This Year's Flu Shot Doesn't Match What's Circulating. Here's What That Means.

A child getting a flu shot.
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

There's more bad news about the flu: The main strain of flu that's circulating right now doesn't exactly match what's in this year's flu shot, according to a new report.

However, the strain in the vaccine may still be close enough to offer some protection, officials said.

The news comes amid a particularly severe flu season in the U.S.; the season started early, and it's unclear if flu activity has peaked yet.

Related: 6 Flu Vaccine Myths

At the start of the season, officials noticed something very unusual: The main strain of flu virus circulating was a type called influenza B. Typically, influenza B does not cause as many cases as influenza A strains (H1N1 and H3N2) and tends to show up later in the flu season, not at the beginning. Indeed, the last time influenza B dominated flu activity in the U.S. was during the 1992-1993 flu season, according to the new report. Some evidence suggests that influenza B may be more deadly in children than in adults, Live Science previously reported.

The new report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), details cases of flu among children in Louisiana, where flu has hit particularly hard. (Louisiana was one of the first states to experience elevated flu activity this season, all the way back in October 2019.) 

At one pediatric hospital in New Orleans, there were more than 1,200 cases of influenza B and 23 hospitalizations among children between July 31 and Nov. 21, 2019, a time when flu activity is usually pretty low, the report said.

Officials looked at the genetic sequence of influenza B strains in a sample of 198 children in Louisiana, finding that nearly all the individuals were infected with a subgroup of influenza B that's not in this year's flu shot. (Specifically, the strain in circulation is known as influenza B/Victoria V1A.3 subgroup, while the strain in the flu shot is known as influenza B/Victoria V1A.1 subgroup.)

But that doesn't mean this year's vaccine is worthless; to the contrary, some data suggest that being vaccinated against one influenza B subgroup strain protects against other influenza B subgroup strains.

"They are close enough so the vaccine offers some protection," Lynnette Brammer, who leads the CDC's domestic influenza surveillance team, told The Washington Post. The CDC will have more data on the effectiveness of this season's flu shot in February, the Post reported.

So far this season, 32 U.S. children have died from the flu, according to the CDC. That's the highest number of pediatric flu deaths reported at this point in the flu season since the CDC started tracking child flu deaths, more than 15 years ago.

This season serves "as a reminder that even though influenza B viruses are less common than influenza A viruses in most seasons, influenza B virus infection can be severe in children," the report said.

The CDC recommends the flu shot for everyone ages 6 months and older.

Originally published on Live Science. 

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Rachael Rettner
Contributor

Rachael is a Live Science contributor, and was a former channel editor and senior writer for Live Science between 2010 and 2022. She has a master's degree in journalism from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. She also holds a B.S. in molecular biology and an M.S. in biology from the University of California, San Diego. Her work has appeared in Scienceline, The Washington Post and Scientific American.

  • Truthseeker007
    The flu shot is just a money making scam and who knows what they put into the ingredients. I doubt most people take the time to read the inserts and research the ingredients. Hey but big pharma would never harm you now would they? :ROFLMAO:

    I take 1,000IU Vitamin C and 5,000IU Vitamin D3 during winter months and I never have a problem. I think it's pretty wrong for big pharma and nurses and doctors to lie to the people and tell them the flu shot is the best way not to get the flu. They should be sued for it. Probably the best way To Get the flu is get the flu shot.lol I had to chuckle the other day because all the people that got the flu shot at my work are all sick now. They never listen though.
    Reply
  • westusaf04
    Truthseeker007 said:
    The flu shot is just a money making scam and who knows what they put into the ingredients. I know at one time they were putting a form of mercury in the shot.

    I take 1,000IU Vitamin C and 5,000IU Vitamin D3 during winter months and I never have a problem. I think it's pretty wrong for big pharma and nurses and doctors to lie to the people and tell them the flu shot is the best way not to get the flu. They should be sued for it. Probably the best way To Get the flu is get the flu shot.lol I had to chuckle the other day because all the people that got the flu shot at my work are all sick now. They never listen though.

    I have a custom made tinfoil hat that I would like to send you. Please reply with a mailing address and I’ll get it in the mail ASAP.
    Reply
  • Truthseeker007
    westusaf04 said:
    I have a custom made tinfoil hat that I would like to send you. Please reply with a mailing address and I’ll get it in the mail ASAP.

    Hey go ahead and get your flu shot then it is good for you. You deserve what you get. By the way a tin foil hat would be used to keep frequencies out. A shot is not a frequency. I just use my my mind,common sense and a little bit of research. No need for a tinfoil hat. But you may need that for the 5G.
    Reply
  • Cy Husain
    Truthseeker007 said:
    The flu shot is just a money making scam and who knows what they put into the ingredients. I doubt most people take the time to read the inserts and research the ingredients. Hey but big pharma would never harm you now would they? :ROFLMAO:

    I take 1,000IU Vitamin C and 5,000IU Vitamin D3 during winter months and I never have a problem. I think it's pretty wrong for big pharma and nurses and doctors to lie to the people and tell them the flu shot is the best way not to get the flu. They should be sued for it. Probably the best way To Get the flu is get the flu shot.lol I had to chuckle the other day because all the people that got the flu shot at my work are all sick now. They never listen though.
    Getting a Flu Shot will NOT cause you to get the flu because the flu vaccine is made with inactive strains of the flu virus, which are not capable of causing the flu. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/how-fluvaccine-made.htm
    Reply
  • Truthseeker007
    Cy Husain said:
    Getting a Flu Shot will NOT cause you to get the flu because the flu vaccine is made with inactive strains of the flu virus, which are not capable of causing the flu. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/how-fluvaccine-made.htm

    It won't cause you but it lowers your immune system it don't higher your immune system like vitamins and exercise do. Like I said these doctors have to sell these shots for big pharma to meet a quota when they aren't even needed. It's your own choice to fall for a scam and be lazy. The CDC is connected to big pharma. It is a revolving door.

    Every year I had to get a flu shot when I was in the Air Force against my will just like nurses have to take them against their will. Every year I got the shot I got sick with the flu and then this awful long cold for 3 months. It should be illegal to make people take things against their will for a job. It is ridiculous. Especially something that is a scam and crap. And no I am not allergic to eggs. Do you ever wonder why they ask you why you are allergic to eggs when you get a flu shot?

    Think about this. Big Pharma makes their money off of people being sick. Why in the world would they want them to be healthy when their is no money in healthy people? Thought for the day!:unsure:
    Reply
  • Cy Husain
    Truthseeker007 said:
    It won't cause you but it lowers your immune system it don't higher your immune system like vitamins and exercise do. Like I said these doctors have to sell these shots for big pharma to meet a quota when they aren't even needed. It's your own choice to fall for a scam and be lazy. The CDC is connected to big pharma. It is a revolving door.

    Every year I had to get a flu shot when I was in the Air Force against my will just like nurses have to take them against their will. Every year I got the shot I got sick with the flu and then this awful long cold for 3 months. It should be illegal to make people take things against their will for a job. It is ridiculous. Especially something that is a scam and crap. And no I am not allergic to eggs. Do you ever wonder why they ask you why you are allergic to eggs when you get a flu shot?

    Think about this. Big Pharma makes their money off of people being sick. Why in the world would they want them to be healthy when their is no money in healthy people? Thought for the day!:unsure:

    NONSENSE! Vaccines do NOT lower your immune system. Immunologists at the University of California, San Diego looked into the number of immunological challenges a person can respond to at one time. After considering the variety of compounds in vaccines, including bacterial proteins, bacterial polysaccharides and viral proteins, Offit explained, they calculated that young children could safely respond to as many as 100,000 vaccines at once! The CDC recommends children get vaccinated against 14 diseases over a two-year period.
    https://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/immunization/vaccine_safety/misperceptions.htm
    As for vitamin supplements, there may be some resistance to the common cold but, NOT the flu. At best the supplements will lessen the symptoms of cold and flu. Your best defense against the flu, is the flu vaccine.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5949172/
    As to the conspiracy theories as if they are worthy of response. No big pharma is hardly friends with the CDC or the FDA, the entire private sector hates any form of relegation that would keep them honest. What you are NOT looking at is the scams run by the supplement industry in promoting anti-vaxx misinformation so they can profit from disease as opposed to eradicating disease via vaccine.
    The anti-vaccination movement is financed by the quack dietary supplement industry threatened by real science. Eradication of disease via vaccine threatens their business interests! #antivaxx #vaccines #disease #healthcare https://edzardernst.com/2019/12/the-anti-vaccination-movement-is-financed-by-the-dietary-supplement-industry/
    Reply
  • Truthseeker007
    Cy Husain said:
    NONSENSE! Vaccines do NOT lower your immune system. Immunologists at the University of California, San Diego looked into the number of immunological challenges a person can respond to at one time. After considering the variety of compounds in vaccines, including bacterial proteins, bacterial polysaccharides and viral proteins, Offit explained, they calculated that young children could safely respond to as many as 100,000 vaccines at once! The CDC recommends children get vaccinated against 14 diseases over a two-year period.
    https://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/immunization/vaccine_safety/misperceptions.htm
    As for vitamin supplements, there may be some resistance to the common cold but, NOT the flu. At best the supplements will lessen the symptoms of cold and flu. Your best defense against the flu, is the flu vaccine.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5949172/
    As to the conspiracy theories as if they are worthy of response. No big pharma is hardly friends with the CDC or the FDA, the entire private sector hates any form of relegation that would keep them honest. What you are NOT looking at is the scams run by the supplement industry in promoting anti-vaxx misinformation so they can profit from disease as opposed to eradicating disease via vaccine.
    The anti-vaccination movement is financed by the quack dietary supplement industry threatened by real science. Eradication of disease via vaccine threatens their business interests! #antivaxx #vaccines #disease #healthcare https://edzardernst.com/2019/12/the-anti-vaccination-movement-is-financed-by-the-dietary-supplement-industry/

    Then explain to me why all the people I know that got a flu shot are sick now. It is obvious it lowers the immune system. The immunologist more than likely were paid off by big pharma to cook the books. It is a conspiracy. It is a very big conspiracy on the human race. Everybody knows that does any kind of research the things that happened in the past. How Big Pharma is not to heal people but to make money. I guess you never heard of the cancer causing agents that were applied to shots in the past. I suggest looking up that conspiracy theory that turned out to be true.

    Tell me why back in 2005 Obama bought stock in the Swine flu vaccines and after that is when they totally started being pushed. The human race was quiet fine for hundreds of thousands of years without a flu shot. If anything it is going to make these strains of flu stronger and morph into even deadlier strains because the human body will not know how to fight them. Just look at what has happened from people being given antibiotics for everything. Now many of them don't even work anymore. We got something even worse now called MRSA! How do you think that was created buddy?

    I would say the CDC,FDA and big pharma is a bunch of quackery. Look how sick people are and obese people are in America. I would say wake up my friend and stop being a pusher of the global elite who could care less about humans. Its all about the money not healing people.

    I want to remind you that you are getting information from government websites. Do you honestly trust your government for health? :D That would be like trusting an inmate who is a cereal killer in a room of 500 people with a machine gun, knife and 3 hand grenades. lol
    Reply
  • Cy Husain
    Truthseeker007 said:
    Then explain to me why all the people I know that got a flu shot are sick now. It is obvious it lowers the immune system. The immunologist more than likely were paid off by big pharma to cook the books. It is a conspiracy. It is a very big conspiracy on the human race. Everybody knows that does any kind of research the things that happened in the past. How Big Pharma is not to heal people but to make money. I guess you never heard of the cancer causing agents that were applied to shots in the past. I suggest looking up that conspiracy theory that turned out to be true.

    Tell me why back in 2005 Obama bought stock in the Swine flu vaccines and after that is when they totally started being pushed. The human race was quiet fine for hundreds of thousands of years without a flu shot. If anything it is going to make these strains of flu stronger and morph into even deadlier strains because the human body will not know how to fight them. Just look at what has happened from people being given antibiotics for everything. Now many of them don't even work anymore. We got something even worse now called MRSA! How do you think that was created buddy?

    I would say the CDC,FDA and big pharma is a bunch of quackery. Look how sick people are and obese people are in America. I would say wake up my friend and stop being a pusher of the global elite who could care less about humans. Its all about the money not healing people.

    I want to remind you that you are getting information from government websites. Do you honestly trust your government for health? :D That would be like trusting an inmate who is a cereal killer in a room of 500 people with a machine gun, knife and 3 hand grenades. lol

    Your personal experience is NOT valid scientific data. I know a Saudi who is 7"1' just like Shaquille O'Neal (but a lousy basketball player). This says NOTHING about the average height of the Saudis or their ability at basketball!

    This may surprise you but I am well aware of proven instances of the government lying to the American people from just about every war and national threat on. Just read Noam Chomsky! But for the Science postings PLEASE back up your statements with credible Science links. There are plenty of highly credible Peer Reviewed Science Journals that are NOT government owned. I'm using a work computer and account so they don't want me responding to AM radio conspiracy nonsense. Look through LiveScience for reference articles, they are NOT run by the military industrial complex! 🤣
    Reply
  • Truthseeker007
    Cy Husain said:
    Your personal experience is NOT valid scientific data. I know a Saudi who is 7"1' just like Shaquille O'Neal (but a lousy basketball player). This says NOTHING about the average height of the Saudis or their ability at basketball!

    This may surprise you but I am well aware of proven instances of the government lying to the American people from just about every war and national threat on. Just read Noam Chomsky! But for the Science postings PLEASE back up your statements with credible Science links. There are plenty of highly credible Peer Reviewed Science Journals that are NOT government owned. I'm using a work computer and account so they don't want me responding to AM radio conspiracy nonsense. Look through LiveScience for reference articles, they are NOT run by the military industrial complex! 🤣

    Well honestly I don't really care if you take a flu shot or not. It is your own free will to decide. I don't think no matter any amount of information I show you more than likely you will not change your mind. You are programmed a certain way.

    What makes a source credible is an opinion. In my opinion if a source has anything to do with the government or mainstream news it is not credible to me because they have been caught lying time and time again and inflicting terror on populations such as MK Ultra and their Child sex slave rings. Guess you didn't see the pictures of Bill Clinton that just came out on the Lolita island plane with the sex slaves. And what about what happen in the Carolinas in the early 1900's with sterilizing people through shots?

    That is kind of odd you are allowed on this site at your work but you can't respond. I find AM radio such as Coast to Coast to be far more credible than any of the sources you listed. Atleast they are honest and George Norey is an amazing person and your not going to be able to stop this explosion of consciousness for the mind control won't work on everybody and many people are breaking the mind control.

    So really it is your choice to believe the CDC and Big Pharma and the drug pushing doctors and nurses that must reach a quota with their shots. I really feel sorry for you but you can lead a horse to water but you can't get them to drink it. I hope you enjoy your flu shots. I surly won't take one even if they put a gun to my head.

    All I take for the winter is 1000IU of Vitamin C and 5000IU of Vitamin D3 and that is all the protection I need from the flu. There is no conspiracy in me actually knowing what I am putting in my body. In fact the only time I got the flu was when I was in the military and was forced to get the flu shot. Have you ever read the inserts of a flu shot and looked up what all the ingredients are? And what the side effects are? I am guessing probably not.
    Reply
  • Cy Husain
    Truthseeker007 said:
    Well honestly I don't really care if you take a flu shot or not. It is your own free will to decide. I don't think no matter any amount of information I show you more than likely you will not change your mind. You are programmed a certain way.

    What makes a source credible is an opinion. In my opinion if a source has anything to do with the government or mainstream news it is not credible to me because they have been caught lying time and time again and inflicting terror on populations such as MK Ultra and their Child sex slave rings. Guess you didn't see the pictures of Bill Clinton that just came out on the Lolita island plane with the sex slaves. And what about what happen in the Carolinas in the early 1900's with sterilizing people through shots?

    That is kind of odd you are allowed on this site at your work but you can't respond. I find AM radio such as Coast to Coast to be far more credible than any of the sources you listed. Atleast they are honest and George Norey is an amazing person and your not going to be able to stop this explosion of consciousness for the mind control won't work on everybody and many people are breaking the mind control.

    So really it is your choice to believe the CDC and Big Pharma and the drug pushing doctors and nurses that must reach a quota with their shots. I really feel sorry for you but you can lead a horse to water but you can't get them to drink it. I hope you enjoy your flu shots. I surly won't take one even if they put a gun to my head.

    All I take for the winter is 1000IU of Vitamin C and 5000IU of Vitamin D3 and that is all the protection I need from the flu. There is no conspiracy in me actually knowing what I am putting in my body. In fact the only time I got the flu was when I was in the military and was forced to get the flu shot. Have you ever read the inserts of a flu shot and looked up what all the ingredients are? And what the side effects are? I am guessing probably not.
    Source articles for your claim? 72
    Reply