Posted on 01/18/2013 10:27:23 AM PST by opentalk
(CNN) - The flu hasn't hit Europe as hard as it has the United States, health officials say, but when and if it does, don't expect a call for vaccination of the entire population.
Only the U.S. and Canada actually encourage everyone older than 6 months to get the flu vaccine.
Apparently, not a single country in Europe asks the general population to seek that same kind of protection, according to Robb Butler, the World Health Organization technical officer in vaccine preventable diseases and immunizations in the organization's Europe office in the Netherlands.
That's because global health experts say the data aren't there yet to support this kind of blanket vaccination policy, nor is there enough money. In fact, some scientists say the enthusiasm for mass vaccination in the United States may hurt efforts to create a better vaccine.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I haven’t had a flu shot since I was a child.
I don’t get the flu, I don’t get colds.
Not in all cases.
You CAN NOT get the flu from the shot - it's a DEAD virus.
You can get the flu, even if you get the shot. Many do.
Herd immunity works if the threshold limit for immunity reaches a set point for the specific disease. For polio, 80 to 86% of the population needed to be immune before herd immunity occured. Pertussis requires up to 94%. Herd immunity for a virus such as the flu which keeps mutating is a moving target and is probably not even calcuable. The present vaccine is stated to be 63% effective. That figure can change as the virus mutates. There are also people who have natural immunity, an unknown percentage. There is also community immunity, which if you are a vulnerable person, did not get the flu shot, surrounded by people who don’t have the flu or won’t get it, you won’t get it either.
When they get a vaccine that can block all flu viruses, which they are working on at this time, flu will have a set percentage for herd immunity just like other diseases.
Sorry but I travel and I have not met anyone who knows anyone who has had the flu.
I think it is a big hoax to get people to take the vaccine because the drug comp donated money to O and now he owes them. Thus publicity to scare people to take the vaccine.
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