New jab won’t protect elderly from fatal f lu
A NEW flu jab will still not protect the elderly from the deadly strain of flu which killed thousands last winter.
Health bosses yesterday announced a stronger immune-boosting vaccine which is tailored to the over-65s, whose defences are naturally weaker.
But they admitted the new jab covers only three strains of the deadly virus – and not Japanese flu.
Flu killed 15,000 people last winter – almost double the number the year before – with B Yamagata one of the most dominant strains.
The worst flu season in seven years was exacerbated by ineffective vaccines which worked for just 15 per cent of all patients, including only one in ten pensioners.
Health chiefs hope the threestrain ‘trivalent’ vaccine will prevent 700 deaths, more than 2,000 hospitalisations and 30,000 GP consultations among over-65s this winter.
They say it offers the elderly the best protection because it contains a chemical that boosts their weaker immune systems, making them more responsive to the vaccine.
But the jab will only protect against three strains – ‘Aussie flu’ H3N2, ‘ swine flu’ H1N1 and B Brisbane flu – because a four-strain ‘quadrivalent’ version with a booster for the elderly has not been made yet.
Pregnant women, children and those under 65 with longterm health problems will be routinely given the quadrivalent jab for the first time – protecting them against Japaare
‘Doesn’t cover Japanese strain’
nese flu. Doctors believe that for the vaccine to be most effective in the elderly, it needs an ‘adjuvant’, a chemical that increases immune response.
This is currently only available in the three-strain vaccine, not the four-strain one, which is why health experts not giving the quadrivalent to everyone.
Last year older patients were given jabs without the booster, limiting effectiveness.
Dr Paul Cosford, of Public Health England, said there would be some ‘cross-protection’ from this new vaccine.
But he said the ‘adjuvanted quadrivalent’, suitable for the elderly, would only be available ‘in the coming years’.
He added: ‘We’re going with the best possible vaccine we’ve got and we’re confident it will have a significant impact.’
The flu outbreak saw A&E departments and GP surgeries inundated with patients.
In January NHS bosses were forced to cancel all nonurgent procedures for four weeks to free up hospital beds. The reason the trivalent jab did not work was because it was developed in March 2017 – eight months before flu season starts in November.
Scientists have to predict the flu strains that will circulate in the Northern Hemisphere – and failed to foresee the deadly B Yamagata strain.
The NHS says the best time to have a flu vaccine is from early October to the end of November. The new jab is available from October.
Some NHS staff choose not to get the flu vaccine because they wrongly believe it could make them ill, England’s top nurse has said.
Professor Jane Cummings said such ‘myths’ about the vaccine persist – even among NHS workers. Health chiefs hope to achieve ‘near-universal’ coverage of frontline staff this year after only two-thirds received the flu jab last year.