- Posted
- October 05, 2007
New study says flu shots effective in elderly; Ohio predicted to have active flu season
As previously mentioned in the Ohio Health Policy Review, a study released last month in the British medical journal The Lancet questioned if annual flu vaccines are saving the lives of seniors. Now a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine says that annual influenza vaccines do indeed save the lives of elderly people, even though they are less effective for this age group than in younger people. (Source: "Flu vaccine halves elderly deaths: study," Reuters, Oct. 4, 2007.) According to the article, "Ten years of data from three regions of the United States show that the vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization from pneumonia or the flu by 27 percent in the elderly, and cuts the death rate in half."
This study is released as Ohio gears up for what could be a rough flu season. According to Nancy Hanger, director of nursing for the Licking County Health Department, the Center for Disease Control predicts Ohio will "have a more significant flu season this year" than last. (Source: "Health agencies gear up for flu vaccines," The Newark Advocate, Oct. 4, 2007.)