News & Perspective

Protection against flu was 47% overall and 46% against the predominant H1N1 strain.

For the flu shot, effectiveness was 67%, and for FluMist it was a not-significant 20%.

A cell-based vaccine protected about 10% better than a standard vaccine but not a high-dose version.

Flu vaccination during pregnancy may cut a woman's chance of hospitalization by 40%.

The experts also called for 3 new pandemic candidate vaccine viruses.

Coverage in kids 4 and younger was 67.8% last season, down 2.2 percentage points.

The risk of getting the flu climbs about 16% every 28 days after vaccination.

Both AAP and the CDC, though, support using FluMist with the goal of optimizing vaccine coverage.