Influenza Vaccine (Flu Shot)

Every fall we see line-ups of seniors who’ve braved the elements to ensure they’re “protected” from the “deadly” flu bug. We rarely see or hear of the ensuing results. Does the flu shot really protect them? And what about all those children, said to be vectors of influenza, are they protected by the flu shots recommended for them?

In 2006, the Cochrane Collaboration’s retrospective study which reviewed influenza vaccine studies conducted over a period of 40 years found that, in children under age two, the vaccine was no more effective than a placebo. Another report in the October 2008 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found that “flu vaccine was not associated with reduced hospitalizations or outpatient visits among young children; Use of the influenza vaccine was not associated with preventing hospitalizations or reducing physician visits for the flu in children age 5 and younger during two recent seasons,” The authors speculated it was “perhaps because the strains of virus in the vaccine did not match circulating strains”. Research presented in 2009 at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego found that, “The inactivated flu vaccine does not appear to be effective in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially the ones with asthma” and, “children who had received the flu vaccine had three times the risk of hospitalization, as compared to children who had not received the vaccine. In asthmatic children, there was a significantly higher risk of hospitalization in subjects who received the TIV [trivalent inactivated vaccine], as compared to those who did not.”

A mountain of evidence shows that the flu shot is largely a dismal failure. *Fluwatch reports show it’s largely unneeded. Why do we continue these wasteful programs?

*Fluwatch is a public health program which gathers and reports on the relative incidence of influenza cases throughout the year. Its data come from “sentinel laboratories” located throughout Canada which receive and test samples from patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) submitted by their “sentinel practitioners”. Laboratory testing year in and year out shows that the majority of influenza like illnesses are NOT associated with the influenza virus, but arise from other pathogens unaffected by the vaccine. On average, the influenza virus is associated with only 10% of people presenting with flu-like illnesses.

VRAN Flu-like-Watch

For the last five years, from the end of August of one year to the end of August the following year, Fluwatch archives show:

Date Tests positive for influenza Total samples tested
5 yr totals 52,125 507,376
2007/2008 12,256 124,953
2006/2007 8,133 100,864
2005/2006 7,422 87,303
2004/2005 12,879 101,258
2003/2004 11,435 92,998

The 5 yr average yearly incidence of influenza 2003-2008, was 10.3% of all influenza-like illness. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/fluwatch/archive-eng.php For the years 2008-2010, the figures for yearly totals tested have not been provided. However, by analyzing the graph, ‘Influenza tests reported and percentage of tests positive, 2009-2010’, we have estimated the incidence of influenza for that year was approximately 6% of all influenza-like illness – and this for a “pandemic” year when most of the H1N1 infections had already occurred before the first doses of vaccine could (possibly) take effect. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/fluwatch/09-10/w34_10/index-eng.php