Are flu shots worth getting?

By pathwise, 9th Dec 2011 | Follow this author | RSS Feed | Short URL http://nut.bz/1e4ihsdc/
Posted in Wikinut>Health>Drugs & Medicines

Discussion on whether flu shots are of any help at all to defending from the different viruses out there

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The flu kills. Each year nearly 40,000 people in the United States die from flu complications like pneumonia and heart failure. And more than 200,000 are hospitalized due to flu.

It is a real concern to scientists worldwide as the potential threat of a global pandemic is very real and could be extremely devastating. Because of this the flu vaccine is issued out to millions of people worldwide every year, but the truth is, while the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and most mainstream docs are pushing the flu vaccine, the latest science suggests it just doesn't work very well.

New flu vaccines are released every year to keep up with rapidly adapting flu viruses. Because flu viruses evolve so quickly, last year's vaccine may not protect you from this year's viruses. Scientists at the CDC decide on what viruses may have the largest threat to humans each year and their three top choices are put into the vaccine. The CDC claims that vaccine will be 70 to 90 percent effective against just those strains of flu.

So essentially the flu shot is only as good as the educated guesses of a group of vaccine researchers across the globe. Should they be wrong then the shot is basically worthless and actually could be harmful as there are many people that suffer from adverse effects of that shot that result in serious illness and even death.

It is already accepted that flu virus strains are rapidly adapting and becoming more resistant to these vaccines, so could the administering of these flu shots actually be contributing to this rapid change in these viruses and essentially making the world a much dangerous place?

The people that have the highest risk of having serious complications because of the flu are those that have lowered defenses, such as children ages 6 months to 5 years, pregnant women, people older than 50, and anyone with a chronic condition like asthma, diabetes, and heart or blood disorders. For these people I can agree that it is better to be safe than sorry and perhaps it would be best for them all to get the flu vaccine annually. But for the majority of the otherwise healthy worldwide population, I think that flu vaccines are a potentially hazardous threat that we should be avoiding. The human body is a well-oiled machine and by allowing it to fight off viruses on its own accord we make ourselves stronger.