(Tom: It does not take a PhD in medicine to feel disinclined to get a flu shot when they increase your risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19 by 500%! This from the British Medical Journal.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rapid Response:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flu shots and the risk of coronavirus infections<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Watkins is right; we need to think beyond containment, but he overlooks the possibility that seasonal flu shots are potential contributors to the current outbreak. (BMJ 2020;398:m810\u2014February 28)\u2026.A randomized placebo-controlled trial in children showed that flu shots increased fivefold the risk of acute respiratory infections caused by a group of noninfluenza viruses, including coronaviruses. (Cowling et al, Clin Infect Dis 2012;54:1778) From Table 3, vaccine recipients had 20 noninfluenza virus-positive ARIs and 19 virus-negative ARIs; non-recipients had 3 noninfluenza virus-positive ARIs and 14 virus-negative ARIs. These figures yield an odds ratio of 4.91 (CI 1.04 to8.14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such an observation may seem counterintuitive, but it is possible that influenza vaccines alter our immune systems non-specifically to increase susceptibility to other infections; this has been observed with DTP and other vaccines. (Benn et al, Trends in Immunology, May 2013) There are other immune mechanisms that might also explain the observation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To investigate this possibility, a case-control study is in order as we study and care for the victims of covid-19. Influenza vaccines have become sacred cows in some quarters, but they shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ALLAN S. CUNNINGHAM 2 March 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n