Gennady Onishchenko announced the ability of influenza to bypass last year’s immunity

Brief retelling from RIA II

The flu easily mutates and bypasses the immunity acquired a year earlier, said RAS Academician Gennady Onishchenko.

To form population immunity, it is necessary to vaccinate 60% of the population of the Russian Federation against influenza, and 75% from risk groups.

MOSCOW, September 23 - RIA Novosti. Influenza is a unique infection that mutates very easily, it has what we call genetic drift, and it goes in the wrong direction to bypass the immunity that we received last year, Onishchenko said at a press conference at the Russia Today International Multimedia Press Center.

In this regard, according to Onishchenko, a vaccination done a year earlier or an illness suffered a year earlier will not help protect against new strains.