Mutation in flu virus lowers effectiveness of current flu vaccine

The flu vaccine that was made for this year may not be able to completely protect people from the disease.

It was revealed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that due to a mutation in the flu virus, the vaccine created for this season may not work as well, according to CNN. Different flu strain samples collected between October and November had also shown that those strains differed from the strain that helped make the current vaccine.

The CDC also said that a specific strain of the flu called H3N2 would be highly common, ABC News reported. For children, Dr. Kathlyn Edwards of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine told ABC News that children who caught that flu strain had worse fevers and symptoms compared to other strains.

CNN also reported that the CDC suggested that people should still get vaccinated. Despite not offering complete protection from the changed virus, it could still prevent infection from the other flu strains as well as lower the potency of the virus upon infection.