# 2433
Maryn McKenna, writing for CIDRAP News, yesterday brought us an absolutely fascinating look at some of the conflicting studies on influenza vaccines that were presented at this year's (ICAAC-IDSA) meeting in Washington, D.C.
The `science' behind whether or not these vaccines are protective of the elderly, or would substantially reduce the level of illness in society if given to most children, isn't always in agreement.
Despite our faith in modern medicine, in reality we are continually learning - and adjusting our ideas - based on this newly gained knowledge.
What we know, or what we think we know, changes over time.
While there are, admittedly, gaps in our knowledge - particularly when it comes to the efficacy of vaccinating the elderly against influenza - for most people the yearly flu shot remains their best defense against influenza.
And the evidence is mounting that the Prevnar PCV-7 pneumonia shots for infants and toddlers, along with the PPV-23 pneumonia shot for at-risk adults, can significantly lower mortality and morbidity due to bacterial pneumonia.
Maryn's article offers us a fascinating look at some of the conflicting studies that were presented this week.
I'll only post the opening paragraphs. Follow the link to read the entire article. Like everything that Maryn writes, this one is worth reading in its entirety.
Benefits of flu vaccination hotly debated
Maryn McKenna
Contributing Writer
Oct 30, 2008 – WASHINGTON (CIDRAP News) – The benefits conferred by influenza vaccination—to recipients and to their close contacts—were hotly disputed at an international medical meeting this week.
Presenters at the 48th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and the 46th annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (ICAAC-IDSA) presented abundant but often contradictory evidence regarding flu vaccine's direct and indirect protective abilities.
The question whether flu vaccine protects recipients both from developing flu and from serious complications of flu, as well as whether its administration protects contacts of recipients, has been an active research topic over the past year.
A study published earlier this month in the New England Journal of Medicine (and placed online in September) found that giving the flu shot to pregnant women lowered both their risk of flu and also the risk for their newborns, who were too young to be vaccinated themselves. Reports in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in September and the Lancet in August contended that flu vaccine's ability to protect the elderly from death and from pneumonia has been overstated, and several papers have pointed out that, while vaccination in the elderly has increased, the mortality rate has not declined.
Flu vaccine came in for additional critical examination during ICAAC-IDSA, which drew 15,000 people to Washington, DC, and concluded Oct 28.
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