(NaturalNews) The benefits of influenza vaccines on senior citizens have been "greatly exaggerate[d]," according to a major review of the evidence published in the medical journal
Lancet Infectious Diseases.Researchers examined prior studies on the effectiveness of the vaccine, and concluded that it is impossible to tell whether flu vaccines decrease winter deaths among senior citizens at all, let alone by the vast degree often claimed.
A commonly cited statistic is that flu shots lead to a 50 percent reduction in winter deaths among
the elderly. But the study authors point out that
flu itself is only responsible for 5 percent of winter deaths in that
population, making such a claim absurd.
"We find it peculiar that the claims that influenza
vaccination can prevent half -- or more -- of all winter deaths in
elderly people have not been more vigorously debated," the researchers write. "That
influenza vaccination can prevent 10 times as many deaths as the
disease itself causes is not plausible."
The researchers also found significant flaws in the methodology of
flu vaccines studies. Their greatest criticism was that most such
studies have been carried out with few participants who are in poor
health or over the age of 70, even though this is precisely the population among whom the disease is most fatal, accounting for 75 percent of influenza fatalities.
The researchers also points out that while flu vaccination rates in the United States have increased from 15 percent of the over-65 population to 65 percent since 1980, there has been no corresponding decrease in
deaths from the disease.
"This data support what the naturopathic community has been saying for decades: That flu shot
vaccines are medically useless," said consumer health advocate Mike Adams. "Their promotion is based on junk science, exaggerated
benefits and fear mongering among the elderly. But much like everything else in modern medicine, when you peel back the propaganda and look at what's underneath, you find there's no good
science at all. Flu shots are a medical hoax."
The study authors stop short of recommending that people discontinue use of the
vaccine, stating that "even a partly effective vaccine would be better than no vaccine at all."
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