According to an October report from health care watchdog Farmacy, Inc., a Johns Hopkins study released in the British Medical Journal last month is proof enough that everyone should be careful when it comes to vaccinating against influenza.

The report states: “Peter Doshi, Ph.D., charges that although the vaccines are being pushed on the public in unprecedented numbers, they are less effective and cause more side effects than alleged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

This comes after U.S. health care providers are encouraging and administering the vaccine more than ever. According to Doshi, in 1994, 32 million doses of the flu vaccines were available. This year, more than 135 million doses are available.

“The vaccine may be less beneficial and less safe than has been claimed, and the threat of influenza seems to be overstated,” Doshi said in the BMJ.

But local doctors aren’t so convinced that this aggressive campaign in favor of vaccinating is a bad thing.

“This is obviously a provocative article. We have seen very severe flu epidemics in the past and know that some strains of influenza can be lethal to some people,” stated Gaurav Arora, PH.D., chief medical officer and medical director of the emergency department at Indiana University Health Saxony Hospital. “The immunization does seem to confer some protection and the risk of the vaccine is small. As a health care provider we not only need to protect ourselves, but come into contact with patients in whom influenza can be lethal so we owe it to ourselves and our patients to be immunized.”

Last year, local hospitals began requiring that all health care workers receive the flu vaccines, or were at risk of losing their jobs. The Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety launched a campaign and formed a flu vaccine work group. According to a release, the goal is “to unite in an effort to require flu vaccination for healthcare workers to continue making Indianapolis a safe place to receive healthcare.”

Doctors from St. Vincent, Community Health, and IU Health hospitals were all part of this campaign.

Arora stated he gets the flu vaccine yearly. He is part of a large network of doctors who encourage their patients, and families to get vaccinated.

“I am glad to see the conversation generated by this article and hope it will lead to more larger scale scientific studies on the risks and benefits of the influenza vaccine,” he stated.

Reasons doctors are for and against the vaccine

FOR

Reduces the risk of yearly strains of flu

Ninety percent of flu-related deaths occur in elderly patients

Even healthy people can get the flu

Can protect infants and those with weak immune systems

AGAINST

Risk of narcolepsy in young children

Only nine percent effective in elderly patients already at risk of disease

Possible increases in blood mercury levels from the vaccine

Claim that vaccinating is all about money for large pharmaceutical companies

Source: CDC, Johns Hopkins