Vaccination hype — or is it?

This is a topic we struggle with in our house. My wife gets them every year. My kids get them. I don’t. Why? What I like to tell people when they ask is that it seems that the vaccination never seems to get the correct strain that comes through our area. I know the doctors and companies that are in charge of predicting the right strains come pretty close but from the times i’ve asked my doctor and looked online, getting close doesn’t help. I don’t know if there is a way to look back in the archives of the Post, but I could swear that the last few years it was reported that we’ve missed the flu strain that actually came through.

Last week, I met a mom when we were out and about that said they were just at their doctor’s office and a ton of kids were there with the flu. She even said they made her wear a mask when she came in. Wow. When she got in to talk to the doctor, she said he told her that the vaccinations for this year seem to have missed what is coming through.

If anyone has any data on this, i’d love to see it. I’ll roll the dice on myself, but my wife and I talked and agreed that its not worth taking the chance with the kids. I know that doesn’t make any logical sense - but much of what I do and think doesn’t make logical sense anyway.

This is worth looking into. I’ll try to check with the CDC or a local hospital to see where this data is kept. We all get vaxed, but a dear friend is pretty convinced that a vaccination triggered epileptic seizures in her son. One doctor has agreed that the shot may have been a trigger.

If your doctor is brushing off your concerns about vaccines or other issues, it may be time to look for a new doctor.

I’m the health reporter who wrote the story in today’s Post-Dispatch about a spike in flu cases. I’ll be following up with another story about the geographic and age distribution of the illnesses. I’ll ask my sources about whether this year’s flu vaccine has missed the flu strain that’s going around.

Thanks,
Blythe Bernhard

Just spoke with Dr. Robert Belshe, professor of medicine and pediatrics and director of the center for vaccine development at Saint Louis University. He says “the isolates that are causing flu are somewhat different than what is in the flu vaccine.” The nasal spray vaccine has a broader immune response, Belshe says, but it’s only available for people ages 2 to 49. Anyone under 2 or older than 50 will get the shot, which is less well-matched to the strains of flu circulating this year. Either vaccine won’t give you complete protection but it should make the flu more mild if you do catch it.

Thanks for the info Blythe. Any chance someone had the data on the last 5 years if the vaccines missed the strains that came through?

So, if I understand correctly…if we had two people, one who got the flu shot and one who didn’t, both would have the same chances of getting the flu and the only difference would be how severe it was? Sounds more of a psychological advantage

It’s not that the vaccines “miss” the strain of flu, it’s that they don’t match up with the virus perfectly all the way down to the cell-level. So each year the vaccine is imperfect, but still effective.

If you get the shot, you have a much better chance of not getting sick than someone who didn’t get the shot. Most people who get the shot won’t get the flu. If you did get the shot and still get the flu, it’s likely to be a milder case.

Hope that clears it up.

It’s amusing to see the pediatricians crying about misrepresentation, yet they continue to spread lies about guns in the home. Let’s stop all child immunizations NOW - after all, if it savs one child’s life…

Thanks Blythe. That clears it up a bit for me a bit. Now I guess I’ll just have to suck it up next time and get the shot.

What’s the deal about the guns?

My children have not been vaccinated. No, I’m not crazy and they may one day receive some vaccines. It is my opinion that the high number of vaccines given to infants at one time is risky. I also believe that we have perhaps gone too far in what we vaccinate. I will choose the vaccines I feel appropriate and my children will receive them one at a time.

Good luck finding a non-vax friendly doctor in St Louis. I have been lucky to find one.