Dutch Study Says Repeated Flu Vaccine Saves Lives

Vaccinating the elderly against the flu spared lives, and giving the shots yearly prevented the deaths of about one out of every 200 patients involved in a Dutch study published on Tuesday.

Vaccinating the elderly against the flu spared lives, and giving the shots yearly prevented the deaths of about one out of every 200 patients involved in a Dutch study published on Tuesday.Coming as U.S. health authorities contend with a shortage of flu vaccine this year, the six-year study by researchers at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, showed vaccinations saved the largest proportion of lives among those older than 80.In study participants older than 65, a first vaccination reduced the risk of death by 10 percent, which was not considered significant. But those who were revaccinated either the next year or in a succeeding year had a 24 percent lower risk of dying, showing that repeating vaccinations had the greatest impact.In those older than 80, revaccination reduced the risk of death by 31 percent.Among those who skipped a vaccination, their risk of dying rose 25 percent.Between 64 percent and 74 percent of the 26,000 elderly people studied were vaccinated in a given year between the years 1996 and 2002, when flu epidemics were rated as mild to moderate in severity. During the period, 3,485 patients died.The protection provided by flu vaccinations applied whether the person had other illnesses or not, study author A.C.G. Voordouw wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.”Because influenza vaccination is inexpensive and safe, clinicians should recommend annual influenza revaccination for such patients,” he concluded.(Source: Reuters, Nov 2004)