Schaffner: Flu shot doesn’t cause influenza epidemic
You can’t get the flu from a flu shot. And public health officials aren’t blaming the vaccine for causing this season’s nasty epidemic.
“The vaccine itself contains only purified parts of the virus; there is no live virus in the injectable vaccine, so it is impossible for the vaccine to cause the disease,” said Vanderbilt University flu expert Dr. William Schaffner.
Federal health officials are working to understand better why this year’s vaccine isn’t as effective, but have never said the virus caused the disease.