Advertisement Influenza Vaccine Appears Not To Work As Well For People Who Are Obese, Researchers Say.

reports that the influenza vaccine appears not to “work as well for people who are obese,” researchers concluded after comparing “effectiveness of the flu vaccine among 1,022 adults.” The findings were published online in the International Journal of Obesity. Among obese, 9.8% had either confirmed influenza or influenza-like-illness compared with 5.1% of healthy weight participants. Compared with vaccinated healthy weight, obese participants had double the risk of developing influenza or influenza-like illness (relative risk=2.01, 95% CI 1.12, 3.60, P=0.020). Seroconversion or seroprotection rates were not different between healthy weight and obese adults with influenza or ILI. CONCLUSIONS: Despite robust serological responses, vaccinated obese adults are twice as likely to develop influenza and influenza-like illness compared to healthy weight adults. This finding challenges the current standard for correlates of protection, suggesting use of antibody titers to determine vaccine effectiveness in an obese population may provide misleading information. The researchers suggest the flu shot isn't as effective for obese people because their T-cells don't function as well as they should. T-cells, which are infection fighters, help guard against the flu and aid in recovery. "Impaired cell functioning, despite the robust production of antibodies, may make vaccinated obese adults more susceptible to influenza infection," http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/naam/abs/ijo2017131a.html