Note: This week is National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW). Today is my attempt to put the risks of vaccination in perspective.
# 5122
Practically every time I mention vaccines in this blog (which is pretty often), I end up with 1 or 2 scathing comments about the `evil’ vaccines do, and links to the usual suspects that peddle vaccine paranoia.
Those comments almost always end up deleted, since they offer little more than vaccine vitriol and the same tired arguments. Invariably they contain a reference to someone whose life was seriously disrupted by a flu vaccine.
In the ultimate personification of irony, I know smokers who refuse the vaccine each year because they don’t know what `poisons’ might be in it.
But as I’ve pointed out in virtually every vaccine essay I’ve written, vaccines are not 100% safe or completely benign.
They can have side effects. Sometimes, albeit rarely, those side effects can be serious.
And that is true for all medicines, medical procedures, and just about everything you ingest in life.
I almost died at the age of 17 from an anaphylactic reaction to penicillin. It took a trip to the ER, and IV epinephrine, to alleviate the crisis. That doesn’t make penicillin a bad drug, it is just the wrong drug for me (and others with a similar allergy).
Even aspirin and NSAIDs – sold over the counter – contribute to thousands of hospitalizations and deaths each year.
There are risks in just about everything you do.
As I’ve said before, if you want a guarantee in life . . . buy a Craftsman.
Today Fergus Walsh, BBC’s medical reporter and blogger, has a terrific essay called:
Aspirin, cancer risk and a personal decision
This is an interesting article on cancer and the potential protective effects of aspirin, but I highlight it because it illustrates quite well that we must always consider the downside to every medical decision we make.
Even if it is something as seemingly innocuous as taking an aspirin every day.
We must weigh the risks against the potential reward and accept that all medicines are a double-edged sword.
Okay, back to the flu vaccine.
Last year in excess of 12,000 Americans are believed to have died from the Swine flu, and the CDC estimates there were roughly 274,000 pandemic flu related hospitalizations.
Overwhelmingly, those killed or hospitalized were under the age of 65.
Despite near-hysterical warnings over the safety of the pandemic vaccine, no deaths were attributed to the Swine flu shot (see CIDRAP VAERS study finds H1N1 vaccine safety similar to seasonal vaccines') and most reported side effects from the vaccine were minor, and temporary.
Only 726 serious adverse reactions were reported, out of more than 80 million shots given.
- 0 deaths from the Vaccine vs 12,000 deaths from the flu.
- 726 severe reactions vs. 274,000 flu hospitalizations
That’s the risk reward ratio to consider.
Even if the vaccine were only 50% effective in preventing the flu, a greater uptake could have saved thousands of lives and tens of thousands of hospital stays.
The truth is, the benefits of the flu shot far exceed its risks.
And that holds true every year, not just during a pandemic.
Related Post:
- Anticipating The Flu Season Down Under
- ACP Calls For Health Care Worker Immunizations
- Branswell On Flu Vaccine Matches
- Flu Vaccine Still Available, But Spot Shortages Exist
- Study: Self-Administered Vaccines In Adults
- Egypt: A Paltry Poultry Vaccine
- Lancet: Low Flu Vaccine Effectiveness
- Hong Kong: H5N1 Vaccine Recommended For Certain Lab Workers
- AAP Endorses SAGE Recommendations Keeping Thimerosal In Vaccines
- NIVW 2012
- Study Supports Safety Of Tdap Vaccine In Older Patients
- JAMA: Waning Pertussis Vaccine Effectiveness Over Time
- Revisiting The Numbers Racket
- Of Pregnancy, Flu & Autism
- Canada & Switzerland Clear Novartis Flu Vaccine For Use
- CMAJ On Mandatory Flu Shot For HCWs
- Novartis Fluad And Agriflu Vaccines Suspended In Canada
- The UK’s Whooping Cough Outbreak
- Peter Sandman On the CCIVI Vaccine Report
- CIDRAP: The Need For `Game Changing’ Flu Vaccines
- Rhode Island Adopts New Flu Vaccination Requirements For HCPs
- Vietnam Reports Progress On New Bird Flu Vaccine
- WHO: Southern Hemisphere 2013 Flu Vaccine Composition
- NPM12: Giving Preparedness A Shot In The Arm
- Yes, We Have No Pandemic . . .
- Hong Kong: H5N1 Vaccine Recommended For Certain Lab Workers
- Study: Adverse Events Associated With Oseltamivir Outpatient Treatment
- MMWR: Carbon Monoxide Exposures Related To Hurricane Sandy
- Canada & Switzerland Clear Novartis Flu Vaccine For Use
- Preparing For After The Storm Passes
- NPM12: A Whole Lotta Shakeouts Going On
- NPM12: Preparedness For Kids
- NIOSH: 9/5 Is N95 Day
- H3N2v: CDC Offers Advice To Fair Goers
- MMWR: Tornado Fatalities During April 2011 Outbreak
- WHO: Safety & Importance Of Thiomersal In Vaccines
- Study: Safety Of Drive-Thru Vaccination Clinics
- The Biggest Weather-Related Killer
- At The End Of My Rope
- CSL: Report On Febrile Reactions To FluVax
- CDC Statement On OIG Report On Vaccine Program For Children
- CDC Statement On Helmets & Tornadoes
- Reminder: Great Central U.S. Shakeout Today
- Branswell: PLoS One Study On Adverse Reactions To MMR Vaccine
- E. Coli: In the Raw (cookie dough)
- NIVW: Dec 4th – 10th, 2011
- Lancet: Guillain-Barré Syndrome & H1N1 Vaccine In Children
- IDSA: Flu Vaccines In Pregnancy
- BMJ: Another Pandemrix Study To Ponder
- Pediatrics: Effectiveness Of A Single Adjuvanted Pandemic Flu Shot In Children
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