The real reason for the article is revealed in the last line:
“The most effective way to prevent the flu and its many potentially lethal complications is to get vaccinated.”
Follow the money.
One of my kids just had some surgery. The nurses must have asked 10 times if he had the flu shot. When he said no, they asked if he wanted it. No.
My wife just noted tonight that she read that he’s not to get any vaccine without doctors permission and shouldn’t be with people who recently got flu shot, yet the hospital was all over getting him his flu shot.
“I have a solution”
There is nothing wrong / abnormal with me.
“I can find a problem to fix.”
Hammers in search of a nail. Follow the money is right.
Not everything can be fixed and not everything needs to be. Tell me please why the clinical norms keep getting ever more stringent?
Follow the money.
If money is the concern, then no medical professional anywhere would encourage people to get vaccinated. A flu shot costs ~$20. Compare that with the cost of a doctor visit (variable co-pay) and prescriptions ($52 minimum for Tamiflu, plus the painkillers, decongestants, etc.) or the cost of a hospital stay (which can quickly cost thousands). And then, if the person dies from the flu, as some 3,000-60,000 do every year in the US, funerals are also pretty pricy. There is a lot of money to be made all around through people getting sick--not so much by people getting vaccinated and avoiding sickness.
The most effective way to not catch the flu is to constantly wash your hands and take basic precautions such as not touching other gross people who carry the virus like a UPS truck.