Alternative Medicine A Better Option For Flu Vaccine?

Most adults would commonly discuss the dreaded flu vaccine. Some parents support the vaccine while some are hoping for an alternative. For parents who do not want their kids to get the vaccine, new research might found a different approach.

Researcher and lead author of the study from the health policy and administration at Pennsylvania State University, William Bleser, formed a team of researchers and found that children who underwent alternative or complementary medicine such as massage therapy and acupuncture less likely to get a flu vaccine. Experts shared that this unique way has been suggested because the health providers themselves are reluctant in recommending vaccines.

To get the result, experts conducted a study; they collected materials from 2012 National Health Interview Survey that involves the information of 9,000 US children aged 4 to 17. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) conducts this survey yearly. Among the collected files are reports regarding children who used flu vaccine and kids who underwent alternative medicine.

Experts discovered that 4 percent of the kids use acupuncture, 5 percent uses yoga, 7 percent uses chiropractic manipulation or manipulative and body-based therapy, and 8 percent used herbal supplements or biologically based therapy, as reported by Live Science.

In line with this, the result led the researchers that 43 percent of all the kids received an influenza vaccine in the previous years. Also, they took a careful look at the data and it shows that kids who underwent alternative medicine are less likely to receive a vaccine in the prior year compared to those who does not ever received the alternatives.

Meanwhile, CDC suggests that flu shots have the capability to lower the risk of infection by 50 to 60 percent especially during the season where vaccines are needed to fight against viral strains. In the other hand, an infectious disease expert Dr. Gregory Poland said that "It's not 100 percent effective, but it's a good vaccine, and it's far wiser to get it than to skip it, according to Health Day.