Flu vaccines not very effective in the elderly, researchers find

i.e. the very group that our wiseheads most target them at

Vaccines against influenza are modestly effective for elderly people in long-term care facilities, but for those living outside of such homes their effectiveness is even less, researchers have found. The study was published online on September 21 by the medical journal The Lancet.

Flu vaccines are widely recommended by doctors, the researchers noted. In 2000, 40 of the 51 developed or rapidly developing countries officially recommended vaccination for all individuals aged 60-65 or older. Nonetheless, their effectiveness doesn’t appear to be as strong as is widely assumed.

Tom Jefferson of Cochrane Vaccine Field in Rome, Italy, and colleagues identified and assessed 64 comparative studies of the effectiveness of influenza vaccines in individuals aged 65 years or older. Combining data from 15 studies, they found that in elderly individuals living in the community, vaccines based on inactivated flu viruses were not effective against influenza, but they did prevent up to 30 percent of hospitalisations for pneumonia. Combining data from twenty-nine studies, they found that in elderly people in long-term care facilities, inactivated influenza vaccines prevented up to 42 percent of deaths caused by influenza and pneumonia.

Therefore, while vaccines do have an effect, “the usefulness of vaccines in the community is modest,” the researchers wrote. “We need a more comprehensive and perhaps more effective strategy in controlling acute respiratory infections,” Jefferson said in an email. More focus should be placed on the context in which flus arise, he added, which means paying greater attention worldwide to personal hygiene and adequate food, water and sanitation.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

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