"Some weird prejudice against vaccination""Refusniks".So what does the science say ?The most wide ranging study of the efficacy ofFlu Vaccination is the Cochrane Studyquote:"Vaccines to prevent influenza in healthy adults"Key resultsThe preventive effect of parenteral inactivated influenza vaccine on healthy adults is small: at least 40 people would need vaccination to avoid one ILI case (95% confidence interval (CI) 26 to 128) and 71 people would need vaccination to prevent one case of influenza (95% CI 64 to 80). Vaccination shows no appreciable effect on working days lost or hospitalisation.:unquotehttp://www.cochrane.org/CD001269/ARI_vaccines-to-prevent-influenza-in-healthy-adultsWhile the efficacy, or otherwise of flu jabs along with the history of their recommendation down the years, in the face of a lot of evidence to the contrary, (Basically the point can be summed up as Govtsand Health Depts etc needing to be seen to be "doing something" in the face of influenza epidemics. The fact that most such programmesare largely ineffective is besides the point.) is covered inFlu Vaccine for All: A Critical Look at the EvidenceEric A. Biondi, MD, MS; C. Andrew Aligne, MD, MPH http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/855937_1As far as I'm concerned, if people can obtain piece of mind by having an annual flu jab then good luck to them. One positive finding of the Cochrane studywas that there was no evidence whatsoever of any side effects of being innoculated, at least in healthy adults . So no harm is done in have the injection. In such cases as in many things in life actual evidence of its effectiveness might be somewhat besides the point.michael adams
Michael Adams ● 3056d