I went to the Safeway pharmacy this year to try and get my flu shot.  40 minute later in the oddly chilled waiting area I decided I couldn’t take it any more without a sweater, and I estimated I was still at least 40 minutes from getting my shot, so I gave up and went home.  I looked up the CDC flu monitoring and saw there was little flu going around and decided I’d get the shot if more flu started circulating.  Yes, I was lazy.  But it turns out it didn’t matter because this year’s flu vaccine only reduced your likelihood of getting mild or moderate illness by 16%.  Really?  16%?  That’s the best we can do?  I suspect if we don’t end up nuking the planet and reducing ourselves to our primitive origins, our descendants in 100 years will look back upon our general ignorance about how disease spreads and our inability to make long-lasting and effective vaccines for either Covid or the flu much the same way I look back upon medical care in the 20s.

With horror and fascination.

In a study of more than 3,600 Americans in seven states, the C.D.C. said in a report that the vaccine was only around 16 percent effective, a rate that it said was “not statistically significant.”

Huh, not statistically significant.  Kind of like the impact of cloth mask wearing.  But I digress.

“The next pandemic could be an influenza pandemic,” Dr. Goodman said, “so we need better vaccines.”

Ya think?  I’m sure they’re working on it.  Hopefully the fruits of their labors will help our kids and grandkids.

Since the agency began calculating the vaccine’s effectiveness in 2004, the efficacy rate has been as high as 60 percent — for the 2010-11 season — and as low as 10 percent, during the first season the C.D.C. tracked it.

What’s interesting to me is that they used to vaccinated people without calculating how effective the vaccine was!  It boggles the mind.  But I’m glad they’re doing it now.  It’s kind of like investing in the stock market.  It’s easy to feel like you’re doing well if there’s no actual calculation of your results.

On another note, does anyone else do dry January or dry Lent?  I’m giving up alcohol for the second year in a row for Lent.  My Dad always used to do this, and I think it’s good practice for me, since I really enjoy drinking.  Kind of an annual reset.  In any case, we’re a week in, and I am really missing my daily beer.  I’m finding I am so tempted to munch on carbs or chocolate instead.  It’s like I just want a treat at the end of the day.