This headline was on The Gazette’s front page Feb. 22: “Flu shot did poor job against worst bug in seniors.” The estimate was 9 percent effective for that bug.

It didn’t do much better overall at 56 percent and 27 percent for three of the four strains for seniors. Not very promising. Furthermore, those percentages are not sacrosanct because how many of those in the various percentages would not have gotten the flu anyway?

That question cannot be answered reliably — we’ll never know. The day flu vaccines are 100 percent effective and safe may never be achieved, so until that happens, are any flu shots safe? One that is not safe contains thimerosal, which is 49 percent mercury, a harmful neurotoxin. The answer for those that do not contain mercury may be just as dangerous. We do not know for sure.

Robert Larsen

Cedar Rapids