Suspicious about those flu vaccines, you’d be correct in those suspicions
Before the Covid19 shot, the seasonal flu shot was the one hyped shot for adults to get and to sometimes feel peer pressure to partake in. People either swear by them or swear them off. But what do researchers say about the value of these interventions.
The most likely reason for a person, particularly an elderly person, to take the annual flu shot is to avoid a serious case of flu and the chance it might lead to hospitalization. However, this appears to not be a virtue of the flu shot. A Cochrane review of forty studies showed “Vaccination had a modest effect on time off work and had no effect on hospital admissions or complication rates…in healthy people under 65 vaccination did not affect hospital stay, time off work, or death from influenza and its complications.”9 An NIH study concluded that “In children under 2 years inactivated vaccines had the same field efficacy as placebo.8
In a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association it was stated that “We could not correlate increasing vaccination coverage after 1980 with declining mortality rates in any age group.” It concludes that “Influenza vaccination in the United States has long been recommended for all persons 65 years or older.9 Vaccination coverage for this age group increased from between 15% and 20% before 1980 to 65% in 2001.10 However, 3-year moving averages of unadjusted excess P&I (Pneumonia and Influenza) mortality rates among people 65 years or older—compiled for the Healthy People 2000 initiative11 to track the effect of vaccination on US influenza-related mortality—rose substantially during this period.“12
In the CDC’s preliminary review of the effectiveness of flu vaccines during the 2021-2022 season it was found that “Overall, vaccine effectiveness (VE) against medically attended outpatient ARI (acute respiratory infections) associated with influenza A(H3N2) virus was 16% (95% CI = −16% to 39%), which is considered not statistically significant”.
So what are the risks of taking the annual flu shot? The CDC, which recommends everyone 6 months or older receive this shot yearly but would they see greater flu prevention by giving each household a big bottle of Vit. D3 each fall?
The CDC warns that the flu vaccine has these common side effects: “Soreness, redness, and/or swelling from the shot, Headache, Fever, Nausea, Muscle aches. The flu shot, like other injections, can occasionally cause fainting. Some studies have found a possible small association of injectable flu vaccine with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). ”
What is working well with the flu shot is Big Pharma profits. In 2020 the flu shots raked in $5 Billion. Industry analysts are predicting this to double by 2030. Could this money be spent more wisely and effect a greater outcome on health, well being and reduced mortality?