BOSTON — It was a rally to protest the state’s recent order mandating flu shots for nearly all Massachusetts students through the college level, but it also had the appearance of a potential super-spreading event for COVID-19.
Hundreds gathered in front of the State House with substantial disregard to physical distancing or the wearing of masks. While from the podium, some speakers painted the flu-shot mandate as part of a larger government plot.
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“They want to mandate your soul, they want to mandate your freedom, they want to mandate your body,” boomed one speaker. “It’s because they want to control your body, they want to monetize you and they want to keep you in fear.”
There was also disputable information presented as fact.
“The flu shot efficacy is notoriously low and there are countless viruses that present with the exact same symptoms,” another speaker offered. “The flu vaccine does not reduce hospitalizations or the number of lost days of work.”
While it is true that there are many other Influenza-Like Illnesses (ILIs) caused by viruses untouched by the flu shot, the vaccines’ overall efficacy could not accurately be described as ‘notoriously low.’
A 2016 study in The Lancet looked at Vaccine Effectiveness (VE) over flu seasons from 2004-2015. The pooled data from that period showed low efficacy only for Influenza A H3N2, most especially in those older than 60, with a pooled VE of 24%. But the pooled VE’s in that age group for H1N1 and Influenza B stood at 62% and 63%, respectively.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates vaccination prevented 58,000 flu-related hospitalizations during the 2018-2019 season. The agency also quotes a study which found, during the 2010-2012 seasons, vaccination reduced the risk children would be admitted to pediatric intensive care units by 74%.
Finally, researchers reported in The Journal of Infection that vaccination provided moderate protection from hospitalization from the flu between the years 2009 and 2016, though the vaccine was less effective in those 65 and older when H3N2 variants – unexpected mutations that happened after the vaccine was formulated – were circulating.
Jerrid Bearse attended the protest with his 3-year-old son, Riley.
“Vaccines are needed,” he said. “We do need vaccines but we also need to be told it’s not just a rash and a fever that your child may leave with.”
Bearse said, that at 18 months, his son left a MMR – Measles, Mumps, Rubella – vaccination with temporary encephalitis.
“He was a fully developing, normally happy giggling baby who looked you in the eye, would run up to you, hug you,” Bearse said, holding his son. “He was so advanced for his age and we went in – and mind you I had five children – so I wasn’t guessing how they were supposed to develop. And after that visit his eyes just glazed over.”
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Riley began speaking again about six months later, Bearse said.
“I had no experience with a vaccine injury and never heard of vaccine injury, to be honest,” he said. “And I don’t think most people do.”
The CDC reports flu vaccinations usually cause only mild side effects, if any, such as soreness at the injection site, headache, fever and muscle aches. Allergic reactions to any medication, including immunizations, are possible and any one of these could be severe. But they are rare.
There is also a possible connection between influenza shots and Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an auto-immune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks nerve cells, resulting in muscle weakness. However, it is more likely that viral illnesses, such as influenza, trigger this disorder versus the flu shot being responsible.
Jamie Sivertsen has two young daughters. She attended the rally from Taunton. Sivertsen has a religious belief that the human immune system is enough to combat disease but was most upset about the state putting conditions on children going back to school.
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“Why go after their education? You’re going to pull their education if they don’t get a flu shot?” she asked. “Why? Why go after the children? And then you don’t mandate the teachers? What is that about?”
Sivertsen has a religious exemption from vaccination for her daughters, which will still be allowed – along with a medical exemption – under the influenza shot mandate. Homeschooled students in grades K-12 are exempt, as are college students engaged in completely remote learning.
Otherwise, students under age 30 having any physical contact with a learning facility will be required to have proof of influenza immunization by December 31, 2020 to continue attending school.