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Most people simply assume that vaccination is effective. And since flu shots are a form of vaccination, they take for granted that flu shots are also effective. This basic assumption needs to be closely examined.
If you carefully examine historical health records, you will see that the death rate from various infectious diseases, such as measles, diptheria, smallpox, etc. fell sharply before the introduction of vaccination, not after.
Why? Because of improvements in sanitation and general hygiene, not because vaccination, antibiotics and other forms of medical intervention had been effective.
You also have to understand the nature of vaccination and flu shots. Bacteria and viruses come in many forms known as different strains. And vaccines can be designed only to work with certain strains. Currently available flu shots - if and when they work - can only work against common strains of the flu virus that have been around for a long, the so-called "common flu" or "seasonal flu".
Flu shot facts - useless against new strains
One of the most important flu shot facts to know is this - flu shots are totally ineffective against new strains of flu. And they are effective against only some - not all - existing flu strains. Health authorities and flu vaccine manufacturers do their best to predict which strains are most likely to hit in a particular year and they package the flu vaccines accordingly.
At best, they can cover about 70 percent of common flu viruses. But sometimes, they can be way off the mark. In 2004, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the year’s flu vaccine had "no or low effectiveness" against influenza or influenza-like illness. Depending on how the data were analyzed, the vaccine protected from zero percent to 14 percent of study participants.
Flu shot facts - why they don't always work
Even when the correct flu vaccine has been administrated, there are still reasons why it may not work:
Flu shot facts - scientific studies
Medical scientists - the very people who promote flu shots and other forms of vaccination - have themselves reported that most flu shots simply do not work. Some recent scientific findings include:
Flu shot facts - effectiveness exaggerated
The debate about the effectiveness of flu shots had been on-going for some time. And this debate was re-ignited in 2008 with the publication of studies which suggest that their effectiveness had been exaggerated.
Dr Michael L. Jackson and colleagues at the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle, reported in The Lancet that elderly people who were healthy and conscientious about staying well were the most likely to get an annual flu shot. Those who are weak and frail are less likely to get to their doctor’s office or a clinic to receive the vaccine.
Similar findings were also reported by Dr Lisa Jackson and colleagues at Group Health Co-operative, Seattle, who studied 73,527 people aged 65 and over during an eight year period.
Both these studies note that part of the claimed "effectiveness" of flu shots was due to the fact the the people taking them were already healthier in the first place. After adjusting for this bias, the actual effectiveness rate is much lower.
Apart from the general lack of effectiveness, you might also wish to check out...
Is it worth the risks to expose yourself to serious possible side effects when flu shots don't offer you much protection against the flu? There are far better, safer, natural ways to prevent the flu.