Editor:
Will a flu shot keep you healthy? Should people who haven’t had this vaccine wear a mask in some of our institutions?
An extensive article by drug policy researcher Alan Cassels presents some useful information.
“The Cochrane Collaboration’s examination of flu vaccines in healthy adults, a body of literature spanning 25 studies and involving 59,566 people, finds an annual flu shot reduced overall clinical influenza by about six per cent.”
The Cochrane Collaboration (www.cochrane.org) is an international organization comprised of scientists and researchers that does not take money from drug or vaccine manufacturers to fund their research.
Cassels noted that the province of B.C. spent $17.5 million (2012) on flu vaccines.
Is this the best way to spend our health dollars? Many people who get these vaccines believe they are fully protected and are more apt to be careless in their habits. Such is human nature.
Given the marginally effective flu vaccine, either we should all go around with masks all the time, or better, we should all practise frequent hand washing (soap and water), be careful when we cough and sneeze, and be aware of our hand to eye and mouth contact. Some common sense can go a long way to keeping us all healthy.
Alan Sirulnikoff, Gibsons
