Influenza vaccines usually reduce the risk of acquiring influenza, but the reasons for their imperfect efficacy are not always clear. Are influenza infections in vaccinated individuals caused by antigenically diverged viruses that escape vaccine-induced antibodies, or is something more complicated going on?This study compares the strain populations infecting vaccinated and unvaccinated patients who were hospitalized with influenza in three U.S. cities during the 2012-2013 season, and evaluates of the impact of vaccination on serologic responses to influenza strains. This project is jointly led by Sarah Cobey (University of Chicago) and involves collaboration with Scott Hensley at the Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania and researchers and clinicians at the University of Chicago (Emily Landon and Colleen Nash), Stanford University (Ben Pinsky), Boston Children’s Hospital (Ilan Youngster), and the J. Craig Venter Institute (David Wentworth and Rebecca Halpin).
