The Flu Shot

[beesha77]

I just saw this today...hopefully you can read it. This is on the actual vaccine insert.

 

[amc80]

Does that really say "...there have been no controlled trials adequately demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with Flulaval"?

 

[saturn]

That's what it says, but you have to read the fine print further into the insert for the full explanation. Basically, the study they did covered two flu seasons and found an effectiveness rate of 49.3% (that's the effectiveness at preventing any influenza disease, but other studies have found it to be even more effective at reducing severe disease). However, before starting the study they had defined "success" as a confidence interval which was entirely above 35% for antigenically matched strains. They did not meet that criteria. This does not mean that the vaccine is useless, it's basically just legal-ese. The effectiveness of the flu vaccine varies from year to year, based on which strains of influenza are circulating and how well they match the strains in the vaccine. As to the H1N1 vaccine and miscarriage, I feel compelled to point out that although there is no evidence of increased risk to pregnant women from the inactivated vaccine (i.e. the shot, not the nasal spray), there is ample evidence that getting H1N1 flu poses a substantial risk both to pregnant women and their babies. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20308830

 

[Pandora II]

Vaccines don't necessarily prevent you getting an illness but it should significantly reduce the severity if you do get it and reduce the risk of any complications.

My husband is immuno-compromised and has the flu shot every year and also got the H1N1 shot separately. Our daughter also had the H1N1 shot - we live in central London so exposure is pretty much guaranteed. Then all three of us got H1N1 over Christmas last year (confirmed cases), DD threw it off in 48 hours and even my husband had it very mildly. Other family members who also got it over xmas and who hadn't had the shot were sick for a lot longer.