Posted on 10/26/2006 7:35:34 PM PDT by blam
Those flu jabs could be a waste of time, says expert
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 2:33am BST 27/10/2006
An expert in infectious disease has called into question the usefulness of the multi-million pound annual flu vaccination campaign.
The programme, which will provide 15.2 million doses to protect against flu this winter, may have little impact on hospital admissions, days off work, absence from school and deaths, he claims.
This year the Government spent £1.5 million on the advertising campaign and the vaccination programme will cost £150 million in England. It offers flu vaccine to anyone over 65 and to people with chest problems and low immunity.
Dr Tom Jefferson, the co-ordinator of the vaccines section of the Cochrane Collaboration an independent group that reviews research and tests its validity has analysed the best available evidence that should show the impact of vaccination on the population.
In a report in the British Medical Journal Dr Jefferson says most studies were of poor quality and showed evidence of bias.
"I am interested in the gap between evidence and policy," he said yesterday. "I have looked at the facts. All I can say is that I have not found the evidence."
Dr Jefferson argues that all campaigns must have targets, such as reducing the number of cases and deaths and keeping people working and in school.
Only among people who suffer bronchitis could he find good evidence that flu vaccination was worthwhile.
In infants up to two, vaccination was no better than placebo and in older children there was little evidence of benefit.
Nor could he find enough evidence of benefit among people with chronic chest problems, asthma and cystic fibrosis.
In healthy adults the best evidence was that, on average, flu vaccination of a population would prevent 0.1 per cent of a working day lost.
Combined studies of the elderly showed a variation from no effect to a 60 per cent difference when "all cause mortality" was measured.
"These findings are both counter-intuitive and implausible as other causes of death are far more prevalent in older people," he writes.
He says it is hard to know how effective the vaccine is without better data and because the flu virus changes.
There was also confusion between flu and flu-like illness in the studies and a lack of "accurate and fast surveillance systems that can tell what viruses are circulating".
He adds: "Some surveillance systems report cases of influenza-like illness as influenza without further explanation. This confusion leads to gross overestimation of the impact of influenza, unrealistic expectations of the performance of vaccines, and spurious certainty of our ability to predict viral circulation and impact."
Dr Jefferson says that an "urgent revaluation" of the flu vaccination programme is needed.
Dr Fiona Godlee, the editor of the BMJ, said: "The problem is that the UK has no transparent process for evaluating the effectiveness or cost effectiveness of vaccines.
"The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence would like to take this on. The Government should let it."
Dr David Salisbury, the director of immunisation at the Department of Health, said last night: "Flu vaccine is the best way to protect against influenza, and that is why countries around the world use these vaccines to protect their vulnerable communities.
"Indeed, the World Health Organisation actively encourages countries to raise their coverage of seasonal flu vaccine.
"We know that flu vaccines can give up to 70 to 80 per cent protection against infection."
Death is the ultimate "cost containment."
Preview of Hilarynon-care if the Dems win next week.
ping
I've never gotten one, never will. (I live in the USA)
I'm getting one Monday.
Flu shots are an utter waste of time. There are, let's say, five hundred strains of flu virus out there. A bunch of eggheadds decide that strain number 371 is going to be the big one this year. You get innoculated against #371... but #145 shows up.
No thanks.
Yeah, after Jimmy Carter's swine flu vaccine fiasco I swore I'd never get one.
Let the usual Darwinists on this board assure us that it's impossible to get the flu from flu shots!
I thought it was Whip Inflation Now Gerald Ford's Swine Flu shot I received:-)
Okay.....did you know....elderberry extract protects against 8 strains of flu.....the flu shot only protects against 3 strains....or so I read.
NO....I'm not getting a flu shot....been there done that. But, I'm stocked up on Ossicculum (sp) and elderberry....and know how to make a great chicken soup.
My sister's husband has cystic fibrosis. His physician has made sure that my sister always receives the flu vaccine, in hopes of warding off the virus.
I generally get the flu once in the early part of every year-- like clockwork.
The one year I got a flu shot, I had the flu twice: once immediately following the shot, and once at my "normal" time.
No thanks.
Yeah, after Jimmy Carter's swine flu vaccine fiasco I swore I'd never get one
Maybe it was Ford's, been a long time. And I don't care, I pretty much blame everything in the mid to late 70s on Jimmy. Don't have to think about it and I'm still usually right.
And yes, I've kept my promise. NEVER got one.
And I am still alive to irritate my liberal friends.
May well have been Ford. WTH, you can't go wrong too often by blaming Jimmy.
Yeah, it was Gerald Ford
I checked to make sure.
Go get them liberals tiger!
I got mine today. I have since Oct 1984.
The last time I had the flu was in April pf 1984 and I was sicker then a damn dog! So, from there on out, I have never missed a shot and I have not gotten the flu again.
I really believe it the flu shots!!!
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