The article reports on a large European study that measured how well the 2010-11 seasonal flu vaccine protected people from getting the flu. Researchers collected data from eight countries, comparing people who got sick with the flu to those who had similar symptoms but tested negative. They found that the vaccine provided moderate protection, reducing the risk of medically-attended, lab-confirmed flu by about half overall. Effectiveness varied by age group and flu type, but the vaccine still offered some benefit to all groups, including those most at risk. The study highlights that, while the flu vaccine isn’t perfect, it remains the best available tool for preventing flu and its complications across Europe.
This widely cited paper summarizes one of the first efforts to measure the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccination across EU Member States. The I‑MOVE project was launched to monitor vaccine effectiveness over successive influenza seasons using a common, jointly agreed, and regularly updated study protocol. I contributed at an early stage by reviewing the initial country protocols and later by coordinating the first phase of the investigation in Poland. Since 2010, colleagues from Epiconcept and the ECDC developed I‑MOVE (later renamed into VEBIS) into a sustainable network that has produced robust evidence on various vaccines for different stakeholders, including during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Although I was no longer directly involved after leaving the Polish Institute in 2011, I have remained an enthusiastic supporter of this outstanding project 🙂.