Response to “Are Vaccines Safe?”

Sat., Feb. 17, 2018

The letter concerning safety of vaccines (“Are vaccines safe?” Feb. 2) left me with my jaw dropping.

First of all, vaccines do NOT cause illness. The flu vaccine does not contain a live virus. To suggest (as the writer did) that vaccines DO cause the flu is reckless and beyond belief.

Secondly, the flu vaccine for the current year is developed the year previously. As the flu virus is subject to mutation, it is impossible to create a vaccine that will cover all viruses out there. Some years are better than others.

And finally, having had a flu shot last fall, AND having the flu itself in January, I’m certainly glad for the vaccine, or I probably would have been much sicker than I was. Remember, in the flu pandemic of 1918, 50 million people died worldwide. Does the write prefer that to the vaccine?

Laurie Anderson

Spokane

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