Should I bother to get a flu vaccination?

I really oughtn’t to give him the free publicity but an article by Ian Wylie in The Guardian (Should I bother to get a flu vaccination?, October 29, 2005) suggests in its opening sentence that Tamiflu is a vaccine. I quote:

“It’s the must-have item for this Christmas: Tamiflu, the bird flu vaccination proving such a hit that pharmaceutical giant Roche can barely keep up with demand.”

Wylie’s statement is incorrect on two counts:

First: Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) is not a vaccine, it’s an antiviral drug.

Second: Tamiflu is not specifically a treatment for bird flu. It is marketed for treating influenza type A viruses in general.

Any sub-editor with even a vague interest in science or medicine should have spotted that.

Given that Wylie’s opener is so weak and inaccurate, I’d rather not bother commenting on the rest of the item, suffice to say that he doesn’t provide a useful answer to his own title question, nor does he even touch on the pros and cons of vaccination or antiviral drugs. But, he does manage to fill a few column inches with a feeble dig at employers who offer flu jabs to cut down on sick days…

Great.

Check this out for more info on bird flu symptoms