New Study: Flu Shots Fail to Protect Elderly from Pneumonia

Flu Shots Offer No Protection from Pneumonia for Elderly, Other Benefits Exaggerated says New Study

Just in time for the release of the latest 2008-2009 flu vaccines comes a new study published in the August Lancet which says that, contrary to previous observational studies, the benefits of flu shots have been greatly exagerrated and completely fail to protect the elderly from developing pneumonia.

The Lancet's descriiption of the study begins:

"Influenza vaccine for community-acquired pneumonia
Many observational studies suggest that influenza vaccine substantially reduces the risk of hospital admission due to pneumonia in elderly adults. In today's Lancet, Michael Jackson and colleagues challenge these findings with results from a well-designed case-control study about the effectiveness of inactivated influenza vaccine against community-acquired pneumonia in adults aged 65–94 years. This study was done in a US managed-care population over three seasons when the antigenic match between vaccine and circulating influenza strains was good." ¹

(Note: the full study is available by subscriiption only)

The study was described further in an e-bulletin from the Health Science Institute (HSI):

"In seniors, flu vaccine was not linked to a reduced risk of pneumonia."

"That's what Michael L. Jackson, lead author of the new study, told HealthDay News. And needless to say, that's not the sort of thing FDA and CDC officials want to hear just as they're gearing up their seasonal fear-promotion of the flu shot.

Mr. Jackson's study shows that any benefit seniors do get from the flu vaccine is most prevalent in younger, healthier seniors. In other words, those who naturally have healthier immune systems are less likely to get the flu. So, is the flu shot actually preventing infection, or would it have been prevented anyway?

Ready for the kicker? Mr. Jackson reports that in his three-year study, which included more than 1,170 subjects over the age of 65, the flu vaccine reduced pneumonia risk by a "nonsignificant" 8 percent during flu season, but was linked to an INCREASED risk of 4 percent during seasonal peaks.

Now if 8 percent is nonsignificant, then 4 percent is even less significant. But when you're expecting the vaccine to offer protection and the opposite turns out to be true, that seems sort of, you know, significant!"²

As another observer puts it:

"Older, frail adults are more susceptible to getting the flu, even if they have been vaccinated, and once getting the flu, they are more susceptible to such complications as pneumonia.

It had been thought that flu vaccine would prevent flu -- and pneumonia -- across all groups of seniors, but this benefit appears to be largely confined to younger, healthier seniors.^"3

In other words, with or without the vaccine, the key appears to be a strong immune system - and for those who are older and more frail, the vaccine offers no protection.

The HSI e-bulletin concludes with this revealing information:

"The FDA announcement about the 08-09 vaccines contains a surprising detail: Only 40 percent of health care workers in the U.S. get a flu vaccine each year.

Imagine. These are people who have easy access to flu shots. They don't have to call and make an appointment and then drive to their doctor's office. And it's probably available to most of them for free. And yet six out of 10 say no.

So if the vaccine were truly effective, don't you think all those nurses and doctors and EMS personnel would happily take advantage of this easily accessible protection?

It makes you wonder what they know that we don't know."²

No doubt the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would probably rather you not know about the study just as the new 2008-2009 flu vaccines are being rolled out.

Speaking of which, the new "winners" are:

Afluria
Fluarix
FluLaval
FluMist
Fluvirin
Fluzone

As HSI noted about the new vaccines:

And these aren't just some mix of tired old virus strains with maybe one new strain thrown in. These contain three brand new, never-before-used strains! That's right – we're starting from scratch! (Why? Because last season's strains were a bust at doing the thing they were supposed to do – prevent flu). 

No doubt the real winners will be the vaccine industry and the huge profits they reap. The question is, "Who are the losers?".  Evidently, the elderly. 

DQ

Sources:

¹The Lancet
²Health Sciences Institute
³Avian Flu Diary blogspot