

A critique of the Atlantic Magazine article, Does the Vaccine Matter? - nkurz
http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/10/journalists_sink_in_the_atlant.php

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billswift
Robin has a post about this controversy at Overcoming Bias
<http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/10/flu-shot-doubts.html> .

"revere" cost himself a bit of credibility with me by working his
leftist/progressive politics into the article and especially his comment
replies.

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ghshephard
". On the other hand, the nostrums also touted in this article as a substitute
for vaccines and antivirals, like washing your hands, have almost no
scientific support in the literature for influenza."

Really? Someone should give the NIH the heads up:

<http://www.flu.gov/individualfamily/prevention/index.html> Flu Home > For
Individuals & Families > Prevention & Treatment

"Take these everyday steps to protect your health: ...

Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or
sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective."

~~~
camccann
Influenza spreads by some combination of airborne particles containing viruses
(e.g., from infected people sneezing) and surface contamination. The relative
importance of each is unknown, and there's actually not much in the way of
research indicating that hand washing helps appreciably (it's rather difficult
to measure).

That said, it can't really _hurt_ , either, and may help avoid opportunistic
infections joining the fray in someone who does get the flu. So it's not
surprising that organizations advising the general public would tell people to
wash their hands, evidence or no.

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marze
To me, the biggest point made in the Atlantic article was that the flu
vaccines have not been double blind tested, which seems incredible.

However, this critique doesn't seem to argue with that point, unless I'm
misreading it.

~~~
ikitat
As I understand it Jackson disregards any data that wasn't gathered via a
randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled trial (RCT). Performing a trial
with a placebo for flu vaccines has ethical implications because the flu
vaccine has been proven effective. Possibly causing harm by not preventing the
flu in subjects.

Another point in the critique is that Jackson's findings are based on seasonal
flu and not pandemic flu. His findings are for people 60 and older, an age
group not particularly targeted by the H1N1 flu.

