I rarely get flu shots for my kids. They're currently ages 6, 4 and 4. The last time we got the shots was maybe three years ago when there was that big shortage and that's all your heard about. You know, since we thought we maybe couldn't get them, we wanted them all the more!
But overall, I just hesitate and I wasn't quite sure why. Then, just last Tuesday, I made the decision to definitely get my kids in for their shots. Until I went to my book group annual dinner out and fellow booklover Tracy said it was her goal every year to convince at least one person to forgo getting the shots! She thinks they're not all that effective and it's mainly a ploy for the drug companies to make more money. I did a little research and found this article where this doctor, Donald W. Miller, states:
The CDC’s 15-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes recommendations each year on who should be vaccinated. Ten years ago, for the 1999–2000 season, the committee recommended that people over age 65 and children with medical conditions have a flu shot. Seventy-four million people were vaccinated.
Next season (2000–01) the committee lowered the age for universal vaccination from 65 to 50 years old, adding 41 million people to the list.
For the 2002–03 season, the ACIP added healthy children 6 months to 23 months old, and for 2004–05, children up to 5 years old.
For the 2008–09 season the committee has advised that healthy children 6 months to 18 years old have a flu shot each year. Its recommendations for influenza vaccination now covers 256 million Americans – 84 percent of the U.S. population. Only healthy people ages 19–49 not involved in some aspect of health care remain exempt. Pharmaceutical companies have made $146 million influenza vaccines for the U.S. market this flu season.
Almost all the ACIP members who make these recommendations have financial ties to the vaccine industry. The CDC therefore must grant each member a conflict-of-interest waiver."[emphasis mine]
Wow. Does make you kinda wonder--is this about staying healthy? Or creating a nice profit?
I'd love feedback. And, just to be clear, just because I'm not a gung-ho flu shot advocate, that view doesn't extend into regular vaccinations. I absolutely believe in immunizations and all my kids are up-to-date on their required shots. This is about the flu and only the flu.
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2 comments:
I've always been creeped out at the thought of getting a flu shot without, I'll be honest, a really good reason. I've never had one. My kids have had them, but only because we were seeing the pediatrician anyway and it was kind of a "why not" situation. That article you quoted plays upon the conspiracy theorist already inside of me.
EVERY year I torment myself with 'to be shot or not' (for my kids, mostly). Last year (when I was having the annual dilemma), I spoke to Marian Newton about it and she told me that it is quite rare that people get the flu virus. She said what everyone calls "the flu" are just random viruses floating around. (She didn't tell me not to get it, but didn't seem to think it was that important...) so, I didn't get the girls shot and felt good about it. What are the chances the CDC predicts the correct strain anyway? I'd like to see those statistics! I'm glad you posted about this!
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