News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Experts are puzzled by a new study in which influenza vaccination seemed to provide little or no protection against flu in the 2010-11 season—and in which the only participants who seemed to benefit from the vaccine were those who hadn't been vaccinated the season before.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza vaccine over the past few months has provided moderate protection overall but didn't have a significant impact on protecting seniors, a study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed today.

(CIDRAP News) – New European studies reported today in Eurosurveillance suggest that this year's influenza vaccine is providing good protection against influenza B viruses but only moderate protection against type A—findings more or less consistent with earlier results in the United States.

(CIDRAP News) – It's been more or less an article of faith that influenza vaccination in the fall will protect a person through the winter flu season, but three studies published today in Eurosurveillance are challenging that view.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent editorial calling for requiring influenza shots in healthcare workers (HCWs) has stirred debate in the pages of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), with two groups of researchers questioning the quality of the evidence that the vaccinations protect patients.