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.
About the microneedle shot, it’s correct to say that it is
