This year's flu vaccine is 36 percent effective, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Friday.
"Getting vaccinated does not mean that you can't or you won't get sick, but it can reduce the duration and severity of illness and prevent the spread to others," Surgeon General Jerome Adams told NBC News at a press conference. "Some protection is better than no protection at all."
Against H3N2, the year's most common strain, the vaccine is 25 percent effective. It's more effective against another strain that's been circulating recently, H1N1. For young children, the effectiveness rate is significantly higher. The CDC said Friday that the risk for H3N2 associated medically attended influenza illness was reduced by an estimated 59 percent for vaccinated children. As of Friday, 84 children have died due to influenza.
But hey, according to Trump advisor Grace Copeland, the only flu shot you'll ever really need is Jesus. "We don't have a flu season," Copeland said, for some reason, in front of a camera. "We've got a duck season, a deer season, but we don't have a flu season."
Copeland didn't stop there, choosing instead to suggest that this Mr. Christ individual gave a select group of people flu shots years ago. "We've already had our shot," she said. "He bore sicknesses and carried our diseases. That's what we stand on." Um, no. Go get a flu shot.
