The performance of this year's flu vaccine is unusually poor, but doctors say you should get the shot anyway.

New York Post reported a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests the vaccine is only 23 percent effective -- one of the worst numbers in the last decade. Its formula did not include the strain responsible for about two-thirds of the illnesses this flu season, which began in October.

"This is an uncommon year," said Dr. Alicia Fry, a CDC expert involved in the study released on Thursday.

The federal health body nevertheless recommends all persons six months and older get the vaccine as it can help prevent some viruses and reduce the number of complications and hospitalizations among those who do become ill, Fox News explained.

More than two-thirds of the viruses of this season's dominant flu strain, known as A (H3N2), have genetically adapted to circumvent the component used in the vaccine, health officials determined. Over the past decade, vaccines have ranged from 10 percent to 60 percent in their effectiveness to prevent the flu.

Manhattan ad agency employee Katlyn Wells, 29, told New York Post the revelations have not exactly bolstered her confidence to make it through flu season unharmed.

"We all sit so close together that it only takes one person at my job to get sick," Wells said. "Before you know it, everyone is coughing and blowing their nose. And that's with everyone taking the flu shot, too. I don't want to imagine what it's gonna be like for the next few months."

Health officials, meanwhile, issued a reminder of the common sense practices everyone can employ to help curb the spread of the virus: They include frequent handwashing, covering coughs and staying home when sick, Fox News reported.

The CDC study that determined the vaccine's poor performance involved 2,321 people in five states -- Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin -- affected by respiratory illnesses between November and early January, according to The Associated Press. Those who had been vaccinated had a 23 percent lower chance of coming down with the flu.

Related