What is it about?
All pathogens attempt to modify the infection and clinical effects of other pathogens. This occurs via the production of non-coding RNAs which regulate gene expression. Influenza vaccination acts like an influenza infection and triggers a similar cascade of events.
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Why is it important?
This means that in some years influenza vaccination reduces all-cause mortality while in others it actually increases all-cause mortality. These effects are location specific and depend on the timing of vaccination relative to levels of other circulating pathogens. Over a 40 year period influenza vaccination therefore gave no net reduction in excess winter mortality.
Perspectives
The public have been given a highly simplified message regarding influenza and influenza vaccination. While it is true that influenza vaccination does offer a measure of protection against influenza per se, it is not true that influenza vaccination does not have unintended consequences against all-cause mortality. This is the third part of a series explaining the intracies of influenza infection and vaccination.
Dr Rodney P Jones
Healthcare Analysis & Forecasting
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Roles for Pathogen Interference in Influenza Vaccination, with Implications to Vaccine Effectiveness (VE) and Attribution of Influenza Deaths, Infectious Disease Reports, September 2022, MDPI AG,
DOI: 10.3390/idr14050076.
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