

Don't mess with the flu

4:15 PM, Jan. 21, 2014  |  Comments
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Influenza - the real deal, not the viruses that people mistakenly call the flu - is nothing to trifle with. It's beyond miserable, potentially deadly and, in most cases, preventable.

Still, most Americans won't receive a flu vaccine, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates influenza vaccines, on average, are about 62 percent effective.

That's less than the 70 percent to 90 percent efficacy rate the CDC estimated just a year ago, but still a far sight better than taking your chances in what is turning out to be a particularly bad flu season. So why do so many people take the risk of skipping the vaccine?

The reasons are varied, complicated and differ from person to person, experts say. Some fear that the vaccine carries risks. Others are lazy. Some think the flu shot is unnecessary or won't do any good.

Candidly, the science is complicated, which is why urban legends about risks or exposure get so much traction in the public and turn off otherwise sensible, health-conscious individuals from getting vaccinated.

Even public health officials are increasingly vocal about the need for a better flu vaccine.


To their credit, they're pretty good at it, but it's still a hard sell to people skeptical of vaccinations and the drug industry in general. A "game-changing" vaccine would be very different.

Such a vaccine would produce immunity by including parts of the influenza virus that don't change from year to year and which are common among many strains of virus. Such a vaccine would protect people for a decade or more.

Such a vaccine would also be far more effective in producing "herd" or community immunity, where enough people are immunized that the community's viral load drops, protecting even the unvaccinated.The longer-term challenge, then, is to pressure drug companies to create these improved vaccines, which will only come about as the health community comes to consensus about the current science, which in spite of advances in techniques is grounded in research of the 1950s.

In the shorter term, however, convincing more Americans to get vaccinated is our best hope in combating a flu season that is proving particularly virulent this year, even killing healthy teenagers.

Even Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy who is leading efforts to improve the efficacy of influenza vaccines, strongly believes people should get yearly flu vaccines.

In spite of what you might hear, flu vaccines have a very good safety record and serve an important public health function.

Each year, influenza viruses sicken hundreds of thousands of Americans and kill between 3,000 and 49,000 of them, according to the CDC .

About half of the children who died because of influenza were previously healthy. Influenza is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States among people of all ages.

Haven't had the flu for a while? You've just been lucky, and your luck will run out.

Forget the urban legends. Look at the data, the history and the science - never perfect but always evolving - and get your shot.

Even if you're healthy and not in a risk group, your getting the vaccine contributes to a more resilient community. And that saves lives.

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