A doctor holds this year’s flu shot, which did not target all strains of flu. PHOTO/contributed

Unlucky Americans who received an influenza vaccine but found themselves affected by the virus a few months later shouldn’t be surprised. The flu shot was the most useless one in years. According to The New York Times, this year’s vaccine was only forty percent effective, while in other years, the vaccine prevented up to ninety percent of active flu strains. Every year, the virus possesses a different molecular composition, so doctors who formulate a vaccine have to guess the composition of the next strain to hit the United States. Unfortunately, the doctors do not always guess correctly.

This year, the most common strain of influenza in America happened to be a particularly potent one. In fact, according to The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the flu season this year was the worst it has been since 2004. This year’s vaccine was designed to prevent only two of the three active strains of the flu that ravaged the country. The vaccine was less than sixty percent effective against Type A strain, which is responsible for most of this season’s flu cases. There was also a Type B strain that emerged from Florida that was completely unaffected by the vaccine.

Despite the poor quality of the flu vaccine this year, Choate students this year experienced no confirmed cases of the flu. “Only one student has been affected in the past few years, and they caught the virus on a visit back home,” said Dr. Gardner. Every time a student falls ill with symptoms that seem similar to those of influenza, Dr. Gardner sends a sample away for confirmation that the virus is not the flu. The Health Center tries to prevent an outbreak of the illness: among surrounding prep schools, Choate has the highest rate of vaccination and the lowest rate of contraction. The vaccination seems to have sufficed this year for Choaties.

While the flu may seem like a simple and relatively harmless illness, it can have deadly effects on certain groups of people, most notably the very young and the very old. This year, the flu accounted for nine percent of all American deaths in March. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that over a seven-month period—the end of September to April—a total of sixty-five Americans under eighteen years of age died from influenza. Of these 65 children, the median age was 4.5 years old. In the three previous flu seasons, the highest total number of influenza-related deaths for children was 74; the lowest was 46 deaths. The flu can also affect those with certain health problems, such as diabetes or heart conditions, because complications from influenza can severely worsen the impact of these ailments.

Health officials worry that the relative failure of this year’s vaccine will deter many from getting vaccinated in the future. The CDC already discourages certain groups of people from getting the shot: those allergic to chicken eggs, infants younger than six months old, and those who are already sick. However, doctors do advise that other people always get vaccinated because the shot can still help fight off several strains of influenza, even thought it is not 100% effective.