In rough US flu season for kids, vaccine working OK so far

New York. (AP) It may end up being a bad flu season for kids, but early signs suggest the vaccine is working OK. The vaccine has been more than 50% effective in preventing flu illness severe enough to send a child to the doctor's office, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Feb. 20. Health experts consider that pretty good. The vaccines are made each year to protect against three or four different kinds of flu virus. The ingredients are based on predictions of what strains will make people sick the following winter. It doesn't always work out. "These estimates are reassuring,'' said the CDC's Brendan Flannery, who oversees the agency's system for evaluating the vaccine.