Do you need a flu vaccination?
To vaccinate against the flu or not to vaccinate against the flu, that is the question.
According to many medical sources, everyone should be annually vaccinated, but does the medical research support such a broad recommendation? A recent evaluation of the current medical research suggests that, for many, vaccination against the flu is ineffective.
Flu vaccinations began during World War II. Soldiers, living in large numbers and close quarters, were vaccinated in order to prevent potentially devastating outbreaks of the flu.
In the 1970s the flu vaccine was recommended for nationwide use in order to prevent a potentially serious strain of influenza from taking hold in the United States.
Originally, flu vaccinations were recommended only for those who were at risk of dying from the complications of the flu: chronically ill, elderly, those with breathing difficulties or whose immune system was weak. Now, public policy is to recommend that everyone, annually, get immunized.
However, persuasive research as to the effectiveness of universal flu vaccination is rare.
The World Health Organization recommends the flu vaccine only for those who are at risk of dying from the complications of the flu. They admit that, in the healthy population, it is at best only modestly effective at preventing the flu.
A recent article published in the medical magazine "Medscape" solidly questions the effectiveness of universal immunization against the flu. The authors, Dr. Eric A. Biondi, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center in New York and Dr. C. Andrew Aligne, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics, director of The Hoekelman Center, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry in New York, reviewed medical studies by the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on the effectiveness of universal immunization.
Positive results, in healthy people, were rare. Indeed, in 2000, the CDC conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of the flu vaccine. They found that, in healthy people, it was no more effective than placebo.
Surprisingly, even in the elderly population the effectiveness of widespread vaccination is questionable. A national-wide study done in 2005 concluded that the usual observational studies of vaccination benefit greatly overstate the benefits in reducing deaths " ... (Even during two pandemic seasons) the estimated influenza-related mortality was probably very close to what would have occurred had no vaccine been available."
Although the flu vaccine seems to be quite safe, in contrast to many of my fellow physicians, I recommend the flu vaccine only for those at risk of serious complications and death from the flu.
All others, it is a personal choice.
Fortunately, good hygiene like frequent hand washing, covering the mouth when coughing and staying home if sick seems to go a long way as an effective prevention measure.
• Patrick B. Massey, MD, PH.D., is medical director for complementary and alternative medicine at Alexian Brothers Hospital Network and president of ALT-MED Medical and Physical Therapy, 1544 Nerge Road, Elk Grove Village. His website is www.alt-med.org.