= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
kilobug comments on A Cost- Benefit Analysis of Immunizing Healthy Adults Against Influenza - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (81)
Getting complications (allergy, ...) from the flu shot should be included somewhere in the graph - it can't be totally screened away, and while it's unlikely to happen, it's not much more unlikely than dying from the flu.
But most importantly (and this time, arguing for the shot), the "herd immunity" effects should be considered. Even if just half of the people take the shot, those who because of the shot didn't get the disease won't be carriers and won't spread the disease to even those who did get the shot.
The Coleman paper provides some stats on how likely e.g. muscle pain is to result from receiving a flu shot (5-30%, authors are not sure how significant this effect is, though a couple RCTs report this effect), as well as on fever (which 3.2% of those who got a flu shot, and 1.6% of those who received a placebo experienced, according to one RCT cited by Coleman).
I never saw anything about the probability of experiencing an allergic reaction to the vaccine, but I haven't specifically looked for this information.
Yes, they could be. The reason I didn't consider herd immunity effects is because I was calculating the benefit which a (possibly un-altruistic) individual would receive from vaccination.