(CNN) — So we got a influenza vaccine this season, and you’ve been reading about a influenza epidemic. You competence be wondering: Will a vaccine keep me healthy?
The answer: The vaccine isn’t a pledge that you’ll be flu-free. In fact, it’s about 62% effective, pronounced a executive of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Thomas Frieden, on Friday.
It can forestall a flu, and it can be profitable even if we do get sick, pronounced Dr. Bill Schaffner, authority of a surety medicine dialect during Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine.
“It’s a best vaccine we have, though there are cases of influenza that start notwithstanding immunization,†Schaffner pronounced on “CNN Newsroom†Thursday morning.
The efficacy of a vaccine depends, in part, on how good it matches a strains of viruses that indeed finish adult prevalent during a influenza season.
So far, according to a CDC, this year’s North American vaccine matches good with a many accepted form of influenza swelling in a United States, though is reduction good matched to a No. 2 form of virus.
This year’s North American vaccine is done from 3 viruses: dual forms of influenza A pathogen (H3N2 and H1N1) and an influenza B virus.
As of Jan 5, a CDC pronounced Friday, a accepted pathogen in a United States was an influenza A (H3N2) pathogen that matched good with a H3N2 pathogen represented in a vaccine. Of a H3N2 viruses tested during that point, 99.4% matched a form that a vaccine protects against.
The compare for influenza B viruses, a second-most common this season, wasn’t as good. Of a influenza B viruses tested between Oct 1 and Jan 5, 66.7% were a form represented in a vaccine.
The compare for H1N1, most rarer this season, was 100%, a CDC said.
Of a viruses collected and tested in a United States in early January, 20.2% were influenza B and a rest were influenza A — a immeasurable infancy of that seemed to be of a H3 variety, according to a CDC.
The vaccine generally works improved “in young, healthy people than it does in comparison persons,†Schaffner said.
The CDC concurs: Even when vaccinated, some comparison people and people with certain ongoing illnesses competence not rise a same high levels of shield as healthy, immature adults, a CDC says on a website.
What to do if we have a flu
But even if it doesn’t forestall illness in a sold person, a vaccine still can lessen some of a symptoms.
“(Flu vaccines) are mostly of advantage since they can forestall some of a complications. It creates a some-more critical infection rather milder,†Schaffner said.
Keep in mind that a vaccine doesn’t work right away. “It takes about dual weeks after vaccination for antibodies to rise in a physique and yield insurance opposite a flu,†a CDC’s website says.
Opinion: In a future, get vaccinated earlier
It’s not too late to get a influenza shot, Schaffner said.
“Influenza is going to be with us into Feb and even beyond. If we haven’t been vaccinated, please, take advantage of a advantages of influenza vaccine,†he said. “Run, do not travel — get a vaccine. Protect yourself and everybody around you.â€
National Institutes of Health: It’s an epidemic
If we did get a vaccine though still came down with a flu, we competence consternation if a vaccine caused a illness. It did not, Schaffner said.
“You can get a bit of a bruise arm if we get a injection. If we get a nasal mist variety, we can have a bruise throat for a day and a runny nose. But we can’t get influenza from a influenza vaccine,†he said.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN arch medical correspondent, permitted removing a influenza vaccine and frequently soaking your hands.
“With soap and water, rinse your hands for dual ‘Happy Birthday’ songs,†he suggested in an talk on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360?.â€
If we have a flu, how are we treating it? Send photos of your influenza presence kits.
CNN’s Carol Costello and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.