Yale Presents New Flu Vaccination Strategy In Florida
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CBSMiami/AP) — Yale's Cancer Center developed a new vaccination strategy meant to reduce the risk of possibly life threatening flu infections in cancer patients.
Yale's findings were presented Sunday at the American Society of Hematology's annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Studies have shown that patients with cancers of the immune system are extremely susceptible to common infections and a one-time flu shot is not the remedy.
Yale's new strategy consists of offering patients a high-dose flu vaccine followed by a second high-dose booster shot one month later.
Dr. Andrew Branagan says the vaccination strategy lowered the infection rate among patients to 6 percent and it improved protection against all flu strains covered by the vaccine in 66 percent of patients.
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