Flu shots for elderly may not work

Nutrition Health Review, Summer, 2004

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are analyzing more than three decades of research that suggests flu shots for the elderly may not have saved any lives.

During the influenza vaccine scare in 2004, many news and health organizations reported that the vaccines should be saved for those who are most vulnerable to sickness, such as children and the elderly, but Lone Simonsen, a senior epidemiologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, says that the threat may have been overblown. She claims that vaccines should be aimed at schoolchildren, who are more likely to spread viruses.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not intend to change vaccination strategies and says that the NIH data are misleading.

Ira Longini, a biostatistics professor at Emory University, says that the flu vaccine works for elderly people, but not very well. He believes that it is still wise for people above the age of 65 to get vaccinated early, but that a smarter government strategy was needed to vaccinate those under 18.

A recent British study also found that vaccinating very young children might not reduce mortality, hospital admissions, serious complications, or community transmission of influenza.