I'm sure you'll be hearing about, or have already heard, the new study that says the flu vaccine is safe for pregnant women. Here is a breakdown of the actual study they are basing this on.
1) It is a data survey study that looked at H1N1 vaccinated pregnant women
in Norway in 2009 and it showed from their study that there was a
decrease incidence of fetal deaths in the vaccinated population. That's
it. Now, you look closer here's the discrepencies.
A) First, their only parameter for safety is of
fetal death. No statistics or information about birth defects, APGAR
scores, mental status, autism, etc. - you know the drill. Basically,
while fetal death is important, it is not the only thing that makes a vaccine safe or not safe (and I use the word 'safe' loosely)
B) Second, it makes no mention of or decision to look into the
socioeconomic factors that may effect the data - lower socioeconomic
status usually means less access to healthcare which can translate to
less vaccines but also more ways to effect fetal mortality. Again, they
are making broad assumptions that fetal deaths are only correlated to
vaccinated vs. non-vaccinated along with flu exposure.
C) Third, the
vaccine that they were following, Pandemrix is (a) influenza-based but
only supposed to be using in cases of pandemic H1N1 (a situation we're
not currently in in the US), and, most importantly (b) is not licensed
for usage in the US, so it's not a vaccine any of our patients, or any
US citizen, is likely to ever be innoculated with, so even if the study
was actually valid, it's not one that just translates to our current flu
vaccines being 'safe'. (FYI, Pandemrix contains thimerosal,squalene,
formaldehyde and polysorbate 80 and is thought to cause narcolepsy in
children and adolescents)
D) Fourth, the actual percentage difference in fetal deaths between the vaccinated and non-vaccinated population was, by my own calculations, a .17% difference.
D) Fifth, the
conclusion in the paper only actually states there is a decrease in
fetal deaths (which I still think is a big leap in stating so, but
whatever) but the media has taken it and extrapolated that to say it's
plain old safe.
E) One
last thing, while it made sure to include pregnant women with an
influenza diagnosis, it makes an unverified leap that those that had a
fetal death, were indeed caused by their flu So there's the real info. Here's the link to the study if you need
as well:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/
Thanks to my fellow colleague Dr. Jason Pape for the breakdown.
