THE benefits outweigh any risks.
That is the message from local health experts after it was revealed more than 20 people died across the country following a routine flu jab.
Official figures show 23 people died in the past five years after being given the winter vaccine and 123 p
eople suffered a suspected reaction so severe they were taken to hospital.
Causes of death included heart attacks, blood infections and pneumonia, while asthma and kidney failure were reported among the side-effects.
But health experts have warned people against fearing over the safety of the vaccine, which is taken by eight million people in Britain every year.
Many say the deaths could be coincidental and no direct link to the injection has been established.
Dr Steven Gee, expert in communicable diseases with the Health Protection Agency in Lancashire, said the flu vaccine would not be given if it was not working.
He said: "Influenza is a disease that can have quite a devastating affect on those who are at risk.
"Most adults who get flu will maybe be unwell, be in bed for a couple of days and then get over it. That's why we don't routinely vaccinate everyone against flu.
"Vaccination is a biological process which stimulates the bodies immune system to produce protective antibodies – however the whole point is that this is very much less stress to the body than catching the disease itself. Influenza and its complications can be a very severe disease to those who are vulnerable."
Dr Gee added: "By definition we give flu vaccine to people who are really sick because they are the ones most vulnerable to the disease of flu, so it is hardly surprising that some die at some time after the immunisation.
"There is no single cause of these reported deaths, which would to me indicate no direct effect of the vaccine.
"Basically, if the vaccine did not work or if the risks outweighed the benefits, then we wouldn't use it."
Government policy is to offer the jabs to everyone over 65 and those with existing conditions that could be worsened by flu.
Lisa Vallente-Osborne, Vaccination Lead with Blackpool Primary Care Trust, said: "A suspected adverse reaction does not necessarily mean that it has been caused by the vaccine. The timing in relation to receiving a vaccination may be purely coincidental."
The importance of vaccination was highlighted in last Friday's Gazette after a mother spoke of her guilt at not having her daughter immunised against measles and it escalated to pneumonia.
The full article contains 431 words and appears in Blackpool Gazette newspaper.
