Flu Shot "Totally Worthless" at Reducing Death Rate in Elderly

Influenza vaccination has no significant effect on death rates among the elderly, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Alberta, Canada.Previous studies have concluded that getting a flu shot reduces an elderly person's risk of dying from any cause by 50 percent, a claim that other scientists have challenged as unlikely."Over the last two decades in the United Sates, even while [flu] vaccination rates among the elderly have increased from 15 to 65 percent, there has been no commensurate decrease in hospital admissions or all-cause mortality," researcher Dean T. Eurich said. "Further, only about 10 percent of winter-time deaths in the United States are attributable to influenza, thus to suggest that the vaccine can reduce 50 percent of deaths from all causes is implausible in our opinion."Researchers compared rates of influenza, pneumonia and death among 700 people, 85 percent of them over the age of 64. Half the participants were given a flu shot, while half were not.The researchers found that prior to adjusting for any confounding factors, 15 percent of those in the unvaccinated group died, compared with only 8 percent of those in the unvaccinated group - consistent with the previously reported 50 percent mortality reduction. However, once researchers adjusted for other predictors of mortality such as overall health and socioeconomic status, the difference between the two groups disappeared.This suggests, the researchers said, that the previously observed decreases in mortality from flu vaccination merely come from the so-called "healthy-user effect" and have nothing to do with the vaccine itself."The healthy-user effect," said lead researcher Sumit Majumdar, "is seen in what doctors often refer to as their 'good' patients - patients who are well-informed about their health, who exercise regularly, do not smoke or have quit, drink only in moderation, watch what they eat, come in regularly for health maintenance visits and disease screenings, take their medications exactly as prescribed, and quite religiously get vaccinated each year so as to stay healthy."It is thus the healthy habits that reduce the risk of death, the researchers suggested, and not the flu vaccine.

Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/.

HPV Vaccine Shot Causes 500 Percent Increase in Allergic Reactions Compared to Other Vaccines

The "cervical cancer" vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV) is between 5 and 26 times more likely to cause severe, potentially fatal allergic reactions in young women than other vaccines, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Children's Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, Australia, and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.Researchers compared the occurrence of severe allergic reactions among 114,000 young women who had received Merck's Gardasil vaccine in 2007 with the rate among women of similar age who had received other vaccines.Gardasil protects against four HPV strains associated with cervical cancer and genital warts. The researchers found eight confirmed and four suspected cases of anaphylaxis among women who had received Gardasil, which translated into 2.6 cases per 100,000 vaccines. In contrast, there were only 0.1 anaphylaxis cases per 100,000 women who received a meningitis vaccine in 2003.Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that can cause rash, nausea and breathing problems, and can be fatal in the most extreme cases.HPV vaccines have come under increased scrutiny recently, with a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine calling their effectiveness into question. The authors noted that while the vaccines have only ever been tested on women between the ages of 15 and 24, they are regularly given to younger girls - even though there is no knowledge of how those patients might be affected. In addition, because the vaccines are so new, it is also impossible to know how long their protective effects will last, or how they might affect women's natural defenses against other strains of HPV. The authors concluded that HPV vaccination is not cost-effective for women over the age of 17.Because HPV vaccines do not protect against all strains of the virus that cause cervical cancer and because a woman who has previously been exposed to the virus receives no protection from the vaccine, even vaccinated women are advised to continue receiving regular Pap smear tests.Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/.