Why the Flu Vaccine Doesn't Work

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is looking at whether or not the flu vaccine is effective. Preliminary results indicate you'll get just as sick (with colds, flu, flu-like illnesses) if you got the vaccine than if you didn't. Why doesn't the vaccine work? In order to understand the answer, you'll need to understand some specifics about the flu vaccine and a bit about how immunity works.

1. an antibody for one type of flu won't necessarily bind to a virus part from another type of flu. You don't get protection against other viruses.

2.You may not even get protection against the intended virus.

3. the flu vaccine will be more effective some years than others.

Bottom line: The flu vaccine varies in effectiveness from year-to-year. Even in a best-case scenario, it won't always protect against the flu. The CDC study didn't say that the vaccine didn't work; it says the vaccine didn't protect people from getting sick. Even with imperfect effectiveness, the vaccine is indicated for certain people. In my opinion, however, the vaccine isn't for everyone and certainly shouldn't be required for otherwise healthy people.

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Doubts Grow Over Flu Vaccine in Elderly

The influenza vaccine, which has been strongly recommended for people over 65 for more than four decades, is losing its reputation as an effective way to ward off the virus in the elderly

A growing number of immunologists and epidemiologists say the vaccine probably does not work very well for people over 70, the group that accounts for three-fourths of all flu deaths.

The latest blow was a study in The Lancet last month that called into question much of the statistical evidence for the vaccine’s effectiveness.

The authors said previous studies had measured the wrong thing: not any actual protection against the flu virus but a fundamental difference between the kinds of people who get vaccines and those who do not.

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Why You Probably Don't Need a Flu Shot

............The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lumps together mortality (death) statistics for the flu and pneumonia, but even at that, more than 90 percent of flu and pneumonia-related deaths occur in people over the age of 65. Your risk of dying from illness related to the flu rises dramatically as you age—but this is complicated by the fact that most people that age have other underlying conditions, such as diabetes, heart and circulatory diseases, and significantly decreased immune function. Even at that, the estimated number of people over the age of 50 who die from flu-related illness and/or pneumonia each year is around 58, and over the age of 65 the number is about 915. A flu shot reduces the risk of getting the flu in the elderly by 10 to 30 percent, depending on which study you read.......

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Some studies find it makes a huge difference. Others do not. Experts say the truth is

How much difference does the flu shot really make?

Various studies offer wide-ranging conclusions. One, for instance, found that seasonal influenza vaccine halves elderly deaths from any cause in the winter months. But another found it has no impact at all on this age group's health. These and other conflicting findings are pushing public health officials and scientists to look for better ways to quantify the preventive's impact.

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