I am no great lover of the World Health Organization (WHO). I have to query the decision to make Zimbabwe’s despot the ambassador? I do also believe that the WHO “needs” epidemics to generate funding, to keep going. But then, I may be an old skeptic.
Here are some of the WHO “killer” epidemics. We should not forget the panic with the Swine flu (also H1N1) a few years ago. Bulletins from the WHO every day added to the panic. The word “pandemic” instills fear and even hysteria.
Where WHO let itself and us down was the fact that WHO did not tell the media that the immediate danger of viral infections has two requirements – how easily it passes from one host to another and how lethal is the ensuing infection.
The ‘pandemic level 6’ only referred to the contagious nature of the virus and H1N1 is certainly highly contagious. However, with only around 4000 deaths in the world from that 2009 Swine Flu virus, just how lethal was it, when the seasonal flu kills 36,000 people each year just in the US alone, and 200-300 people in Thailand? Read those numbers again – 200-300 people from the seasonal flu in Thailand! That’s from the “nothing out of the ordinary” flu!
Right, what can you do about avoiding a full-blown influenza infection this year? Quite simply, flu vaccination can keep you from getting sick from flu. Protecting yourself from flu also protects the people around you who are more vulnerable to serious flu illness. That’s the contagious nature again.
Flu vaccination can help protect people who are at greater risk of getting seriously ill from flu, like older adults, people with chronic health conditions and young children.
Flu vaccination may also make your illness milder if you do fall ill.
Flu vaccination can reduce the risk of more serious flu outcomes, like hospitalizations and deaths.
A recent study showed that flu vaccine reduced children’s risk of flu-related pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission by 74 percent during flu seasons from 2010-2012. Yes, a 74 percent reduction.
One study showed that flu vaccination was associated with a 71 percent reduction in flu-related hospitalizations among adults of all ages and a 77 percent reduction among adults 50 years of age and older during the 2011-2012 flu season.
Flu vaccination is an important preventive tool for people with chronic health conditions. Vaccination was associated with lower rates of some cardiac events among people with heart disease, especially among those who had had a cardiac event in the past year. Flu vaccination also has been shown to be associated with reduced hospitalizations among people with diabetes (79 percent) and chronic lung disease (52 percent).
Vaccination helps protect pregnant women and their babies for up to 6 months after they are born. One study showed that giving flu vaccine to pregnant women was 92 percent effective in preventing hospitalization of infants for flu.
Other studies have shown that vaccination can reduce the risk of flu-related hospitalizations in older adults. A study that looked at flu vaccine effectiveness over the course of three flu seasons estimated that flu vaccination lowered the risk of hospitalizations by 61 percent in people 50 years of age and older.
There are special vaccination instructions for children aged 6 months through to eight years of age as some children require two doses of influenza vaccine. Children in this age group who are getting vaccinated for the first time, as well as some who have been vaccinated previously, will need two doses. Your child’s health care provider can tell you whether two doses are recommended for your child.
A complicating factor comes with the annual make-up of the actual vaccine itself. Since the viral strains dominant in any particular year can change, this does mean you should top up your immune status with an annual jab.
In some quarters there is still resistance to influenza immunization as well as the childhood vaccinations, but to be honest, I cannot understand why. Sure, there are risks involved with immunization, but those risks are very, very small compared to the risks in getting the flu.
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