Influenza Vaccine Programs May Be Pointless

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Main Category: Flu / Cold / SARS
Also Included In: Immune System / Vaccines;  Respiratory / Asthma;  Public Health
Article Date: 28 Oct 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Influenza vaccination programs, which cost nations millions of dollars every year, could be a waste of time and money, says Dr. Tom Jefferson, Cochrane Vaccines Field, Rome, Italy. Jefferson says he hopes his findings will make North American and European taxpayers wonder whether the effort and expense are justified.

You can read about his findings in The British Medical Journal (BMJ), October 28.

In this study, Jefferson examined all published papers worldwide that reported on the effects of inactivated vaccines (vaccines with dead viruses). In other words, he studied the reviews of all studies. He concluded that flu shot campaigns have either no effect, or a very negligible effect, on the number of hospitalizations, work/school time lost, complications from flu, or death from flu.

Jefferson said "I looked at the evidence described by systematic reviews and confronted it with policy and I found that there is a massive gap. Almost none of the benefits that these policy documents list are actually given by inactivated vaccines or, if they are, they are given in slighter measure." He said he is not sure why this is so. He suggested it could be a result of inadequate surveillance systems, and/or diagnosing too many influenza-like respiratory illnesses as flu (when they are not). He added that "In most surveillance systems, you actually have an almost year-round epidemic which, in fact, is not influenza. It's caused by other agents." He criticized many of the studies he looked through, saying they were weak.

According to official figures (CDC), approximately 200,000 Americans get flu so badly each year that they have to be hospitalized - about 36,000 people die each year as a result of catching flu in the USA.

Jefferson said he was surprised to see such a large gap between vaccination campaign policy and evidence of its effectiveness.

"Influenza vaccination: policy versus evidence"
Tom Jefferson
BMJ 2006;333:912-915 (28 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.38995.531701.80
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Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
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