Family Forum / Parenting / Children's Health / November 2009

Flu vaccines 'not worth the bother' says expert

Last updated at 10:33 27 October 2006
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-412961/Flu-vaccines-worth-bother-says-
expert.html

Flu vaccines may be a massive waste of time and money, an expert
warned today. There is little medical evidence that the vaccines have
any kind of beneficial effect, even for vulnerable people with asthma
and cystic fibrosis, he said.

Vaccines given to children under the age of two have the same effect
as if they were given a dummy drug, he added.

Tom Jefferson, co-ordinator of the vaccines field of the highly-
respected Cochrane Collaboration, called for an "urgent" re-evaluation
of vaccination campaigns.

Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), he said that, because
influenza viruses mutate and vary from year to year, it was difficult
for scientists to study the precise effects of vaccines.

Most studies are of poor quality, and there is little comparative
evidence on the safety of the vaccines, he said. In addition, policy
makers wanted to be seen to be doing something, all of which leads to
a "large gap" between policy and the evidence, he said........