# 2073
While there isn't much legitimate pandemic or influenza news this morning, we do have this piece of . . . err, `journalistic excellence' from the Daily Mail.
First the article, then some discussion.
23 people die and 123 are hospitalised after being given flu vaccine
By Mail On Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 11:57 PM on 14th June 2008
23 people have died from heart attacks, blood infections and pneumonia after having routine flu jabs
Official figures show that a further 123 people given the winter vaccine suffered a suspected reaction so severe they were taken to hospital.
Causes of death included heart attacks, blood infections and pneumonia, while asthma and kidney failure were among reported side-effects.
The statistics, revealed by Health Minister Dawn Primarolo, raise fears over the safety of the vaccine, which is taken by eight million people in Britain every year.
I will be the first to admit that we don't know as much about vaccine safety and efficacy as we should, and that any suggestion that a vaccine may be causing excess mortality or morbidity requires investigation.
Vaccines, after all, are drugs.
And like all drugs, they can produce side effects. Most are mild, but on occasion, serious problems can erupt. Plus there are real questions about their effectiveness, particularly in the elderly.
Vaccines are a valuable tool in the fight against influenza, but vaccines are not a panacea.
The question is: Do 23 deaths (with no causal link to the vaccine) indicate that a vaccine is unsafe? What about 123 hospitalizations?
Do the risks of a flu jab outweigh the benefits?
These incidents reportedly were recorded over 5 years in the UK, during which time some 40,000,000 inoculations were given.
Twenty-three deaths is slightly more than 1 death out of every 1.8 million jabs. And that assumes that all of these deaths were actually due to the shot.
Maybe, maybe not.
The target group for the flu jab in the UK are primarily those over the age of 65, a group who coincidentally are most likely to suffer from heart attacks, blood infections, and pneumonia.
Each year, seasonal influenza affects between 5% and 15% of the population. For most people, it is not a serious illness. But for roughly 1 in 1,000 it can be deadly. In a country the size of the UK, that equates to 3,000 to 4,000 deaths each year.
In other words, over the same time period where as many as 23 people may have died from the vaccine, influenza claimed the lives of between 15,000 and 20,000 Britons.
Let's do a little math, shall we?
If 10% of the 8,000,000 people who get the flu jab in the UK each year would have caught the flu, and the vaccine was only 50% efficient in protecting the recipient, then 400,000 people didn't get the flu who probably would have.
And if 1 in 1,000 would have died, then it is likely that 400 lives were saved each year by the jab, along with tens of millions of dollars in hospitalization costs.
Taking a flu jab isn't entirely risk free. But then, neither is taking an aspirin, or walking down the street.
But if you are playing the odds, getting a flu shot each year is still a smart move.
Despite what you might read in the funny papers.
