Deciphering Fact from Fiction

by Dan Schultz, DC

Let's lay out some facts, because the facts show a preponderance of evidence that the flu vaccine is extremely suspect.  For the discerning seekers of truth out there who want to ferret-out reality from news, propaganda, pseudoscience, and marketing hype, I will set forth a series of arguments, facts, and information from various sources.

The three necessary considerations are this:

Is the flu vaccine effective?

Is the flu vaccine safe?

Is the flu vaccine necessary?

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/333/7574/912?ehom=

Just last week this interesting study surfaced to shed some much needed light on the flu vaccine’s efficacy.  Tom Jefferson, coordinator of the vaccines field at the Cochrane Collaboration, which independently reviews healthcare provision, called for an urgent re-evaluation of flu vaccine campaigns.  Dr. Jefferson urged scientists to study the precise effects of vaccines, and described most studies as being of poor quality. 

In this report, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), Jefferson’s team of researchers concluded said the effectiveness of flu vaccines are compromised by the fact that influenza viruses mutated and varied from year to year. 

"The reasons for this situation are not clear, and may be complex. The starting point is the potential confusion between influenza and influenza-like illness, when any case of illness resembling influenza is seen as real influenza, especially during peak periods of activity.

"This confusion leads to a gross overestimation of the impact of influenza, unrealistic expectations of the performance of vaccines and spurious certainty of our ability to predict viral circulation and impact."

Overall, Jefferson concluded, influenza vaccines have little or no effect on many influenza campaign objectives, such as hospital stay, time off work, or death from influenza and its complications.  "I looked at the evidence described by systematic reviews and confronted it with policy and I found that there is a massive gap," Jefferson said. "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 wrote: "The large gap between policy and what the data tell us (when rigorously assembled and evaluated) is surprising.   Policy makers, "in their efforts to deal with, or be seen to deal with" a situation, favored action with what was available: flu vaccines.

In addition, evidence from their systematic reviews showed that “Little comparative evidence exists on the safety of these vaccines -- which will be the emphasis on my next log entry.

Comments

[Mary Tocco]

I want to compliment your clean and factual approach to this subject. Not only are your comments based on truth, they are presented very professionally. I recommend your site to many and want to commend you on a job well done!

Mary Tocco
Private vaccine researcher and public speaker, natural health care advocate and mother of five vaccine free/drug free children.