Flue Vaccine Contraversy

Conflicting studies surrounding the effects of the seasonal flu vaccine on human immune systems are causing general confusion among health conscious citizens across the nation. The most common assertion is that seasonal flu shots increase one’s likelihood of getting H1N1. The study being most cited is from the PLoS peer reviewed medical journal. Click Here to read it. The research showed that people who took the seasonal flu shot were 1.03- to 2.74-fold more likely to get H1N1 flue, which is a very disturbing finding. The research was reviewed and largely seen as good science, but conflicting results from other similar, peer reviewed studies in the U.S. and Australia showed no such effect, and in one case decreased likelihood of getting H1N1 after receiving the seasonal flu vaccine. According to an article in U.S. News: “The studies, published April 6 in the online journal PLoS Medicine, don’t show whether there is a true cause-and-effect relationship between seasonal flu vaccination and subsequent swine flu illness, or whether the association was possibly due to a common factor among the people in the study, said principal investigator Danuta Skowronski, of the British Columbia Center for Disease Control in Vancouver, and colleagues.” Whatever the case, the World Health Organization has gone ahead and recommended that changes be made to the seasonal flu shots to add additional protection against the H1N1 flue as a precaution until further research can verify the possible risk of increased H1N1 infection rate.

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