Oh yeah, and the hep c series as well.

I don't think there is vaccination for Hepatitis C. Can someone confirm this fact?

It's been awhile, could have been just the Hep b, It's in my records at the Fire dept and at home somewhere.

I'm being lazy and not looking this one up, and I'm not exactly sure if the definition of disease and effectiveness is exactly the same as the flu vaccine stats I posted, but in general, for the normal vaccinations we get, like polio, MMR, DTaP, etc., you're looking at mid to high 90% range.

No Hep C vaccine yet. There's at least one candidate, maybe others, in clinical trials, but nothing on the market yet.

Ok, my bad. Thanks for the reality check.

DATELINE: 02.11.2008

Once again the CDC has delayed admitting they are selling the wrong flu vaccine until massive promotion has sold the inventory.

Four months of data has been withheld until todays announcement.

The past months massive promotion of "GET YOUR FLU SHOT" has ended today.

Stockholders of the vaccine companies still recommend "GET YOUR FLU SHOT" - it might help!

From the 2/11/2008 CDC News Conference on Influenza, Dr. Joe Bresee--"...the predominant virus so far this year is an H1N1 A virus. Of those, 96 percent, or virtually all those viruses, look very much like the vaccine strain and should be well covered by the vaccine..." The reality is more complicated than this single sentence, but it's definitely more accurate than saying it is the "wrong flu vaccine."

DATELINE: 02.15.2008 ABC NEWS

"Flu Season, and Vaccine, Looking Worse"

The flu season is getting worse, and U.S. health officials say it's partly because the flu vaccine doesn't protect against most of the spreading flu bugs.

(CDC continues massive promotion to sell last of vaccine inventory)

(FDA continues stall on limits to mercury & aluminum in vaccine)

(WHO demands new vaccine for next year)

It was generally a slow flu season through mid-January and the vaccine was matched well to the predominant strain, and that's what the CDC reported at the prior news conference. More recent data is now available, showing a very recent spike in cases for strains not well matched to the vaccine in the past couple weeks. But the mix could still swing back towards the H1N1 strain, which the vaccine is well matched against.

However, the important question of how beneficial this year's vaccine is despite not being a good match to the recent strains hasn't been answered yet. We don't yet know if vaccinated people are getting some benefit against the H3N2 or B strains or not. Yesterday, the news was reporting all these recent cases of flu and showing full hospital waiting rooms, but we don't know how many were vaccinated or whether they actually have flu or just something that looks like flu. The vaccine does not have to be an exact match to be beneficial but unfortunately, that can't be readily determined until after the fact. That's precisely why the CDC continues to recommend flu shots--in the end, there's a good chance that it will still be beneficial for many people.

At the previous CDC news conference, Dr. Breese mentioned that last season, Department of Defense data showed that when the H3N2 strain that has recently become predominant in the US now was prevalent in Europe, the H3N2 strain in the current vaccine was still 52% protective against it.