TEXTO:
Your Best Shot
With more new choices, there’s a flu vaccine for almost everyone
Dr. Greg Poland is expecting a lot of questions – and confusion – from his patients this flu season. For the first time, U.S. health officials will distribute six influenza vaccines, up from four last year. “Instead of the one-size-fits-all approach, we are moving to vaccines…for individual patients,” says Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group.
The goal is to get more than the usual 40% of the U.S. population immunized by adding shots made specifically for those who have an allergy to eggs (previously, all flu vaccines contained egg protein), among other conditions. And a new shot and nasal spray protect against four, instead of the usual three, influenza strains. Within a few seasons, says Dr. Michael Shaw at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every flu vaccine option will be using such an uberformula.
There are caveats: some of the specialized shots can be more expensive. For now, that four-strain shot can cost up to 30% more than a standard one. But more vaccine options will lead to fewer flu cases, and that could save both lives and health care costs.
_________ will compensate for more expensive vaccines
According to the text, the alternative that completes the blank correctly is
