Someone I know is under the impression that annual flu shots do not change the probability that people contract the disease–that its all either wishful thinking or even a scam.
Of course I’m skeptical of this claim. But where can I find out how effective flu shots are?
-FrL-
Squink
October 17, 2007, 3:16pm
2
Your acquaintance is probably remembering this story:
Flu Shots For Elderly Questioned
Feb. 14, 2005
A new study based on more than three decades of U.S. data suggests that giving flu shots to the elderly has not saved any lives.
Led by National Institutes of Health researchers, the study challenges standard government dogma and is bound to confuse senior citizens. During last fall’s flu vaccine shortage, thousands of older Americans, heeding the government’s public health message, stood in long lines to get their shots.
“There is a sense that we’re all going to die if we don’t get the flu shot,” said the study’s lead author, Lone Simonsen, a senior epidemiologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md. “Maybe that’s a little much.”