efforts to vaccinate this specific age group after the late 1980s.
The study noted that "after the late 1980s, no decline in age-adjusted excess mortality was associated with increasing influenza vaccination distribution primarily targeted for the elderly," suggesting that at least one possibility was that "the vaccine failed to protect the elderly."
Interestingly, the researchers who compiled the numbers concluded that there was a need for better trials with alternative vaccination strategies.