For the Pro side, please visit the https://www.cdc.gov/flu/
It is important to review both sets of data to make an informed decision.
1. Jefferson T, Di Pietrantonj C, Rivetti A, Bawazeer GA, Al ... (n.d.). Retrieved from https://residenciadeclinica.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/influenza-vaccines-cochrane-review-20101.pdf
Collaboration report included 40 clinical trial studies of more than 70,000 people a perfectly matched year, it showed up to 80% benefit.
But since they don’t often match the flu strains perfectly, it listed 50% effectiveness, to as low as 30% effectiveness, with the flu vaccine. So just as many people theoretically benefited as didn’t on an average year.
It showed modest days lost from work with the vaccine and NO evidence was found to decrease hospitalization or complication rates.
Another analysis put it this way: When the vaccine matched the flu strain, 4 percent who weren’t vaccinated got the flu. One percent of vaccinated people got it. That’s a difference of 3 percent.
When the vaccine didn’t match the strain, 2 percent of unvaccinated people got the flu, and 1 percent didn’t, for a difference of 1 percent.
"The Cochrane Collaboration’s comprehensive 2010, 2014 and 2018 meta-analysis of published influenza vaccine studies found that the influenza vaccination has no effect on hospitalization, and that there is no evidence that flu vaccines prevent viral transmission or complications (see select highlighted text in systematic reviews attached). The Cochrane Researchers concluded that the scientific evidence seems to discourage the utilization of vaccination against influenza in healthy adults as a routine public health measure (see page 22 of attached review). The overwhelming body of scientific literature does not agree with the reasoning colleges/states have for mandating the flu vaccine. The premise of if there is a second wave of the coronavirus, if this seasonal influenza is of pandemic proportions and if as a result there is a hospital bed shortage (which the data do not support) is simply too conditional to remove the rights of hundreds of thousands of students.
2. Kelley NS, Manske JM, Ballering KS, Leighton TR, Moore KA. The Compelling Need for Game-Changing Influenza Vaccines, An analysis of the influenza vaccine enterprise and recommendations for the future. Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, October 2012.
It removed more of the “flawed” studies and found that in a perfectly matched year, it was 59% effective in having the vaccine in the ages of 18-64.
It showed no benefit in the elderly (over 65) or under 18 has been seen in other studies.
Their paper suggests that the flu vaccine is not ideal but due to lack of financial incentive, more beneficial vaccines are not likely to be found.
3. Cowling, Fang, Kwok-Hung. Increased Non-Influenza Respiratory Virus Infections Associated with receipt of the Inactivated Influenza Vaccine. Clinical Infectious Diseases, Vol. 54, Issue 12, June 2012 pages 1778-1783, also in Clin Infect Dis 2012 June 15; 54(12): 1778-83
TIV (trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine) recipients had higher risk of confirmed non-influenza respiratory virus infection (RR, 3.46;95% Cl, 1.19-10.1)
The majority of the non-influenzas respiratory virus detection were rhinoviruses and coxsackie/echoviruses, and the increased risk among TIV recipients was also statistically significant for these viruses.
4. Minn, Michael, McCullers, J., Klugman, K. Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine Enhance Colonization of Steptococcus Pneumonia and Staphylococcus Aureus in Mice, mBio 5(1) doi:10.1128/mBio.01040-13
The potent and often lethal effects of an antecedent influenza virus infection on secondary bacterial disease have been reported.
Viral replication induced epithelial and mucosal degradation, and the ensuing innate immune response yield diminished capacity to avert secondary bacterial infections.
Recent clinical and experimental data suggest that influenza virus infection may exert its influence beginning in the URT by enhancing susceptibility to bacterial colonization.
5. Goldman GS Comparison of VAERS fetal-loss reports during three consecutive influenza seasons: Was there a synergistic fetal toxicity associated with the two- vaccine 2009-2019 season? Hum. Exp Toxicol. 2013 May;32(5): 464-75
There were 77.8 fetal loss reports per 1 million pregnant women vaccinated during the 2009/2010 2 dose influenza season vs 6.8 fetal loss reports during the previous 1-dose influenza season.
An 11.4-fold increase.
The two multidose vials contain 25 mcg of mercury per dose those years.
6. Jefferson T, Rivetti A, et al. Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy children. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev 2012 Aug 15; Issue 8: CD 004879
75 worldwide studies, Inc 17 randomized trials, in children older than 2, the inactivated influenza vaccine is about 36% effective.
Under 2 it was equal to placebo, no evidence to show reduced mortality, hospital admissions, serious complications or community transmission of influenza.
7. Jefferson T, Smith S, et al. Assessment of the efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccines in healthy children: systematic review. Lancet 2005 Feb 26; 365 (9461) : 773-80
No evidence of reduced mortality, admissions, complications, or decreased community transmission of influenza.
8. Joshi, AY, Iyer VN, et al. Effectiveness of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in influenza-related hospitalization in children: a case-control study. Allergy Ashthma Proc 2012 Mar-Apr;33(2): e23-7
Study of kids 6 months to 18 years from 1999-2007.
Children who were vaccinated against influenza were 3 times more likely to be hospitalized for influenza related complications than children who did not receive an influenza vaccine (OR=3.67).
Asthmatic children who received the influenza vaccine were also more likely to be hospitalized than those who did not receive it. The severity of asthma did not affect the outcome.
9. Seasonal Influenza and Vaccine Herd Effect
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4083064
Study 1968-2001-Observational study showed no decreased mortality rate with increasing vaccination from 15% to 65%
10.Thomas RE, Jefferson T, Lasserson TJ Influenza vaccination for health care workers who care for people aged 60 or older living in long-term care institutions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013 ; Issue 7: CD 005187
No evidence to support that vaccinating healthcare workers in long-term care facilities showed effect on laboratory proven influenza or complications (pneumonia, hospitalization, or death due to pneumonia) in those residence over age 60.
11. Doshi, P. (2013). Influenza: Marketing vaccine by marketing disease. Bmj, 346(May16 1). doi:10.1136/bmj.f3037
Too much to list or explain, but worth the read.
12. Doshi, P. (2005). Are US flu death figures more PR than science? Bmj, 331(7529), 1412. doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7529.1412
A 2013 BMJ article documented that public health authorities’ aggressive promotion of the influenza vaccine is not supported by the medical literature and fails to acknowledge serious vaccine risks. eg, contrary to wildly mistaken claims, only 16% of tested respiratory specimens are positive for influenza, and serious vaccine adverse events are well documented internationally.
13. Carrat, F., Lavenu, A. et al, Repeated influenza vaccination of healthy children and adults borrow now, pay later? Epidemiol. Infect. (2006) 134, 63-70
Shows that repeated influenza vaccination at a younger age substantially increases the risk of influenza in older age
14. Skowronski DM, De Serres G, et al. Association between 2008-2009 seasonal influenza vaccine and pandemic H1N1 illness during Spring-Summer 2009:four observational studies from Canada PLoS Med 2010 April 6; 7(4) e1000258
Recipients of the influenza vaccine had significantly increase influenza compared to those who didn’t.
Recipients had increased need for requiring medical attention due to the H1N1 virus.
15. Link: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/316/7137/S2-7137 seemed to go ... (1998). Bmj, 316(7149). doi:10.1136/bmj.316.7149.3a
· “In adjusted models, we observed 6.3 (95% CI 1.9–21.5) times more aerosol shedding among cases with vaccination in the current and previous season compared with having no vaccination in those two seasons.”
Prior year vaccination cut the current year efficacy of the flu vaccine.
2013 "The vaccine was found to be 62% effective in those who hadn't been vaccinated the previous year. That was similar to findings in the other observational studies and also to the results of a recent, rigorous meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. In contrast, those who had been vaccinated 2 years in a row (before both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons) got no significant protection".
Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests
Date: May 20, 2009Source:American Thoracic Society Summary:The inactivated flu vaccine does not appear to be effective in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially the ones with asthma. In fact, children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than their peers who do not get the vaccine, according to new research. While these findings do raise questions about the efficacy of the vaccine, they do not in fact implicate it as a cause of hospitalizations, according to researchers.
19. Vaccine-Induced Anti-HA2 Antibodies Promote Virus Fusion and Enhance Influenza Virus Respiratory Disease, Sci Transl Med 28 August 2013: Vol. 5, Issue 200, p. 200ra114 Sci. Transl. Med.
"A new study in the U.S. has shown that pigs vaccinated against one strain of influenza were worse off if subsequently infected by a related strain of the virus."
20. Effectiveness of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in influenza-related hospitalization in children: a case-control study. Joshi AY1, Iyer VN, Hartz MF, Patel AM, Li JT
TIV (The inactivated flu vaccine) did not provide any protection against hospitalization in pediatric subjects, especially children with asthma.
On the contrary, we found a threefold increased risk of hospitalization in subjects who did get the TIV vaccine.
21. Influenza vaccines seem to be modifying influenza into a dangerous dengue like disease.
22. Death rates due to actual positive flu tests average under 1000 per year in over 300,000,000 patients according to the CDC National Vital Statistics Report.
The number that you hear in the media of 30K to 50K deaths are due to flu AND pneumonia (all cause pneumonia including from HIV, COPD, elderly, cancer etc).
The number is inflated to increase flu vaccination.
Pediatric flu deaths are reportable and range from 60-120 annually.
Adult flu deaths are not reportable but obtained via death certificates so that gives freedom for "estimation" to go from a 1000 to the 10's of thousands with no real proof.
It is strange that if there are 30-50K deaths from flu and pneumonia, that 80% would be from flu when it only happens a few months out of the year.
23. Adverse reactions- flawed due to reporter bias.
Our training is to say that any significant flu like illness is likely coincidence or would have been worse without the vaccine.
We are not trained to recognize serum sickness and we are also too busy to report.
Miller’s Review of Critical Vaccine Studies used as a resource
24. Nanri, A., Nakamoto, K., Sakamoto, N., Imai, T., Akter, S., Nonaka, D., & Mizoue, T. (2017). Association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D with influenza in case-control study nested in a cohort of Japanese employees. Clinical Nutrition, 36(5), 1288-1293. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2016.08.016
Lower influenza risk associated with vitamin D sufficiency among unvaccinated participants warrants further investigation.
25. Roos R. Study: Prior-year vaccination cut flu vaccine effects in 2014-15. CIDRP News. In: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy website.
26. Smith DJ, Forrest S, Ackley DH, Perelson AS. Variable efficacy of repeated annual influenza vaccination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1999; 96:14001–6.
27. Skowronski, D. M., & Serres, G. D. (2018). Role of Egg-adaptation Mutations in Low Influenza A(H3N2) Vaccine Effectiveness During the 2012–2013 Season. Clinical Infectious Diseases. doi:10.1093/cid/ciy350
Using a case control study design and data from Canada's Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network (SPSN) for the 2014-2015 influenza season, Dr. Skowronski’s group reported that study participants who received the 2014–2015 vaccine without vaccination the year before had significant protection against influenza A(H3N2), but those who had received the identical 2013-2014 vaccine the previous year had no increased protection.
Those who were vaccinated three years in a row actually had an increased risk of contracting influenza compared with unvaccinated participants.
28. Systemic autoimmunity appears to be the inevitable consequence of over-stimulating the host’s immune system by repeated immunization.
29. The Autoimmune/Inflammatory Syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA)
30. Subgroup analysis demonstrates that immunosuppressive therapies and the nonadjuvanted lead to less immunogenicity in humoral response in flu-vaccinated SLE (Lupus) patients.
31. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3209321/
J Virol. 2011 Nov; 85(22): 11995–12000.doi: 10.1128/JVI.05213-11PMCID: PMC3209321 PMID: 21880755
Annual Vaccination against Influenza Virus Hampers Development of Virus-Specific CD8+ T Cell Immunity in Children▿
Our results indicate that annual influenza vaccination is effective against seasonal influenza but hampers the development of virus-specific CD8+ T cell responses. The consequences of these findings are discussed in the light of the development of protective immunity to seasonal and future pandemic influenza viruses.
32. BMJ Open. 2011; 1(1): e000016.Published online 2011 May 30. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2010-000016PMCID: PMC3191393 PMID: 22021725
Epidemiological study of severe febrile reactions in young children in Western Australia caused by a 2010 trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine
P K Armstrong,1 G K Dowse,1 P V Effler,2 D Carcione,1 C C Blyth,3 P C Richmond,3 G C Geelhoed,4 F Mascaro,5 M Scully,1 and T S Weeramanthri6
“...This study shows that children aged 4 years and under who had received TIV from one vaccine manufacturer (CSL Biotherapies) had a 200-fold higher rate of febrile convulsions than that of the only reliable published estimate...”
33. “In order to prevent the spread of influenza (that you do not have!), you will be required to wear a mask while working.”
“With universal vaccination, 97% of influenza cases will occur in vaccinated workers who will not be masked. Thus, masking unvaccinated workers is most likely punitive and coercive rather than a well-reasoned strategy for reducing transmission in the healthcare setting.” (See reference in first comment.)
34. The four cRCTs underpinning policies of enforced HCW influenza vaccination attribute implausibly large reductions in patient risk to HCW vaccination, casting serious doubts on their validity.
The impression that unvaccinated HCWs place their patients at great influenza peril is exaggerated.
Instead, the HCW-attributable risk and vaccine-preventable fraction both remain unknown and the NNV to achieve patient benefit still requires better understanding.
Although current scientific data are inadequate to support the ethical implementation of enforced HCW influenza vaccination, they do not refute approaches to support voluntary vaccination or other more broadly protective practices, such as staying home or masking when acutely ill.
If a person’s immune system contains the cells that we have identified as the culprits behind narcolepsy and comes into contact with either H1N1 or the vaccine against H1N1, the immune system’s response can become activated and the narcolepsy disorder can develop
36. What, in Fact, Is the Evidence That Vaccinating Healthcare Workers against Seasonal Influenza Protects Their Patients? A Critical Review, Int J Family Med. 2012; 2012: 205464, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3502850/.
In November of 2012, a critical review in The International Journal of Family Medicine concluded: “The arguments for uniform healthcare worker influenza vaccination are not supported by existing literature. The decision whether to get vaccinated should, except possibly in extreme situations, be that of the individual healthcare worker, without legal, institutional, or peer coercion.”
37. Assessment of temporally-related acute respiratory illness following influenza vaccination
Rikin et al. Vaccine 36 (2018) 1958-1964
Conclusion: Among children there was an increase in the hazard of ARI caused by non-influenza respiratory pathogens post-influenza vaccination compared to unvaccinated children during the same period. Potential mechanisms for this association warrant further investigation. Future research could investigate whether medical decision-making surrounding influenza vaccination may be improved by acknowledging patient experiences, counseling regarding different types of ARI, and correcting the misperception that all ARI occurring after vaccination are caused by influenza.
38. Vaccine Effectiveness Against Laboratory-confirmed Influenza in Healthy Young Children: A Case–Control Study Kelly, Heath MPH*†; Jacoby, Peter MSc‡; Dixon, Gabriela A. MB BS‡; Carcione, Dale PhD§; Williams, Simon BSc¶; Moore, Hannah C. BSc(Hons), GradDipClinEpi‡; Smith, David W. MB BS¶∥**; Keil, Anthony D. MB BS††; Van Buynder, Paul MPH§‡‡; Richmond, Peter C. MB BS‡§§;the WAIVE Study Team Author InformationThe Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal: February 2011 - Volume 30 - Issue 2 - p 107-111 doi: 10.1097/INF.0b013e318201811c
VE estimates were higher when controls included only those children with another respiratory virus detected. Testing for other common respiratory viruses enables the control group to be restricted to those for whom an adequate sample is likely.
When you look into the actual study, they actually show that children with influenza vaccination has a higher rate of non influenza viral lung infections by 55%!
Epidemiology of respiratory viral infections in children enrolled in a study of influenza vaccine effectiveness Alexa Dierig,a,b Leon G. Heron,a,c,d Stephen B. Lambert,e,f Jiehui Kevin Yin,a,c Julie Leask,a,c,d Maria Yui Kwan Chow,a,c Theo P. Sloots,e Michael D. Nissen,e Iman Ridda,c Robert Booya,
“We did, however, unexpectedly find that non-influenza ILI (influenza-like illness) occurred about 1.6 times more commonly in children vaccinated with one or two doses of the influenza vaccine than in unvaccinated children.These results support the findings of a recent RCT (randomized controlled trial) reported by Cowling et al
40. Inflammatory Responses to Trivalent Influenza Virus Vaccine Among Pregnant Women
Lisa M. Christian, PhD
Trivalent influenza virus vaccination elicits a measurable inflammatory response among pregnant women. There is sufficient variability in response for testing associations with clinical outcomes. As adverse perinatal health outcomes including preeclampsia and preterm birth have an inflammatory component, a tendency toward greater inflammatory responding to immune triggers may predict risk of adverse outcomes, providing insight into biological mechanisms underlying risk.
41. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20964738/ Inflammation-related effects of adjuvant influenza A vaccination on platelet activation and cardiac autonomic function
Affiliations expand PMID: 20964738 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2010.02285.x Together with an inflammatory reaction, influenza A vaccine induced platelet activation and sympathovagal imbalance towards adrenergic predominance. Significant correlations were found between CRP levels and HRV parameters, suggesting a pathophysiological link between inflammation and cardiac autonomic regulation. The vaccine-related platelet activation and cardiac autonomic dysfunction may transiently increase the risk of cardiovascular events.
Together with an inflammatory reaction, Influenza A vaccine induced platelet activation and sympathovagal imbalance towards adrenergic predominance...The vaccine-related platelet activation and cardiac autonomic dysfunction may transiently increase the risk of cardiovascular events.
42. https://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/200/200ra114.editor-summary Vaccine-Induced Anti-HA2 Antibodies Promote Virus Fusion and Enhance Influenza Virus Respiratory Disease
Surender Khurana1, *
Science Translational Medicine 28 Aug 2013: Vol. 5, Issue 200, pp. 200ra114DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3006366
Even the most beneficial things—like vaccines—sometimes have a downside. Learning what causes the downside is critical for avoiding it. In the case of viral vaccines, there have been some reports of rare vaccine-induced disease enhancement—for example, vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD) for influenza. Khurana et al. now report that mismatched strains of the same subtype of influenza may lead to VAERD in pigs.
The authors vaccinated pigs with whole inactivated H1N2 influenza virus. These pigs had enhanced pneumonia and disease after infection with another strain—pH1N1. Looking more closely, the authors found that the immune sera from the H1N2-vaccinated pigs contained high titers of cross-reactive hemagglutinin antibodies. These antibodies actually enhanced pH1N1 infection in cell culture by promoting virus membrane fusion activity, and this enhanced fusion correlated with lung pathology. This mechanism of VAERD should be considered when devising strategies to devise a universal flu vaccine.
43. BMJ. 2014; 348: g3361.Published online 2014 May 29. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g3361PMCID: PMC4038133 PMID: 24874845
Evaluation of safety of A/H1N1 pandemic vaccination during pregnancy: cohort study
Francesco Trotta, et al.
"whereas a limited increase in the prevalence of gestational diabetes (1.26, 1.04 to 1.53) and eclampsia (1.19, 1.04 to 1.39) was seen in vaccinated women"
Both gestational diabetes and eclampsia are related to inflammation and immune dysregulation, making the connection to the immune stimulation of the flu vaccine very plausible
44. Mol Psychiatry. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 Aug 1. Mol Psychiatry. 2014 Feb; 19(2): 259–264.Published online 2013 Jan 22.doi: 10.1038/mp.2012.197PMCID: PMC3633612NIHMSID: NIHMS426250 PMID: 23337946
Elevated Maternal C-Reactive Protein and Autism in a National Birth Cohort
Alan S. Brown, M.D.
over 1.2 million pregnant women found that elevations in CRP, the same marker of inflammation that increases after flu vaccination, are associated with a 43% greater risk of having a child with autism.
45. Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccine during Pregnancy in Preventing Hospitalizations and Outpatient Visits for Respiratory Illness in Pregnant Women and Their Infants,” American Journal of Perinatology 21, no. 6 (August 2004): 333–339.)
nearly 50,000 pregnant women over five flu seasons, found that the rate of influenza-like illness in vaccinated women was identical to the rate of illness in women who were not vaccinated
we also found no difference in the risk of outpatient visits for vaccinated and unvaccinated women. Hospital admissions for influenza or pneumonia for women in the study population were quite rare and no women died of respiratory illness during pregnancy. Infants born to women who received influenza vaccination had the same risks for influenza or pneumonia admissions compared with infants born to unvaccinated women, adjusting for infant's gender, gestational age, week of birth, and birth facility
we were unable to demonstrate the effectiveness of influenza vaccination with data for hospital admissions and physician visits
46. December 2006
Impact of Maternal Influenza Vaccination During Pregnancy on the Incidence of Acute Respiratory Illness Visits Among Infants
Eric K. France, MD, MSPH et al.
We were unable to demonstrate that maternal influenza vaccination reduces respiratory illness visit rates among their infants.
47. from the Vaccine papers. http://vaccinepapers.org/influenza-vaccine-immune-suppression/
Original Antigenic Sin A poorly-matched influenza vaccine may cause illness (and increase risk of influenza illness) by a phenomenon in immunology known as “original antigenic sin” (OAS). First discovered in 1960, OAS is well known and firmly established. Its described in any immunology textbook. OAS occurs in this scenario:
There is a second illness with strain #2, of the same pathogen. For example dengue virus is well known to cause OAS (dengue has 4 strains).
During the second illness, the immune system responds as if strain #1 is attacking, because it “remembers” strain #1. The problem is that the antibodies for strain #1 are not effective against strain #2 (the antibodies are not a good fit). The result is a defective (and delayed) immune response. The illness from strain #2 is therefore much worse. In fact, it can be life threatening (this happens with dengue).
OAS is why a first dengue illness is mild, but a second case of dengue (involving a different dengue strain) can be very severe and long lasting. A second dengue infection can be fatal due to OAS.
By receiving an influenza vaccine that is poorly matched to circulating strains, the immune system is improperly trained. Improper immune training is worse than no training at all. The OAS phenomenon may explain the results of the Bridges study.
48. The December 11, 2015 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report (MMWR) reports that only 1.2% of 102,675 respiratory specimens from Oct 4 to Nov 28 tested positive for influenza viruses.[2] Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report, CDC, December 11, 2015. https://www.jstor.org/stable/e24805824
49. Cumulative data to date (April 2, 2016) shows a range around the country from 15.1% – 22%.[3]
Of the $282 million that The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) paid out in FY 2017 for vaccine injuries and death, roughly $188 million was for influenza vaccine injuries and deaths. Influenza vaccines make up about 42% of administered vaccines, but 57% of compensated vaccine petitions (2006 – 2016).
National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, Data & Statistics. https://www.hrsa.gov/.../data-statistics-september-2019.pdf
Note: This data is updated monthly.
50. Interim estimates of 2014/15 vaccine effectiveness against influenza A(H3N2) from Canada’s Sentinel Physician Surveillance Network, January 2015 D M Skowronski1, et al
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.4.21022?fbclid=IwAR2TAY1lsxZh-ycH7vUbiYIhEab2hJFggVxs2ydzaZXq4cXBzvQUpATwihA
A 2015 study found that influenza vaccines in Canada had a -8% effectiveness rate (that’s minus/negative eight percent) and recommended “adjunct protective measures . . . to minimize morbidity and mortality.”
51. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2014 Feb;33(2):e63-6. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000000064.
Characteristics of vaccine failures in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of inactivated influenza vaccine in children
Sophia Ng et al
TIV was not observed to ameliorate clinical symptoms or viral shedding among vaccine failures compared with infected placebo recipients. Lower antibody response might have explained vaccine failure and also lack of effect in reducing clinical symptoms and viral shedding upon infection.
Cochrane 1 February 2018Authors: Demicheli V, Jefferson T, Ferroni E, Rivetti A, Di Pietrantonj C
We found 52 clinical trials of over 80,000 adults. We were unable to determine the impact of bias on about 70% of the included studies due to insufficient reporting of details. Around 15% of the included studies were well designed and conducted. We focused on reporting of results from 25 studies that looked at inactivated vaccines. Injected influenza vaccines probably have a small protective effect against influenza and ILI (moderate-certainty evidence), as 71 people would need to be vaccinated to avoid one influenza case, and 29 would need to be vaccinated to avoid one case of ILI. Vaccination may have little or no appreciable effect on hospitalizations (low-certainty evidence) or number of working days lost.
52. Ann Intern Med 2020 Apr 7;172(7):445-452. doi: 10.7326/M19-3075. Epub 2020 Mar 3.
The Effect of Influenza Vaccination for the Elderly on Hospitalization and Mortality: An Observational Study With a Regression Discontinuity Design
Affiliations expand
PMID: 32120383
DOI: 10.7326/M19-3075
"However, no evidence indicated that vaccination reduced hospitalizations or mortality among elderly persons. The estimates were precise enough to rule out results from many previous studies."
53. Phone conversation with (protected name now), MD, MPH, CAPT, USPHS Medical Officer Epidemiology and Prevention Branch Influenza Division, NCIRD Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Agreed with all information here and says this is the best we can do. Due to lack of evidence, they do not officially endorse flu vaccine mandates.
Also, she admits that we will never have good studies due to changing viral strains and vaccines that may not match.
54. Flu vaccine efficacy ranges from 10-60% but usually mostly lower. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/past-seasons-estimates.html
Informed Consent and discussion from a Dental student Eric Mastanduono that I thought was well done.
"Informed consent requires a formal opting in, never a formal opting out. Opting in must always be voluntary, and without any university or government interference, coercion, cost, or penalty. No one, including the government, has the right to insist that another person, be injected with anything. The Nuremberg Code, the Helsinki Declaration, and the 2005 Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights support the position that we do indeed have the well-established right to informed consent. Vaccine mandates ignore our right to informed consent, security of the person, self-autonomy and bodily integrity, which includes the fundamental human right to decide what one allows, or doesn’t allow, into ones’ own body. The right to bodily autonomy is arguably the most meaningful right we have, and vaccine mandates flagrantly violate these rights. Vaccinations are not benign. Vaccination is an invasive medical procedure that delivers complex biochemical drugs and known toxins by injection (as documented in package inserts). Without the right to refuse vaccinations, one cannot protect oneself from the known, and yet to be known, harm from vaccinations, including death. Vaccine mandates result in universities, workplaces and the government restricting and prohibiting law-abiding citizens from participating in society due to their refusal to submit to one, some, or scores of invasive, risk-laden, potentially-fatal, improperly-tested, unethically-approved medical procedures, for which no one who makes or administers them is held legally, financially, or criminally liable. Each and every vaccine has the potential to injure, make chronically ill, permanently disable, and kill and each and everyday vaccines do in fact injure and kill, as witnessed by the over $4 Billion paid out by the US vaccine injury compensation program (1/4th of which are attributable to the influenza vaccination); that sum being paid out to a tiny fraction of the mere 1% of injuries and death captured by the vaccine adverse events reporting system VAERS (as documented by the CDC). Vaccine injuries are not rare and according to data from the HHS and NCHS occur at a rate of 1/39. Exercising this fundamental human right should involve nothing other than a simple “no thank you” when one wants to refuse one, some, or all vaccinations for oneself. No exceptions.
The results showed a positive association between COVID-19 deaths and IVR of people ≥65 years-old. There is a significant increase in COVID-19 deaths from eastern to western regions in the world. Further exploration is needed to explain these findings, and additional work on this line of research may lead to prevention of deaths associated with COVID-19.
Vaccine derived virus interference was significantly associated with coronavirus and human metapneumovirus;
Although elderly influenza vaccination coverage increased from ∼15% to ∼65% during 1980–1999 in the US, estimates of influenza-related mortality also increased during this period.In conclusion, the increase in elderly influenza vaccination coverage in the US after 1980 was not accompanied by a decline in influenza-related mortality.
How many people die of the flu?
CDC’s estimates of overall flu deaths have ranged in recent years from 36,000 for the 1990-1991 flu season to 80,000 for the 2017-2018 flu season. The HHS’s (Health and Human Services) mortality and morbidity data, available on the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) website show that CDC’s annual estimates are off by orders of magnitude. NCHS data report the average number of mortalities attributable to influenza on death certificates is little more than 1,000. CDC devises its inflated estimate by deliberately conflating flu deaths with pneumonia deaths. This device is deceitful since most of these fatalities are unrelated to the flu (and therefore, impervious to flu vaccines). Subtracting pneumonia, the true number of influenza-associated deaths from 1979 to 2002 averaged 1,348, according to the NCHS data. Media routinely reports figures forty times this number. By arbitrarily linking flu with pneumonia, current data are statistically biased. By faithfully parroting CDC inflated numbers with no due diligence the media has made itself complicit in this annual charade, making it difficult now to accurately assess the relative risk of the coronavirus as compared to the flu.
What is the best way to prevent the flu?
There is absolutely no scientific basis for the CDC’s assertion that the influenza vaccine is the most effective way to prevent the flu. The Cochrane Collaboration’s comprehensive 2010 meta-analysis of published influenza vaccine studies found that the influenza vaccination has no effect on hospitalization, and that there is no evidence that vaccines prevent viral transmission or complications. The Cochrane Researchers concluded in 2010 that the scientific evidence seems to discourage the utilization of vaccination against influenza in healthy adults as a routine public health measure. Four years later, Cochrane published a follow-up meta-review including dozens of more recent peer reviewed scientific studies and again concluded bluntly that the body of scientific data provides no evidence for the utilization of vaccination against influenza in healthy adults as a routine public health measure, again in 2018 their conclusions remain.
Can the flu shot transmit the flu?
Worrisome, a study from January 18, 2018, in the Journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, PNAS, found that influenza vaccination actually increased transmission of the virus, with vaccinated individuals shedding more than six times as much aerosolized virus in their breath than unvaccinated individuals. The researchers were not surprised by this finding explaining that certain types of prior immunity in this case, the kind of immunity conferred by the vaccine as opposed to naturally acquired immunity promote lung inflammation, airway closure, and aerosol generation. They conclude that, if confirmed, this observation, together with recent literature suggesting reduced protection with annual vaccination, would have implications for influenza vaccination recommendations and policies.
Should you get the flu shot if you are concerned about the coronavirus?
Some universities and institutions fervently urge or mandate faculty, staff and students to get the flu shot as the best way to keep healthy during the coronavirus pandemic. According to even some medical doctors, “If you are concerned about coronavirus, you should get a flu shot”. However, there are limited studies assessing flu shots and coronavirus. One such study is a January 2020 US Pentagon study that found that the flu shot actually increases the risks from coronavirus by 36%. Receiving influenza vaccination may increase the risk of other respiratory viruses, a phenomenon known as virus interference, vaccine derived virus interference was significantly associated with the coronavirus. Many doctors assure the public that getting the flu shot cannot increase one’s chances of getting the flu. While that assertion has some meager support from a very small number of studies, the overwhelming weight of published science suggests that getting an annual flu shot can actually increase your risk of both flu and flu-like illnesses. Only about 7 percent to 15 percent of what are called “influenza-like illnesses” are actually caused by influenza viruses. Many studies suggest the flu vaccine increases vulnerability to both flu infections and the remaining 85% -93% of non-flu respiratory infections.
A 2011 study of healthy Australian children published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal found that seasonal flu shots increase the risk of flu by 73% and doubled the risk of non-flu respiratory infections. Similarly, another 2012 randomized controlled trial published in Clinical Infectious Diseases found that influenza vaccinated children had no significantly lessened risk from influenza and also a higher risk of infection from non-influenza viruses. Furthermore, the flu vaccine depletes the capacity to fight off future flu infections. In April 2010, a study published in the journal PLoS Medicine reported the unexpected finding from four epidemiologic studies in Canada that receipt of the influenza vaccine for the 2008-2009 season, while apparently effective in reducing the risk of illness due to the seasonal flu, was associated with an increased risk of illness due to the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) swine flu virus during the spring and summer of 2009. The scientists suggested that this finding could be due to the difference in the way the vaccine affects the immune system compared with natural infection. Under this hypothesis, repeated vaccination effectively blocks the more robust, complex, and cross-protective immunity afforded by prior infection. When unvaccinated people are infected with the seasonal influenza virus, they often develop a robust cell-mediated immunity that not only protects against that strain of the virus but is also cross-protective against other strains. People who have annually received the influenza vaccine, on the other hand, may have lost multiple opportunities for infection-induced cross-immunity. This is because the vaccine is designed to stimulate a strong antibody response, or humoral immunity, but does not confer the same kind of robust cell-mediated immunity as natural infection.
Another study published in 2011 in the Journal of Virology confirmed that annual influenza vaccination indeed hampers the development of a robust cell-mediated immunity. Annual vaccination for influenza, the authors concluded, may render young children who have not previously been infected with an influenza virus more susceptible to infection with a pandemic influenza virus of a novel subtype. A 2018 CDC study found there was an increase of acute respiratory infections caused by non-influenza respiratory pathogens following influenza vaccination compared to unvaccinated children during the same period. The authors recommended that potential mechanisms for this association warrant further investigation. While most studies have looked at only one or two flu seasons, a CDC-funded study published in September 2014 in Clinical Infectious Diseases considered the long-term effects of repeated annual vaccination by looking at five years of vaccination data. The CDC researchers found that the more that people had been vaccinated in prior years, the less effective the vaccine is at preventing the most recent season’s dominant H3N2 virus. As they put it, vaccine-induced protection was greatest for individuals not vaccinated during the prior 5 years. Essentially, the immune system remembers the original infection and puts out a rapid defense against it, at the expense of developing a new but more appropriate response specifically to the currently infecting strain. The CDC scientists warned that their data raises relevant questions about the potential interference of repeated annual influenza vaccination and possible residual protection from previous season vaccination; the authors called for further studies.
Conclusion
In their 2010 meta-analysis, the Cochrane researchers accused the CDC of deliberately misrepresenting the science in order to support their universal influenza vaccination recommendation. The CDC holds multiple vaccine patents and generates substantial revenue from vaccines, insinuating conflict of interest by nature. Nevertheless, media continually broadcasts CDC pronouncements as gospel and, ironically, ridicules those of us who actually read the science as purveyors of vaccine misinformation. When in actuality, multiple comprehensive federal investigations and whistleblower declarations have documented the corrupt relationship between the CDC’s Vaccine Branch and the four vaccine makers: Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, and GSK. These include a 2000 report by the US Congress Government Oversight Committee, a 2009 report by the Federal HHS Inspector General, a 2014 letter by David Wright, Director of HHS Office of Research Integrity, and a 2011 letter to Carmen S. Villar, chief of staff for Tom Frieden, from an organization of CDC scientists.
Medicolegal Disclaimer
The above constitutes an opinion for educational purposes only and is in no way to be interpreted as medical advice.