Sexual HealthEvidence Of Harm Has Been Linked To Various Vaccines Challenging Prevailing Public Recommendations
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic set out to determine whether the flu vaccine
was effective in reducing the number of hospitalizations for all children,
and especially the ones with asthma. The study involved 263 children who
were evaluated from six months to 18 years of age, each of whom had had
laboratory-confirmed influenza between 1996 to 2006. The investigators
determined which children had and had not received the flu vaccine, their
asthma status, and who did and did not require hospitalization. Records were
reviewed for each subject with influenza-related illness, for flu
vaccination preceding the illness, and hospitalization during that illness.
"They found that children who had received the flu vaccine had three times
the risk of hospitalization, as compared to children who had not received
the vaccine. In asthmatic children, there was a significantly higher risk of
hospitalization in subjects who received the TIV, as compared to those who
did not (p= 0.006)."
So, will these disturbing findings--namely, ineffectiveness of the TIV
vaccine coupled with evidence of harm--lead the Center for Disease Control
and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to rescind their recommendation
for annual influenza vaccination for all children aged six months to 18
years?
Or will our public health policy continue to be guided by the entrenched
pharmaceutical industry?
When evidence suggests that current vaccine recommendations are harming
children it is unethical to delay issuing a cautionary advisory by invoking
"more studies are needed" to delay action. Public health policy should be
guided by the precautionary principle--"Above all, do no harm"--not by
business interests.
American Thoracic Society