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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The study reported by Simonsen et al¹ in the February 14, 2005, issue of the ARCHIVES is counterintuitive to those of us with clinical experience and will surprise many of our public health decision makers. In keeping with best practice guidelines, clinicians have aspired to ever-higher coverage rates for influenza immunization for our older patients. Now it appears that immunizing older patients apparently makes little or no impression on the commonly encountered flu viruses of the past 30-plus years, as best as can be discerned from mortality patterns among the elderly. This contrasts with data from other studies, however.²

The immune response of seniors to vaccines is much less intense than it is in the younger population. Perhaps, to actually save the lives of our patients 65 years and older, instead of just deluding ourselves that we are doing so, we should take a lesson from the Japanese experience . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION
Gilbert Ross, MD

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Arch Intern Med. 2005;165(3):265-272.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT