TV Says: Get the Flu Shot Every Year; Science Says . . .

The Flu Vaccine: The More Often You Get it, the Worse it Works
The commercials keep reminding you to get your flu shot every year. The science, however, reminds you not to get it every year. . . .

Canadian researchers identified the troubling result that getting the flu vaccine each year diminishes its effectiveness. When they followed 1,939 people, they found that the ones who got the flu vaccine in the 2014-2015 season, but not the year before, had a 53% vaccine effectiveness. However, the people who got it that season and also the season before had their effectiveness rate drop significantly to -32%. If they got it that year and the two years before, the effectiveness dropped to -54%. The researchers concluded that there is a negative effect of repeated vaccination (Clin Infect Dis 2016;63(1):21-32).

Listen to the Science, Not the Media
Though the media and the government keep telling you to get the flu shot, the highly respected Cochrane Collaboration found that “[e]vidence from systematic reviews shows that vaccines have little or no effect on the effects measured” (BMJ 2006;333:912). So, flu vaccines have not helped prevent the flu.

A double-blind study put the claim to the test again by comparing vaccinated children to unvaccinated children who received a placebo for 272 days. There were 88 cases of the flu in the unvaccinated group, but—wait for it—there were 116 cases in the vaccinated group. What’s worse is that there were 487 non-flu respiratory viruses in the vaccinated group but only 88 in the unvaccinated group (Clinical Infectious Diseases 2012;doi:10.1093/cid/cis307).

A 2014 Cochrane Collaboration evaluation of 116 studies—all the research up to 2013–found that vaccinating adults did not change the number of people hospitalized or the number of lost days of work (Cochrane Database of Syst Rev 2014, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD001269).

That still leaves the constant claim that the flu vaccine protects seniors from serious complications from the flu that can lead to death. But this claim, too, fails to stand up to scientific scrutiny. When subjected to proper analysis, the claimed protection against risk of death in the elderly drops to statistically insignificant levels (Am J Respir Care Med 2008 ;178: 527-533). Another study concluded that increased vaccination is not correlated with decreased mortality among seniors (Arch Intern Med 2005;165:265-272).

More Reasons Not to Get the Flu Shot: No Benefit During Pregnancy for You or Your Baby
It is currently recommended that women in the second or third trimester of pregnancy get the flu vaccine. But an analysis of hospital admissions found that women who got vaccinated during pregnancy had the same risk for influenza like illnesses as women who did not get vaccinated. There was also no difference in the risk for outpatient visits. As for the babies, the ones who were born to vaccinated mothers had the same risk for influenza and pneumonia as infants born to unvaccinated mothers. There was also no benefit when it came to outpatient visits. The study concluded that there is no demonstrable benefit to the flu vaccine for pregnant women (Am J Perinatol 2004;21(6):333-9).

Children: Getting the Flu Versus Getting the Flu Vaccine
A recent study has suggested that getting the flu as a child can confer 75% protection against severe disease and 80% protection against death against that strain of flu and even against similar subtypes of flu virus you have never encountered before (Science 2016;354(6313):722-6). So, preventing your child from getting her first flu might not be the best idea.

And can you really protect your child anyway? Researchers set out to answer that question by looking at infants from 6-24 months and the flu vaccine. It found that the rate of influenza was not significantly different between infants who were vaccinated and infants who were not. They concluded that getting the flu vaccine did not reduce the rate of influenza in infants and children between 6-24 months (Pediatr Int 2004;46(2):122-5.

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The Natural Path is intended for educational purposes only and is in no way intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment. For health problems, consult a qualified health practitioner for a comprehensive program.