• Gidon Y Perlman.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center, Jerusalem. gidonp@013.net
• Harefuah. 2009 Dec 1; 148 (12): 811-4, 856.

BackgroundThe influenza virus is a well-known cause of pandemics, such as the swine flu (A/H1N1) pandemic and of seasonal epidemics worldwide. Most of the morbidity and mortality due to the virus is caused by the seasonal flu epidemics for which the flu vaccine has been proven to be an efficient preventive measure. On the 22nd of October 2006 the Israeli media widely reported the deaths of three patients who had received the flu vaccine at the same clinic in Kiryat Gat. A nationwide panic arose following these publications and many people were afraid to receive the flu vaccine.ObjectivesTo examine the influence of the panic reflected in the media on the rate of vaccination for influenza and on the attitudes of the patients towards the vaccine at the Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center.MethodsBetween January and April 2007, 162 people at the Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center completed a questionnaire about the flu vaccine and their reasons for avoiding it. The clinical status of the participants was also assessed.ResultsThe rate of vaccination during the flu season of 2006-7 was only 31% compared with a recommended rate of 96% according to the Israeli Health Ministry's guidelines. This represents a 37% decline in the rate of vaccination compared with the previous flu season (p=0.0015). More than half of the people surveyed (54%) reported that their decision to avoid the flu vaccine was related to the public scare reported by the media. The patients who received the flu vaccine in 2005-6 but discontinued receiving it in 2006-7 were on average younger that those who continued receiving it. There were no significant differences between the sexes or ethnic backgrounds of the vaccine avoiders. A total of 73 patients were reported sick with influenza-related diseases. These patients, who had not received the flu vaccine, were significantly younger (60 years p<0.001) and less chronically ill (57% had recurrent hospitalizations p=0.017). Amongst the patients who discontinued the flu vaccine in 2006-7 the rate of influenza-related diseases was 63%. This rate was 1.4 times higher than the average rate observed amongst the entire survey population--45% (p=0.058).ConclusionsThe results of this survey show that the panic in the Israeli media resulted in a very significant reduction in the rate of vaccination with the flu vaccine at the Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center during the flu season of 2006-7. This reduction in the rate of vaccination resulted in greater morbidity. We can conclude that many people in Israel became sick and even died due to the flu vaccine scare which was never proved to be justified. There is a need to consider how to avoid a similar media-evoked panic reaction in the future which causes damage to the public's health.

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