So the wife is in a hi risk group and had the h1n1 jab last year (as did i)
We havent had it this year yet ( she has been too poorly)
Will she still have h1n1 protection? My logic says yes unless the flu has changed...
Anyone know?
Going to get her the jab as soon as she is well but it would be nice to know...
Good question. But why do the elderly get a jab each year? To update the strains?
[i]Will she still have h1n1 protection?[/i]
As far as I'm aware the H1N1 virus hasn't changed much; I've read it somewhere but can't remember where. I think, and I'm working on the same theory, that there should be an amount of protection that carries over.
However, I really don't know for sure.
I've not caught it yet; I was vaccinated last year, and have seen a number of people with it both this year and last. (At work..)
expected strains change every year, so this year's (edit: SEASONAL VAC) is not the same as last year's (SEASONAL) vaccine
this year, h1n1 (not obviously different from last year's version) is one of the (three) strains in this year's seasonal flu vac (it wasn't last year - came as a surprise and so the extra vaccine was made).
h1n1 does seem to be the major one in UK just now but there's also some 'flu B and a bit of other stuff. (I assume the flu B is covered by the vaccine - there is one B strain in there anyway but not certain it's the same)
additionally, HPA/DoH has clarified recently - last years h1n1 single vacc is not [u]known[/u] to offer enough lasting protection to currently pregnant women, so "even" they are now recommended to receive the triple vaccine, whether or not they had the single last year (other risk grps were recommended the seasonal one right from the start but pregnant women seem to be at particular risk from h1n1 as conmpared to other strains and this caused the initial confusion)