Tom Jefferson Quotations

Our findings show that, according to reliable evidence, the effectiveness of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccines in elderly individuals is modest, irrespective of setting, outcome, population, and study design,

The runaway 100 percent effectiveness that's touted by proponents was nowhere to be seen.

People should ask whether it's worth investing these trillions of dollars and euros in these vaccines.

What you see is that marketing rules the response to influenza, and scientific evidence comes fourth or fifth. Vaccines may have a role, but they appear to have a modest effect. The best strategy to prevent the illness is to wash your hands.

The bottom line is the effectiveness is modest, at best. It's very disappointing.

We need a more comprehensive and perhaps more effective strategy in controlling acute respiratory infections, relying on several preventive interventions that take into account the multi-agent nature of infectious respiratory disease and its context (such as personal hygiene, provision of electricity and adequate food, water and sanitation),

There is a wild overestimation of the impact of these vaccines in the community. In the case of a pandemic, we are unsure from the data whether these vaccines would work on the elderly.