Canadian vaccination study proves 'herd immunity'

Reuters ^ | Mar 10, 2010 | Andrew Stern

[decimon]

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Inoculating children against flu protects more people of all ages in the larger community, probably because young people tend to spread viruses through physical play, Canadian researchers said on Tuesday.

Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario found there were 61 percent fewer flu cases in isolated communities where children and adolescents received the seasonal influenza vaccine, compared to communities where children received an unrelated vaccine.

Targeting children with a vaccine could protect the wider population, researcher Mark Loeb and colleagues concluded in their report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Influenza struck 2,326 unvaccinated participants in the 46 religious Hutterite communities in western Canada that were chosen for study because they have limited outside contacts.

In communities where roughly four out of five children aged 3 to 15 were vaccinated, 3.1 percent of the people got the flu compared to a 7.6 percent infection rate in communities where no one was vaccinated against flu.

This demonstrated the widely-accepted concept of "herd immunity" -- that vaccination programs can still be effective even if not everyone is vaccinated -- which could have public health implications, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

[decimon]

Herd through the grapevine ping.

[goodwithagun]

Still not getting the flu shot. The list of ingredients was enough to scare me.

[ClearCase_guy]

What a surprise. How much did this cost?

[Politicalmom]

Ping!!

[metmom]

In before the mandatory vaccine government propagandists.

[Politicalmom]

Ping!!

[neverdem]

Thanks decimon

[neverdem]

Effect of Influenza Vaccination of Children on Infection Rates in Hutterite Communities FReebie

[fanfan]

Thanks for the post.
Thanks for the ping.
For your consideration ping.

[Clive]

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