A new study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases on January 13, 2022, shows that influenza vaccination ‘was associated’ with protecting children against serious flu illness, even when infected with a flu virus that was different from the vaccine’s targeted virus.
In this limited study of 159 critically ill children, the researchers estimated that vaccination effectively reduced life-threatening influenza illness by 75% during a season predominated by B/Victoria viruses and A/H1N1pdm09 subclade viruses that were antigenically drifted from vaccine components.
Vaccination was estimated to reduce the risk of critical influenza in children by 78% against H1N1pdm09 viruses expressing matched hemagglutinin proteins and 47% against mismatched viruses.
Against antigenically drifted B-Victoria viruses, vaccination conferred an estimated 75% protection.
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