Influenza vaccination: policy versus evidence

doi:10.1136/bmj.39024.451389.FA

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No gap between policy and evidence

David S Fedson, retired physician1,
Kristin L Nichol, professor of medicine2

¹01630 Sergy Haut, France dfedson@wanadoo.fr
²University of Minnesota

Jefferson believes that his systematic reviews show that influenza vaccines “have little or no effect on the effects measured.”1 He wonders why there is a gap between evidence and policy.

Jefferson identifies three reasons why his evidence contradicts policy.

Firstly, policy relies heavily on non-randomised studies. Yet his preference for randomised controlled trials is based on historical, pragmatic, and heuristic reasons and cannot be justified on epistemological …