10/10/2019    Kim G. Gauntt, DPM

Are you getting a flu shot this season? (Robert Scott Steinberg, DPM)

It was an interesting response from Dr.
Steinberg. The part about “believing in
medicine“. A few years ago, I spent 3 days
researching this topic, most of the information
came directly from the CDC website. I read the
bulk of the studies available at the time ,
their statistics and conclusions. The fact is
that influenza is not a reportable disease,
therefore all of the numbers that they publish
in regard to those suffering from influenza and
the deaths associated with it are made up
numbers, extrapolated from very small samples,
the website actually states that.

The fact is most people do not die from
influenza they die from secondary pneumonia and
those numbers are also extrapolated from a very
small population samples. Deaths for the most
part are in small isolated groups in the
population.

Two seasons ago, here in Oregon most of the
smaller hospitals were overwhelmed by people
with the flu, one of our local hospitals was at
capacity and everyone of those admitted for
influenza had in fact had the vaccine. If one
does not believe that the vaccine Mania is
driven by the pharmaceutical companies and the
monetary gain that they get from same, just look
at the signs in front of every drugstore
advertising “free” flu shots, even at Safeway.

I certainly believe in medicine, I practice it
every day, but I also believe in us being
scientists and independently evaluating, not
just believing the news or what was printed in
the paper or even spouted by the hospitals.
Certainly there are those who fall into high
risk groups and they should thoughtfully
consider the issue but to make a blanket
statement that if you don’t get a flu shot you
don’t believe in medicine is shameful.
Remember there was a time in human history when
the greatest of medical minds believed in
treating evil spirits and humors.

Kim G. Gauntt, DPM, Newberg, OR

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10/10/2019    David Secord, DPM

Are you getting a flu shot this season? (Robert Scott Steinberg, DPM)

As long as Dr. Steinberg wants us to believe in
"medicine" as regards the influenza vaccine, I
would encourage him to then "believe the
science": Flu Vaccine for All: A Critical Look
at the Evidence, Eric A. Biondi, MD, MS; C.
Andrew Aligne, MD, MPH, |December 21, 2015

Question: Does the evidence support the call for
universal influenza vaccination?

Response from Eric A. Biondi, MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Pediatric
Hospitalist, University of Rochester Medical
Center, Rochester, New York

Response from C. Andrew Aligne, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Director of
The Hoekelman Center, University of Rochester
School of Medicine & Dentistry, Rochester, New
York

Influenza vaccination is a yearly ritual. The
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
(ACIP)[1] and the American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP)[2] recommend annual influenza vaccination
for all healthy persons 6 months of age or older
who are without contraindications.

In an interview published in The Atlantic,[3]
Tom Jefferson, head of the Vaccine Field Group
at the Cochrane Database Collaboration (the
world's leading producer of evidence-based
medical reviews), voiced serious reservations
about the data supporting influenza vaccine
recommendations, stating that "The vast majority
of the studies [are] deeply flawed. Rubbish is
not a scientific term, but I think it's the term
that applies."

A critical look at the evidence raises further
questions about the flu shot recommendations. A
2012 Cochrane review[4] examining the efficacy
of pediatric influenza vaccination noted that:

...industry-funded studies were published in
more prestigious journals and cited more than
other studies, independent of methodological
quality and size. Studies funded from public
sources were significantly less likely to report
conclusions favorable to [influenza] vaccines...
reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin
but there is evidence of widespread manipulation
of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the
studies.

And a 2014 Cochrane review[5] examining use of
flu vaccine in healthy adults, including
pregnant women, concluded that:

[Influenza] vaccination shows no appreciable
effect on working days lost or hospitalization.
This, in light of the recent publication:
Flu Vaccine Cuts Adult Deaths and Child
Hospitalizations, Marcia Frellick, October 07,
2019

WASHINGTON, DC — Influenza vaccination reduces
the risk for severe outcomes in adults by more
than one-third, and the risk for hospitalization
in children by half, according to the result of
two new studies. The size of these studies over
multiple seasons and the rigor of the
investigations should give physicians powerful
new evidence for vaccine-hesitant patients and
parents, said Kristina Bryant, MD, from Norton
Children's Hospital and the University of
Louisville in Kentucky.

"When our patients don't accept flu vaccine, we
need to ask why," she told Medscape Medical
News. A common answer is that they had the
vaccine one year and still got the flu. These
studies provide evidence that although the
vaccine might not always prevent illness, it
likely will reduce severity and even prevent
deaths, she said.

The most sick I've ever been in my life was the
two weeks during the first year of my residency,
when I was forced to get the influenza vaccine.
At its worse, for two days, I couldn't even keep
down water. That was tough to endure when you
are working hours a week, as I was. I don't get
the 'flu shot', as I don't do well with it and
metanalysis shows that it is worthless as
regards mortality and morbidity.

I do follow the CDC recommendation that the very
young, the very old and the immunocompromised
receive the vaccination. I highly encourage
everyone to receive the pneumonia vaccination,
as that is the same virus every year, unlike the
influenza virus. By the way, I couldn't help not
notice that the monograph detailing the results
of the Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance
Network (FluSurv-NET) didn't bother to mention
that the vaccination two seasons ago was deemed
by the CDC as ineffectual as it had little
relation to that season's virus. How could that
not have affected the outcomes? I'm going to go
with the conclusion of the first article I
posted here and that it represents "Rubbish".

David Secord, DPM, Corpus Christi, TX