Influenza vaccinations significantly reduced the number of flu-related illnesses, medical visits and hospitalizations during the 2017-18 flu season, according to a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Researchers used national age-specific estimates of 2017-18 flu vaccine coverage and disease burden for the study.
They found that vaccine effectiveness against outpatient, medically attended, laboratory-confirmed flu was 38 percent.
The research team estimated that vaccination against the flu prevented:
• 7.1 million illnesses
• 3.7 million medical visits
• 109,000 hospitalizations
• 8,000 deaths
Overall, vaccination prevented 10 percent of expected hospitalizations.
"Our results demonstrate the benefit of current influenza vaccination and the need for improved vaccines," study authors concluded.