by T. Lynn Wright

Created on: December 28, 2009

In the last decade, there has been a shift away from trust in medical professionals and science. While it is encouraging to see more people researching their health issues, the other side of the sword is that data with nothing to back it up circulates as common belief. If we are to encourage and educate people about general health and vaccinations, we must listen to their ideas and find the thread that they have picked up to address their concerns and explain, in their terms, that vaccines do not cause disease. 

The injectable influenza vaccine is attenuated. This means it is changed, designed to create an immune response to the flu virus. Only rarely will someone experience mild side effects from the vaccine; this is an immune response, not a case of the flu.  The word flu has been bandied about so often that people don't realize what a debilitating, serious illness it truly is. Even medical professionals will comment on the "stomach flu" that is going around. There is no such thing as a "stomach flu," influenza is a respiratory iillness with specific symptoms.  A couple of days with a low fever and general malaise are not the same as a week or more of high fever, body aches and possible serious respiratory complications.  There is a reason people are asked prior to receiving the vaccine if they are ill or feverish-there may be something brewing the day the vaccine is administered. 

Americans and others may be predisposed against vaccines these days because of claims that preservatives, and perhaps the actual vaccines, cause autism.  Never mind that statistically, the side effects from vaccines, both childhood and influenza, are proportionally low. It is several times more likey that a person will be injured or killed in an automobile accident than suffer a side effect from a vaccination of any kind. Yet people strap their children in and drive their cars daily. 

People mistrust the government; they no longer trust science because of the myriad of health information websites available. The sensible GP has been replaced by a website that may not be reputable, a holistic magazine article, even a beloved chiropractor may have a captive audience.  People mistrust big pharmacy because does anyone really need a flu shot, it's just a money-making scam. The truth is, people can't get the flu from a vaccination, it just isn't made that way. It's more dramatic to believe the mythology. As someone who has received numerous influenza vaccinations and administered even more of them, this health professional prefers to trust in the science of chemistry, not the anecdote on the street.

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