Skeptics ask: does the swine flu vaccine work?
Even amid the current shortage of swine flu vaccine, government officials, infectious disease experts and public health experts everywhere have touted the vaccine as the best way to protect against the H1N1 virus.
But what if they're all wrong?
That's the premise of this provocative piece in his month's Atlantic titled "Does the Vaccine Matter?" Some flu researchers are expressing caution about both the vaccine's abilities as well as the use of antivirals to treat the swine flu. The article states:
But what if everything we think we know about fighting influenza is wrong? What if flu vaccines do not protect people from dying—particularly the elderly, who account for 90 percent of deaths from seasonal flu? And what if the expensive antiviral drugs that the government has stockpiled over the past few years also have little, if any, power to reduce the number of people who die or are hospitalized?
Some medical experts argue that people who need protection from the flu the most are not getting it from the vaccine and the drugs out to treat it. Flu vaccines and antivirals don't offer as much protection as they experts tout, say some experts quoted in the story. So, if a severe pandemic strikes, we may not be prepared, the authors write.
Controversial indeed. The article has received heaps of criticism from science blogs and not everyone is convinced of the story's premise and many are coming out to show evidence that flu vaccines do work and that the H1N1 vaccine should work just as well.
The article, written by Shannon Brownlee, author of the book Overtreated, and medical reporter Jeanne Lenzer, notes that so much about the flu -- and how to fight it effectively -- is unknown. The article includes voices from experts who doubt the prevailing scientific wisdom that flu shots significantly reduce the risk of death and are calling for more studies of whether they are effective.
Will this story add more fuel to anti-vaccine fire? Your thoughts?
AP photo
Comments
Though not anti-vaccine per se, I know that the influenza vaccines are NOT effective in preventing those inoculated from getting influenza. My knowledge is based on the facts as presented in a peer-reviewed published article:
Geier DA, King PG, Geier MR.
Influenza Vaccine: Review of
effectiveness of the U.S. immunization
program, and policy considerations.
JAPS (Journal of American Physicians
and Surgeons) 2006 Fall; 11(3): 69-74
where I am one of the authors as well as from other referenced and subsequent published studies reviewing the EFFECTIVENESS of flu vaccines in preventing those inoculated from getting flu and finding NO EFFECTIVENESS in stopping those who were inoculated from subsequently contracting influenza.
Posted by: Paul G. King, PhD | November 12, 2009 12:27 PM
I'm not really sure whether trying to label people who are asking for proof of vaccine safety or effectiveness as anti-vaccine is really helpful.
If it were not for people including a large number of health professionals, questioning vaccinations, we would never have any incentive to make sure that we were using the safest or most effective preventatives possible.
When it comes to the flu vaccine however, the evidence is very clear. The vaccine simply does not work.
Tom Jefferson, an epidemiologist at the Cochrane Collaboration, has recently completed a 40 year retrospective study which showed that flu vaccines provide very little protection in healthy individuals and almost no protection for those who are their usual target market - the elderly and immune supressed.
In addition, Dr Jefferson said that when safety has been looked at, the studies were so poorly designed, any results from them cannot be relied upon.
Is this anti-vaccine information or is it just stating the facts. The evidence shows that influenza vaccination does not prevent influenza and the studies to show that it's safe have not yet been performed.
These are both very good reasons to question the use of flu vaccines in the current AH1N1 outbreak - especially since for the first time, healthy children, young people and pregnant women are being targeted.
Kind regards,
Meryl Dorey
National President
The Australian Vaccination Network
Editor
Living Wisdom magazine
Posted by: Meryl Dorey | November 12, 2009 8:14 PM
Hello
I am also trying to find that does the swine flu vaccine work?According to me as a first step we should fight against swine flu by taking precautions.You ave given good enough information about Flu vaccines and antivirals.
Posted by: magnesium | November 13, 2009 1:23 AM
I dont think we can afford to gamble and rely on a unclear study in regards to the effectiveness of the vaccine. So, yes, obviously precaution and prevention is the better way. G.
Posted by: Angular Cheilitis | January 30, 2010 2:37 PM