The number of Canadians who died from the flu virus this past winter spiked at 547 — that’s 200 more deaths than last flu season.
Health officials say this season’s influenza vaccine didn’t protect against the strain of the virus that infected many Canadians.
“Obviously, that’s not the only factor at play, but with no protection from the vaccine, the death toll will always be higher,” said Dr. Gaston Deserres, an infectious disease specialist in Quebec City.
In January, a study based on data from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec found the vaccine offered most people virtually no protection against H3N2 — the strain that caused the lion’s share of illness this past winter.
Full story here, including the part about how we’re still using methods from 70 odd years ago to figure out what’s probably maybe perhaps supposed to go into these things…we think.
Yeah, sign me up.
