Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Flu vaccinations during the 2022-2023 season reduced the risk of flu-related hospitalization by three-quarters among children and nearly half among adults, according to new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Control (CDC).
And vaccinated adults were half as likely to have flu-related illnesses and emergency department visits.
The data, presented during a meeting of the CDC’s Immunization Practices Advisory Committee on Wednesday, showed a consistent benefit of vaccine efficacy across five studies.
Dr. Mark Tinford, medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Control’s Influenza Division, explained that the vaccination “provided significant protection against diseases for hospitalized, emergency department and outpatient patients in all age groups.”
Tinford added that influenza vaccination provides important protection among adults 65 and older and immunocompromised people, groups that are less susceptible to an immune response to vaccination and more likely to develop serious influenza complications.
Experts said the flu vaccine provides better protection than previous years.
The results provided by one of the monitoring networks showed that adults who received the influenza vaccine were 44% less likely to go to the emergency department or urgent care center, and the probability of hospitalization due to influenza or its complications decreased by 39%, compared to 25% of the effectiveness of the vaccine during The 2021-2022 season in preventing emergency department admissions, urgent care visits, and hospitalization.
The 2022-23 flu season was more severe and peaked earlier than previous seasons, with hospitalization rates in late November reaching levels not normally seen until December or January.
This season also saw the highest number of influenza deaths among children since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 111 deaths recorded.
“Unfortunately, this number is more than it was during the 2020-21 season, when there was one death, and the 2021-22 season, when 45 deaths were recorded,” said Dr. “.
It’s too early to know if any of these children have underlying health conditions, Grohskopf said, but previous research put together by the Centers for Disease Control showed that most child deaths were among those who weren’t vaccinated.
Flu activity in the US is currently low, with 1.7% of people testing positive for the virus, but experts say it’s not too late to get the vaccine.
The CDC stated on its website: “These data confirm that influenza vaccination can provide significant benefit against influenza and its potentially serious complications.”
And while influenza activity has returned to low levels at this time, the CDC continues to recommend annual vaccination as long as influenza is circulating in the community.”