United Kingdom - Scientists are claiming that the influenza vaccine is “over-promoted” and “over-hyped” and that the protection it offers against the flu has been exaggerated. In an article this week, one expert told The Independent that the British Government should be held accountable for “wasting taxpayer’s money” on the annual £120m national vaccination campaign. The vaccine is offered free to citizens over 65, to patients of all ages with chronic illnesses such as asthma, to pregnant women and healthcare workers. The Independent described it as "an annual bonanza for drug companies."
The flu vaccine is re-formulated annually on the basis of a guess. Attempts are then made to match it with the strains of the rapidly mutating flu virus that is likely to be in circulation that season. In a 2010 review by the Cochrane Collaboration, a highly respected international network of experts, it was concluded that the vaccine had little impact in years like the winter of 2011-12 because the vaccine and the viruses were mismatched. On average, the flu vaccine did not reduce the number of people hospitalized, it said. One of the Cochrane review's authors, Tom Jefferson, said: “I want people held accountable for wasting taxpayer’s money on these vaccines. The reviews have been available for years and nothing has been done.”
Michael Osterholm, University of Minnesota's Director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and professor of Environmental Health Sciences, said:
“...we have over-promoted this vaccine. For certain age groups in some years its effectiveness has been severely limited relative to what has been previously reported.”
A recent influenza vaccine report was reviewed by Professor Osterholm and published last month. It was a comprehensive report that took three years to complete and included 12,000 peer reviewed papers and 88 interviews with experts from around the world. The reviewers took no money from the private sector or governments so had no conflicts of interest. In regards to the report's outcomes, Professor Osterholm said:
"The most striking outcome is that we have over-stated the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine."
