Flu vaccines are no panacea
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Immunization policy in dire need of cure, July 19
It is likely that anyone reading this article would assume that poor health-care worker influenza vaccination rates accounted for the “more than 4,200 staff, patients, and residents (who) became sick or were killed in 144 fatal outbreaks between 2010 and 2013.”
The Star should have explicitly stated that the vast majority of these outbreaks had nothing to do with influenza and hence could not have been prevented by vaccinations.
A second article a day later presents a questionable view of the benefits of mandatory vaccine versus mask policies. Given that a recent Cochrane review found that vaccinating healthy adults against influenza does not decrease work absenteeism, one must question that such a policy resulted in a 25 per cent reduction in absenteeism.
I get my flu shot every year and encourage others to do so as it will offer some protection in most years. It is not however even close to a panacea and aggressive vaccine or mask policies do not support health care professionals — the very people we need engaged in solving a host of patient safety issues.
Dr. Michael Gardam, Infectious Diseases Physician, Toronto
I think that Dr. Michael Gardam’s assessment of the hospital network’s policy on vaccines is probably the closest to the truth when he describes the flu vaccine as “mediocre” and “a bit of a crapshoot.” The effectiveness of the vaccine is simply not what it is cracked up to be.
What would make far more sense would be for hospitals to make more frequent use of probiotics (i.e. such as acidophilus) to combat the proliferation of antibiotics, which are known to have a seriously negative effect on the immune systems of patients and the population in general.
Rick Tufts, Toronto
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