According to the findings of a recently completed study published in the journal The Lancet, it seems that flu vaccines do not ensure protection against pneumonia for elderly people. The study’s leader was Michael L. Jackson, of the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle.

The study gathered information from 1,173 people with ages ranging from 65 to 94 suffering from pneumonia, and also data collected from 2,300 people without the condition.

The scientists discovered that those who had received the vaccine had equal chances of developing pneumonia with those who hadn’t received the shot. They said however that elderly people should nonetheless get the flu vaccine, as it does help with building up immunity, even if it takes a while.

A spokesman of the Health Protection Agency, the institution which is responsible for monitoring the flu vaccine uptake in both England and Wales, also said that "at-risk" categories should continue to get the shot.

This was not the first study to come up with such results: a group of researchers of the George Washington University also found that flu vaccines may not be as effective with older patients as people seem to consider.

The flu issue, looked upon globally, is slowly becoming less and less of a problem as time goes by; such studies do help a lot with raising awareness on it and quite soon probably, when enough information is put together, results will become even clearer.