Researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (August 14, 2014) that a high dose flu vaccine was more effective than the standard flu vaccine for seniors. The vaccine is called Fluzone High Dose vaccine. Of course, the media jumped on this report. In the Healthday article, the chief medical office for Sanofi-Pasteur—the Big Pharma company who funded the study—stated, “The study demonstrated a 24 percent reduction in influenza illness among the participants who received the high-dose vaccine compared to those who received the standard dose.”
To date, no flu vaccine has shown any significant efficacy in seniors. A 24 percent reduction in influenza illness in seniors would certainly be something to celebrate.
When medical students and residents rotate through my office, the first thing I do is hand them an article and ask them to explain the statistical methods used by the researchers. Over the years, I have had one student/doctor who understood statistics enough to understand how research articles are reported. I always tell the students/doctors that if they don’t know how to properly read the original research articles, they cannot make a proper decision on whether the particular therapy is useful or not.
After seeing the media article, I pulled the flu research article and read it. Here are the results: 31,989 participants were enrolled form 126 research centers in the U.S. and Canada. Half were given the standard flu vaccine and half given the high dose vaccine.
1.4% of the seniors who received the high dose vaccine became ill with the flu and 1.9% of the seniors who received the standard flu vaccine developed the flu.
(I hope you are not laughing as I did when I read that.)
How in the world did they report a 24% lowered incidence of the flu with the use of the high-dose vaccine? Simply dividing 1.4% by 1.9% gives the relative risk reduction of 24%. However, this is a relative risk reduction—a useless number to use when deciding whether a therapy is good for any patient.
A better analysis of this data involves calculating the absolute risk. The absolute risk, according the New England Journal of Medicine, is better to use when deciding whether a particular therapy is warranted for an individual patient. The absolute risk is the difference between the treated and untreated group. What is the absolute risk difference in this study? 1.9 percent minus 1.4 percent which equals 0.5 percent or 0.005. That means that, according to this study, 200 seniors (1/.005) would have to be vaccinated with the high-dose flu vaccine to prevent one case of the flu. Here’s my interpretation of this study: This study shows that the high dose flu vaccine is a colossal failure as the results indicate that 99.5 percent of seniors who get this vaccine will not receive any benefit.
So, 200 seniors must receive a vaccine to prevent one case of the flu. What is the cost of that? I called my local CVS and was told that the cost of the flu vaccine was $32.00/dose. Multiplying the numbers reveals that it costs $6,400 dollars to vaccinate all those people.
What a waste of money. That amount of money could buy a lot of vitamin C which would not only help the immune system but also provide the body with an essential nutrient.
What is the take-away? Just say “no” to the flu vaccine.
Folks, don’t be fooled here. This study was another failed flu vaccine study. The flu vaccine has never been shown to protect the elderly from getting the flu, dying from the flu, or developing complications from the flu. The elderly would be better served by eating a better diet, maintaining hydration and taking vitamin C.
DrB
26 isn’t 24 either really if I want to be picky.
Thanks
I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic either, I didn’t understand where you got that figure.
I hate trying to explain it people so am trying to make sure.
You must know how hard it is to convince people how simply they are being tricked.
1.4 divided by 1.9 is 0.7368421052631579?
I don’t understand where you get this 24% from? Please explain.
Peter,
There is statistics, DAMN statistics and lies!
You are correct: 1/4/1.9 is 0.74. 1-0.74 = .26 or 26%. That is how it is done.
DrB
I also am an RN who struggles with autoimmune disorders. I am 47 years old, and am being forced to get the Flublok vaccine. The only 2 exemptions offered are: prove that I have a history of Guillian-Barre syndrome or if I have a religious exemption. I have neither of these. I am too young to retire, and I resent having to be injected with some poorly studied, genetically modified poison. I live in an “at will” state, so I will lose my job if I do not comply. I have read your posts about Vitamin C, Alphalipoic Acid, MSM, and a probiotic, so I will take all of those before I get the shot, however, I still do not want to be forced to take it.
I’m an R.N. and about to be hired by a new employer. They insist that I receive the Flu vaccine. After reading all the literature on this subject, seriously DO NOT want to take this mandated injection. My current employer allowed us to opt out. How do I refuse this thing, then, not miss out on a potential great opportunity?
I was offered the flu shot when I taught at a management college and after the first one in years. My poor body reacted violently. I was hardly able to walk within hours and had to be almost carried to the bathroom for several days–I remained in bed in agony from muscular and joint pain as I had never experienced. Since that shot my arthritis has multiplied in degree. I refuse flu shots and others such as tetanus, etc. One thing I especially remember about studying statistics in grad school was –You can lie with statistics in any way you chose–and more often than not–get by with it!
Another blatant example of why we MUST become informed and be our own health advocates! More and more people are studying more and turning away from many main-stream medical doctors–the term “indoctrination” certainly falls close to home in the way most doctors gain their knowledge from big pharma and practice by the dictates of big insurance! Be INFORMED and ADVOCARE for yourself. Vitamin D3 is a miracle worker. I am now working on ridding myself of a Vitamin C allergy/rejection–NAET has not worked so far–still believe God put things here to fix our ills–not sure what we will have to do in the future for all the “man-made chemical disasters in food and environment”t we are now creating!
I really enjoyed my stats class back in college, and this is just the kind of case students should be taught about. There is a book called “How To Lie With Statistics” that everyone should read.
In the study noted, surely there must have been a control group, that is a group of people that did not receive any vaccine. The interesting number would be what percent of this group contacted the flu.
Terrell,
You would think there would be a group that did not receive the vaccine, but…..the vaccine company (who funded it) did not want that part of the study. Take a guess why….
DrB
I agree with Marina. I don’t see how you can jump to declaring that the flu shot has no benefit from a study that didn’t compare those that got the shot with those that didn’t, but rather just from two different types of flu shot.
Georgette,
I jumped because of previous studies showing the flu vaccine is a failure.
DrB
I’ve only had the flu twice in my life, both times following flu vaccines. Both times I became severely ill. After taking the swine flu shot in the 1970’s I ended up sick in bed for over 3 weeks.
My twin sons had anaphylactic reactions to the DPT vaccine at 4 months of age, one son arrested and required CPR. Three months later, after suffering strange health symptoms such as rashes, weight loss, screaming fits, both boys became Type ! Diabetics. No family history of diabetes.
I stopped taking any vaccines, and discovered taking vitamin D3 kept me from ever getting sick. Last year, my employer told staff either take a flu shot or be fired. I refused the vaccine on medical and religious exemption grounds. The religious exemption was refused, the medical exemption was approved.
It would not make any difference to me if my employer decides to fire me for refusing vaccines. No more vaccines for me, I stay completely healthy. The past two years I have cared for patients with flu, never got sick once. However, my vaccinated coworkers all got the flu. All of them. They all get colds, I never get a cold.
I take 10,000 units Vitamin D3 ,daily as well as magnesium malate, vitamin C, Krill oil, Vitamin K and a few others. My Vitamin D levels were tested and normal range.
I consider the entire vaccine industry and mandatory vaccination utter BS.
For as long as I could remember, I got influenza EVERY year, in December or January. It would put me flat on my back, with temperatures to 104 degrees, for ten to fourteen days. The biggest problem wasn’t being ill – it was making up the missed school/university work.
I got my first flu vaccine as a medical student in my early 20’s, and have gotten one every year since – and ZERO bouts with influenza since them (I am 59 now). I love the flu vaccine.
Low Information people sit in front of the Tee Vee and nod with their mouths open while some 24-year-old girl with a BA in Mass Com reads the teleprompter telling them, perfectly feigning a facade of wisdom and high knowledge, whatever the medical dogma of the day happens to be.
1. Get your flu shot or you’ll die of the flu.
2. Never expose your skin to the sun, because melanomas are rising due to teens not using sunscreen (heard it last night!)
3. Cut all the fat from your diet; healthy people eat small meals of rice, breads and pastas all day long, while getting lots of fruits and vegetables.
They might as well tell people that martians have landed on the banks of the Potomac, and are distributing gold bars to all comers, for all that “the news” actually carries any. Come September they’ll begin the annual propaganda on the Flu vaccine, intentionally conflating deaths due to (mostly bacterial) pneumonia (~36,000 per year) with influenza (<1,800 per year, almost all among very, very debilitated old people.) It's maddening to see the lie factory in action.
What would you suggest for someone who is being forced to have vaccines? My daughter is following in my footsteps and I am so proud of her! She is going to a massage program but it is through a state community college (there are no longer any private schools in our area sadly), they have it run through their health programs along with nursing and dental assistants so they require all students to be fully immunized. I had only limited vaccines and those were spaced apart for my girls. I suggested she first ask for the test to see what she has antibodies for–she did have the chicken pox when a child and has some of the vaccines. I don’t think they can require her to have shots for those diseases. Then I have milk thistle tincture for her to take before and after the shots, also we were thinking Vit C and D. Any other ideas to help her counteract the toxic effects?
Debrah,
To counter-act the toxic effects of vaccines, I would suggest taking a lot of vitamin C along with alpha lipoic acid.
DrB
I’ve never had a “flu shot,” retiring before they were mandatory, and I’ve never had the flu in my life. I’m 68 years old, and have no medical problems at all.
Diet, important as it is, can’t stand alone. The mental, emotional and spiritual/energy components of life are just as important to good health. I think too many people concentrate on diet and pills/supplements, when maybe what they need most is a good night’s sleep and consistent program of physical and spiritual exercise to greatly reduce the stress in their lives. Over all, unrelieved stress is what kills the immune system.
Instead of the flu shot try taking a good bovine colostrum supplement instead, that stuff will massively boost your immune system. I used to get sick all the time but thanks to the colostrum not anymore!
I truly agree flu shots are worthless and more harmful to seniors. A good brand of Vitamin D and C has always been my suggestion year around. Too much money is made off of these vaccinations.
A better way to have spent this money would be to see why flu is more prevalent in colder months of the year. Flu strains exist all year long, yet we get them more in the winter. Could this be related to Vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sun exposure during winter months? I believe that Vit D supplementation during this time is far more effective than a flu shot.
Wayne,
I agree. Vitamin D supplementation to prevent and treat the flu is very helpful.
DrB
What % of seniors who didn’t get any vaccine got the flu? I’m 72 years old, never had a flu shot, and haven’t had the flu in 30 or 40 years.
Don’t forget your Vitamin D3 as well.
I’m confused. What does it mean that 1.4 or 1.9% of people who got the vaccine got the flu? I understand your point about the statement that the high dose vaccine caused a 24% reduction in cases compared to the regular dose. I learned in Statistics class in college how often there is a deliberate manipulation of statistics to create the impression wanted, but I don’t understand the point about the absolute risk. If either 1.4% or 1.9% got the flu after being vaccinated, that would seem to be a good thing because it’s such a low number. What seems missing to me is the comparison with vaccinated and nonvaccinated groups. We’d need to know the rate of getting sick without the vaccine and compare it to the rate with the vaccine. Where is that control group number? If, for example, 25% of unvaccinated people get flur but only 1.4 or 1.9% of vaccinated ones do, then the vaccine would be considered a great success. So I don’t know how you can make your point without providng this.
Marina,
I commented on the article. The article compared two groups: one who received the regular dose and one who received the high-dose flu vaccine. They did not study a group who did not receive the vaccine. This article will be used to promote the high-dose flu vaccine.
DrB
I have other blog posts that show the flu vaccine is not very helpful at preventing the flu.
I was forced to get my first flu shot under the FDA mandate of “An Immunized Workforce is a Safe Workforce” campaign. Short of dying from a prior flu shot, no exemptions were allowed. Refusal was worded by FDA lawyers as voluntary resignation.
Rapidly developed multiple cardiac problems, gluten intolerance, and rampant inflammation. I have a weakened immune system despite great holistic health knowledge and habits. Resigned this last year as another shot would have killed me!
Never, Never, Never get a shot. There are multiple excitotoxins in the vaccines they don’t disclose, and which increase likelihood of neurodegenerative disease!
Get your Vit. D level checked, and use Vitamin C instead, avoiding sugars. This will strengthen your immune system, and improve your health far better than any shot will!
I gave up on vaccines about 15 years ago. I have had no reason to regret that choice, either.
Too much risk for a relatively low return.