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If you’ve been reading headlines this fall you are likely confused about flu shots. Several weeks ago you were told: “Proof Lacking for Flu Vaccine,” or “Flu Vaccine Mortality Benefits For Elderly Vastly Overstated.” One week later headlines proclaimed: “Flu Shots for Elderly Are Effective,” and “Flu Shots Halve Risk of Death, Cut Illness in Elderly.”
So which is it? These contradictory reports can’t both be right. The trouble is that there is not enough data to know for sure. Experts have been arguing about this issue for decades.
Last year an article in the British Medical Journal (Oct. 28, 2006) suggested that flu vaccination for healthy people under 65 “did not affect hospital stay, time off work, or death from influenza and its complications.”
Public health officials worry a lot more about older people, of course. That’s because they are especially vulnerable to death from influenza or its complications. Scientists have found that older people do not mount as strong an immune response to the vaccination as younger people.
A recent pair of studies has created consternation because of conflicting conclusions. An analysis in The Lancet Infectious Diseases (Oct. 2007) concludeed that vaccinating frail elderly people has not been shown to protect them from influenza death. Even though a majority (65 percent) of senior citizens now get a flu shot each year compared to 15 percent in 1980, mortality rates from flu and pneumonia have not dropped.
This bleak outlook was challenged the following week in the New England Journal of Medicine (Oct 4, 2007). Researchers pulled together 10 years of data from health maintenance organizations. They found that older people who were vaccinated were 27 percent less likely to need hospitalization for influenza or pneumonia. The death rate was halved, according to this analysis.
The problem with both studies is that they depend on observational data instead of placebo-controlled trials. The gold standard for scientific evidence is from experiments where one group gets an active shot and the other receives an inactive saline injection. Such studies are expensive and many public health officials worry that they would be ethically questionable. Depriving elderly patients of a flu shot is considered immoral.
Without such data, however, experts have to sort through statistical tea leaves trying to determine how well flu shots work. We may never know how effective flu immunization really is for the elderly.
There are some other options that may help this flu season, though. These include antiviral flu drugs such as Flumadine or Tamiflu that can be taken to speed recovery.
Vitamin D is also important for a strong immune system. It increases production of a natural infection-fighting chemical that can help ward off illnesses caused by bacteria, fungi and viruses, including influenza. Levels of vitamin D frequently drop in the winter when people don’t go out in the sun. Many elderly people don’t get outside even in the summer and are deficient in vitamin D year round.
That may be why grandmothers used to insist on dosing the family with cod liver oil. It is rich in vitamin D. People who don’t like the flavor might want to take a supplement instead.
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Just curious... shortly after receiving my annual flu shot, I developed congestion, sore throat, cough, chest pain, etc. I have spoken to several other "grandparents" who have similar complaints and an inability to shake the symptoms even after rounds of antibiotics. Now, I am on steroids.
I'm wondering if this could be associated with the flu shot? We all felt great prior to the flu shot, don't have any serious health issues, and have never had this kind of trouble rebounding from similar things in the past.
I have received a flu vaccine every year for several years. I almost never get really sick, while my husband (who never gets vacinnated) and people at my office go through bouts of flu every year. Maybe I just live right, but I suspect the vaccine has something to do with it.
I have had a flu shot each year for the past 12 year and I have never had any kind of reaction at all except sometimes my arm is a bit sore for a couple of days. Are you sure you had not been exposed to something before having the flu shot?
I took flu shots for years but it seemed every year I came down with bronchitis a month or two later, a real bad case, I must say. I read an article that stated flu shots could cause bronchitis so I quit taking them 8 years ago and have not had bronchitis since and very little flu.
My family has gotten a flu shot for the last few years, and since then we've rarely gotten sick--although I have to say it's been my personal experience that a week after getting my shot, I seem to get cold symptoms. Last year I had to get antibiotics; this year my body fought it off in a few weeks--now strep throat is going around my town, but so far we are feeling great!!!
I am 79 years old, never take a flu shot and take no prescription drugs. I take a hefty regimen of vitamins and minerals daily including 2000 iu of vitamin D. The last cold I had was in 2004 (caught it on a plane flight). I have never had the flu and have not had a respiratory infection since 1993. I believe that the doctors who automatically reach for the prescription pad when a patient has a complaint are doing more harm than good
RB
santa maria, CA
Last winter I took 2-5000 IU of Vitamin D a day and did not get sick at all for the first time in a long time.
Also, I've discovered this killer combo for the early symptoms of a cold: astragalus, Vitamin D and selenium.