new study: children who get flu vaccination have increased hospitalization from flu

[carriebft]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0519172045.htm

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2009) — The inactivated flu vaccine does not appear to be effective in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially the ones with asthma. In fact, children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than their peers who do not get the vaccine, according to new research that will be presented on May 19, at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.

[ema-adama]

While these findings do raise questions about the efficacy of the vaccine, they do not in fact implicate it as a cause of hospitalizations," said Dr. Joshi.

Not quite sure what he means here. I would think that if you have a higher chance of being hospitalised if you have been vaccinated, it would mean that the vaccine is not protecting you against the flu. Maybe he is trying to say that the hospitaliztion are not to manage an adverse event, but rather vaccine failure?

[k9sarchik]

Even if this is presented I doubt it would change any recommendations.

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by ema-adama

Not quite sure what he means here.

He means: "if I don't sing some vaccine praise, I have a snowball in hell chance of ever getting published again".

[tanyalynn]

off-topic: Carrie, you're back from vacation? That's how I let things slide, I haven't even started my search for the other thread. : Though the thread notice is still in my Inbox (then I checked the date--time flies).

[pers]

This is the part that confuses me:

, the researchers conducted a cohort study of 263 children who were evaluated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota from six months to 18 years of age, each of whom had had laboratory-confirmed influenza between 1996 to 2006.

Am I reading this wrong, or were they only looking at kids who got the flu? So it is not meant to show whether or not the vaccine keeps kids from getting the flu, but rather whether those who are vaccinated and still get the flu have a milder illness and are less likely to be hospitalized than those who were not vaccinated before getting the flu? It seems strange enough that I think I must be missing something or misunderstanding something... help?

Originally Posted by ema-adama

"While these findings do raise questions about the efficacy of the vaccine, they do not in fact implicate it as a cause of hospitalizations," said Dr. Joshi.

Not quite sure what he means here. I would think that if you have a higher chance of being hospitalised if you have been vaccinated, it would mean that the vaccine is not protecting you against the flu. Maybe he is trying to say that the hospitaliztion are not to manage an adverse event, but rather vaccine failure?

I think I do understand what he means there. He is saying that this is reason to think that maybe the vaccine isn't protecting the kids, but that it is just failing to protect and that this is not reason to think that the vaccine is actually doing harm or making the flu worse. I would imagine this would be because it was not a randomized study, so you have to consider that kids with other conditions which would make getting the flu more serious for them are generally more likely to be vaccinated?

[ema-adama]

Originally Posted by pers

I think I do understand what he means there. He is saying that this is reason to think that maybe the vaccine isn't protecting the kids, but that it is just failing to protect and that this is not reason to think that the vaccine is actually doing harm or making the flu worse. I would imagine this would be because it was not a randomized study, so you have to consider that kids with other conditions which would make getting the flu more serious for them are generally more likely to be vaccinated?

Basically vaccine failure, as in what is the point of vaccinating children for flu?

[pers]

Originally Posted by ema-adama

Basically vaccine failure, as in what is the point of vaccinating children for flu?

Maybe. Except the part I was confused about is this study doesn't seem to be looking at how effective the vaccine is in preventing the flu but rather how bad it is for those who do get it.

[Sileree]

Well I am not surprised since it's been deemed as effective as a placebo by Cochrane.

[k9sarchik]

Originally Posted by pers

Maybe. Except the part I was confused about is this study doesn't seem to be looking at how effective the vaccine is in preventing the flu but rather how bad it is for those who do get it.

It does sound like it makes flu symptoms worse for asthmatics that got the flu shot.

[littlecindy]

Originally Posted by k9sarchik

It does sound like it makes flu symptoms worse for asthmatics that got the flu shot.

this is true in my experience as an asthmatic who's gotten the flu shot some years and not in other years. i thought i was going to die last year when i got the flu shot and then got the type A flu. never been so sick or had so much trouble breathing in my life.

[1littlebit]

do lots of people get the flu shot? i know they hype it up big time but do most people get it? even my vax happy family don't get the flu vax. i remember when i was younger you could only get it if you met certain qualifications, is that no longer the case?

i am a bit confused about what this is saying. is he saying that children who got the flu and the vax were more likely to be hospitalized then children who got the flu but no vax? he then says that this raises questions about the efficacy of vaccines but do not implicate vaccines as the cause of hospitalizations. if it were just the efficacy of the vaccines that were in question wouldn't the number of hospitalizations be the same in both groups?

how does having three times the rate of hospitalizations question the efficacy but not the safety of vaccines? i understand that a correlation doesn't prove causation but how does it not raise concern? or am i totally missing something?

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by Sileree

Well I am not surprised since it's been deemed as effective as a placebo by Cochrane.

Exactly!



http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/...d-age-bracket/

[Pariah]

Originally Posted by littlecindy

this is true in my experience as an asthmatic who's gotten the flu shot some years and not in other years. i thought i was going to die last year when i got the flu shot and then got the type A flu. never been so sick or had so much trouble breathing in my life.

I had "childhood asthma" and got a flu shot once and had the same experience...got awfully sick and was told not to get it again. Haven't gotten the shot since then, and haven't been anywhere near that ill since then either.

[Hopesmommy]

Is it possible that the children who are getting the vax are just kids who already have risk factors for complications of the flu? I mean, do most people with healthy kids vax for the flu?

[runes]

Originally Posted by Hopesmommy

Is it possible that the children who are getting the vax are just kids who already have risk factors for complications of the flu? I mean, do most people with healthy kids vax for the flu?

It's a universal recommendation, not just for children with risk factors.

[PaigeC]

Originally Posted by Gitti

He means: "if I don't sing some vaccine praise, I have a snowball in hell chance of ever getting published again".

So true.

[kcstar]

Originally Posted by 1littlebit

do lots of people get the flu shot? i know they hype it up big time but do most people get it? even my vax happy family don't get the flu vax. i remember when i was younger you could only get it if you met certain qualifications, is that no longer the case?

I never got it until I was at college, in the marching band. We had a bowl game trip in winter, and the Band Director made it very clear that he did not want any bandmembers missing the trip / unable to perform on account of the flu. So they made the flu shots available to everyone in the band for a very reasonable price.

My workplace offers it every year, free for employees but at a charge for family. There's always a long line, but it usually runs quick.

[Hopesmommy]

Originally Posted by runes

It's a universal recommendation, not just for children with risk factors.

I realize that it's a recommendation, I just don't personally know any healthy people that get the vax unless they have a newborn or person around them with chronic health issues, so that's why I was wondering.