Well worth the investment
Influenza plays a role in killing between 3,000 and 49,000 people every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So it almost always is an epidemic, if a quiet one, as it preys mostly on those who already are frail from other health problems.
This year the annual flu has drawn more public attention than usual largely because it has struck earlier than usual, and because it appears to be aggressively contagious. According to the CDC, this year's flu has been reported in 47 states, but the number of states reporting high incidence has dropped over the last week from 29 to 24.
This year's flu vaccine is about 60 percent effective, meaning that someone who has gotten a flu shot is, on average, 60 percent less likely to catch the flu than someone who hasn't received the vaccine. Nationwide, about 37 percent of the population, 112 million people, have had flu shots.
The worst recent flu season was 2009-2010, when the H1N1 virus caused a global pandemic that was serious but turned out not to be as bad as health officials had anticipated. In the United States, the flu killed 279 children during that season, compared with 20 this season, according to the CDC.
Part of the reason for the lower-than-expected impact, researchers told The New York Times, is that many people who had been vaccinated against the swine flu in the 1970s were resistant to the new strain.
That, in turn, points to the vaccine process. Because viruses mutate quickly, each year's dominant strain is different, and a new vaccine must be devised. But researchers devise the vaccine before the season, usually combining elements of three different strains. The CDC says this year's vaccine is moderately effective.
Last year a report by the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, noting that lifetime vaccines for other diseases that are administered in infancy typically are 90 percent effective, called for development of lifetime vaccines against influenza. Current vaccines usually are between 50 and 70 percent effective.
Researchers say about $1 billion would be needed to develop such a vaccine. Congress should fund the research. A successful vaccine easily would pay for itself through lower health costs due to fewer cases of the flu and reduced need for annual vaccines.