Pneumonia Vaccine doesn't work in Seniors--But it might?? So try it??

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<arnoldgore

Pneumonia Vaccine doesn't work in Seniors--But it might?? So try it??http://www.vaccinationnews.com/default.htm

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NewsLetterScandals - 05/23/03Something Rotten In The State Of Research - The Twisted Tale Of PneumoniaVaccine For AdultsIn an http://www.vaccinationnews.com/Scandals/2003/Jan_31/Scandal53.htm

"earlier column I promised that, although I didn't agree with one argumenttypically used against the notion that vaccines are effective, there wasplenty that could said about it, and that more would follow.Recent headlines provided a humdinger of an opportunity:http://www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews/2003/May/01/PneumoniaVaccine1.htm""Pneumonia Vaccine Doesn't Work for Elderly"and Excuse me? Isn't that kind of basic? Shouldn't that have all been workedout before licensing the vaccine, let alone recommending administering it toany, moreover, sohttp://www.agingwell.state.ny.us/flu/pneumonia_review/article3.htmmany adults?Just how many have received what now appears to be a basically uselessvaccine for them?And how have the "experts" responded to this little problem? By recommendingthat the vaccine continue to be administered to adults 65 and older! Why?Because it seems to work just fine for a "small group", those few for whomthe bacteria becomes a blood infection, which amounts to around 60 of every100,000 of the elderly who get pneumococcal pneumonia. (One teeny, tinylittle caveat, though - it only works half the time for this "small group".)And how many people aged 65 or older allegedly get pneumococcal pneumonia,the disease the vaccine is targeted at?http://www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews/2003/May/01/VaccineInsufficient1.htm Each year</A, about one-third to one-half of the 350,000 to 620,000 U. S.patients age 65 and older hospitalized with pneumonia have a type calledpneumococcal pneumonia." That comes to around115,000 to 310,000 potential pneumococcal pneumonia cases. At most thevaccine would then be expected to prevent the blood infection in around 90of the elderly, aroundhttp://www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews/2003/May/01/VaccineInsufficient1.htm15-20%of whom might have been expected to die from the blood infection.The vaccine, in other words, could be expected to prevent, at most, 19elderly deaths each year.In a statement almost breathtaking in its lack of substance, Dr. LisaJackson, "principal investigator" for thehttp://www.vaccinationnews.com/Scandals/2003/May_23/EffectivenessPneumo9.htm"New England Journal of Medicine study, demurely noted: "Vaccine researchtends to focus on children, and that's important, but we need to expand andlook for a (pneumonia) vaccine for older adults as well."Pardon me, but what's that supposed to mean? While "vaccine research" doestend to so focus, her statement belies the fact that there already is apneumonia vaccine used for adults.More importantly, wasn't that vaccine, which has been and continues to berecommended for adults, supposed to be safe and effective for them?Did they or did they not test this vaccine on adults? If they did not, whywere adults given it in the first place? If they did test it on adults, whatdoes this say about the quality and state of vaccine research?While the poor record of the current vaccine may lead some to argue in favorof ANOTHER pneumonia vaccine for adults, a so-called "new and improvedversion", given Public Health's track-record on the current vaccine, whyshould we assume it will be any better?Indeed.As is the case with so many of these vaccines, one can't help but wonderjust who it is that benefits from widespread adult use of this vaccine,other than the vaccine manufacturers and those with financial ties to them.In this age of minimal liability for vaccine manufacturers, amid theseemingly endless push for additional vaccines, can anything ever be done tohold them accountable? And given the almost desperate nature of that push,will there ever be the resolve to do so?Sandy Mintz