Effectiveness of influenza vaccine in preventing medically-attended influenza virus infection in primary care, Israel, influenza seasons 2014/15 and 2015/16.

IntroductionInfluenza vaccine is recommended for the entire population in Israel. We assessed influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons in Israel, for the first time. Combined nose and throat swab specimens were collected from patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) presenting to sentinel primary care clinics and tested for influenza virus by RT-PCR.