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| Dr. Michael Gardam |
Reports that the 2014 flu vaccine missed the mark seem to be under-stated. A doctor with the University Health Network in Toronto, Michael Gardam, suggests the vaccine was essentially worthless. Dr. Gardam is the director of infectious prevention and control at the network. Reports from the Centre for Disease Control in the U.S. have set the effectiveness of the vaccine at 23 percent. Curiously, it appears the flu cases seen in Canada are even more mis-matched with the vaccine than that 23 percent. About 98 per cent of the viruses showing up in Canada are mismatched (meaning there is little or no protection) whereas in the U.S., its closer to 68 per cent mismatches. It is an interesting analysis seldom revealed before. Most people assume the annual flu is the same throughout North America. Since the CDC started doing flu vaccine studies in 2004, overall effectiveness has ranged from 10 per cent to 60 per cent. It’s those higher levels of effectiveness that prompts doctors to say it is better to take the flu shot than not.
