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Q. Would two influenza vaccines protect me better than one?
A. Booster doses may make the influenza vaccine more effective, but the benefit is limited to a few specific groups.
Children are a group that may benefit from administering two doses of influenza vaccine in the same influenza season. In a multi-state study, the effectiveness of the vaccine has doubled in children from 6 months to 8 years. The benefits were greatest among infants who received their first influenza vaccines and were still evident in subsequent influenza seasons. Other studies have given similar results.
For this reason, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that "children 6 months to 8 years old who are vaccinated for the first time and those who have received only one dose of vaccine before receive two doses of vaccine this season. "
Pandemic influenza, a global epidemic caused by genetic variations of the influenza virus, is another situation in which a booster dose might be helpful because our immune system is not ready to react to the new virus. But vaccination strategies are complex and must be guided by government health agencies. Simply taking two doses of the currently available vaccine will not be protective.
Although complications of the flu are also at risk for men and women 65 years and older, the recall does not appear to have any benefits for this age group. In two studies of 70-year-old patients, the second dose of vaccine failed to increase the levels of antibodies directed against the flu. Older men and women may, however, benefit from additional protection against a single high-dose influenza vaccine injection.
Apart from those groups in which safety and efficacy have been proven, a booster dose of the influenza vaccine should not be taken on the theory that it is, at worst, harmless. Booster doses are associated with an increased risk of adverse effects, including fever, rash, shortness of breath or breathing and pain at the injection site.
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