<p>Wash your hands before you begin to read 
[Does</a> the Vaccine Matter? - The Atlantic (November 2009)](<a href=“http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/brownlee-h1n1]Does”>Does the Vaccine Matter? - The Atlantic)</p>
<p>That’s all fine and good. However, I get the flu vaccine not because I’m worried that without it, I’ll die from influenza. I get it because a)I got the flu a few years ago and that was the sickest I have ever been in my life. I don’t ever want to feel like that again.
b)I cannot afford to be out of commission for days to a week. I am a RN-I cannot expose my vulnerable patients to influenza, and our unit would not be able to function if even a few of us got sick and couldn’t come in.</p>
<p>I think there are many people like me who just don’t want to get an illness that can possibly be prevented.</p>
<p>The point of vaccines is to cover enough of the population base in a given area that transmission is reduced and the epidemic fails. It is not to protect specific individuals, though that is a nice benefit if it works.</p>
<p>There are statistical calculations for disease spread. Take the dreaded ebola; it’s too virulent in current form to become a true epidemic because people get sick so quickly and die in such high percentages the disease lacks the critical mass needed for transmission. In other words, you need a bunch of people who are contagious - ideally not showing symptoms - in an unvaccinated population to have an epidemic. The flu works really well for that because you’re contagious before you fall ill. </p>
<p>All vaccines have a success rate. The idea is to vaccinate enough people that the success rate immunizes enough people that the pool of available carriers and recipients - the contagious and those who can get sick - is too small or geographically broken up for a true epidemic. </p>
<p>This is exactly the problem we’ve seen with measles. For many years, enough people were immunized that a case of measles couldn’t spread effectively. Then people saw a lack of measles cases and assumed vaccination wasn’t necessary - or were scared by various claims about vaccines being harmful. This is why we’ve seen serious outbreaks in colleges; you have enough unvaccinated people in a geographic area that a single case has a receptive population.</p>
<p>BTW, I read the article and again it made me think: The Atlantic isn’t a bad magazine but it’s also not that good. I sometimes wonder why we get it.</p>
<p>I think there are interesting points raised in the article. I like how it emphasizes the importance of good public health measures-isolation being most important when faced with a contageous illness. We get too complacent due to flu shots. </p>
<p>The article most importantly does not really address the H1N1 shot-which is most necessary in younger people with high functioning immune systems that respond well to the vaccine. Lack of immune response in the elderly is another topic. It is unfortunate that the article questions vaccines just this year, when H1N1 shots are an important public health measure. </p>
<p>Those of us who work with the public need the shots to protect both ourselves and our patients. Our college kids need them as they’re living so closely packed. </p>
<p>I get the Atlantic, because I like in depth articles, though occasionally the topic is not of interest. And they’re not afraid to go into unpopular or controversial topics, as with this article.</p>
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<p>We are also seeing a resurgence of whooping cough.</p>
<p>I have just found this study. It says that flu vaccinations do not prevent hospitalizations in asthmatic children.
<a href=“http://www.thoracic.org/sections/publications/press-releases/conference/articles/2009/abstracts-and-press-releases/joshi.pdf[/url]”>http://www.thoracic.org/sections/publications/press-releases/conference/articles/2009/abstracts-and-press-releases/joshi.pdf</a></p>
<p>Inoculate the herd. That is the strategy here. Then, regardless of the efficacy of the flu vaccination in protecting an individual asthmatic child, individuals (including asthmatic children) will be less likely to encounter a contagious person.</p>
<p>It only works if you can get the vaccine. We’ve been waiting over 2 months to get even the regular flue vacine. Guess what, I got flu several weeks ago after a trip that incorporated several airports, several planes, several hotels and a whole bunch of restaurants and strangers. Oh well.</p>
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<p>I’m always skeptical when news media pick up on ONE study and present it as conclusive. Studies should always be examined to see how they were done, whether or not they have been replicated in further studies, and if they are in contrast to a greater body of research.</p>
<p>This article discusses the media’s propensity to overstate the importance of studies in general, and this one in particular.</p>
<p>[psychescientia:</a> Misreporting of Recent Flu Vaccine Research: Headlines Sure To Spark Trouble](<a href=“http://psychescientia.blogspot.com/2009/05/misreporting-of-recent-flu-vaccine.html]psychescientia:”>psychescientia: Misreporting of Recent Flu Vaccine Research: Headlines Sure To Spark Trouble)</p>
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<p>so true, momofthreeboys!</p>