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586.731.8840 or 586.726.KIDS |
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LEADING EXPERT QUESTIONS FLU VACCINE BENEFITS
A leading epidemiologist writes in the January 9, 2001 issue of the Canadian
Medical Association Journal that claims there is no proof that Ontario,
Canada’s $38 million universal flu vaccine program has limited the spread of
the illness. Last year, the Ontario government initiated an attempt to vaccinate every one
of its citizens against the flu, based on one of its own studies that said each
vaccination would save the Ontario health system $40. Dr. Vittorio Demicheli, chairman of the regional epidemiological unit in
Alessandria, Italy says “there is absolutely no evidence that universal
vaccination has ever achieved such a goal..” “I wonder whether the program should, instead, serve as a warning to other
governments. The ‘Let’s see what happens’ approach to public health should
not be emulated. Recent reports seem to bolster Dr. Demicheli’s assertions. On December 6,
2000 at the Fourth National Immunization Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Dr.
Eleni Galanis of Health Canada reported that almost 1000 Canadians have suffered
adverse reactions to the flu vaccine since October, 2000. That’s nearly 80
times as many as for the same period last year.
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