Anonymous wrote:Did you read the article on the flu vaccine in today's NYT? It says flu vaccines are basically worthless, but are a marketing bonanza, making billions of dollars for the makers of the vaccines.
From the NYT blog with the article I assume you were referring to: "“I say, ‘Use this vaccine,’ ” he said." That was a quote from the doctor who's study found that the vaccine was not as effective as many believed, although it was primarily in elderly patients that the effectiveness was not present. It mentions modest protection for healthy adults, but does not mention the results in children at all. Even his study showed that it provided some protection to normal age adults. And he stressed that there were no safety issues with getting the vaccine and still encouraged their use, along with further study and development of more effective vaccines. While he does state part of what you implied above, in no way does it state that flu vaccines are worthless. He just advocates for further research and development. The only way to interpret it the way you did is if you already had a bias about "useless chemicals" being injected into people.
For those who don't want to read the entire article reference above, the short version is "Flu vaccines may not be as effective as advertised, but they don't hurt."