Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Volga bam here. Misunderstandings about flu vaccines have
Speaker 1: existed for decades, leading to vaccine mistrust and lower than
Speaker 1: ideal vaccination rates. Now that a coronavirus vaccine appears to
Speaker 1: be close, experts are concerned that the lack of trust
Speaker 1: and understanding about flu vaccines could translate into lower than
Speaker 1: optimal coronavirus vaccination rates. Recent surveys suggest that many Americans
Speaker 1: would not get vaccinated for COVID nineteen. A Pew Research
Speaker 1: Center study released in September reported that nearly half definitely
Speaker 1: or probably would not. The persistence of anti vaccine sentiment,
Speaker 1: partly based on mistrust of vaccine ingredients, is likely contributing
Speaker 1: to this hesitancy, and the lack of trust is especially
Speaker 1: upsetting to public health officials, doctors, and other scientists. The
Speaker 1: issue is not just troubling, but so frustrating because a
Speaker 1: major reason for vaccine reluctance sprang from a debunked, retracted,
Speaker 1: and outright false article. Even though the study that that
Speaker 1: article reported on was discredited a decade ago, Undoing the
Speaker 1: damage has been difficult. The whole situation showed how easy
Speaker 1: it is to disseminate incorrect information, particularly over the Internet.
Speaker 1: The authors of today's episode are drug information pharmacists, and
Speaker 1: as such, they wanted to review the ingredients that have
Speaker 1: caused so much controversy and to remind you that this
Speaker 1: is a great time to get your flu vaccine. As
Speaker 1: coronavirus cases sore, threatening not only lives, but the ability
Speaker 1: of hospitals to care for them. Getting a flu vaccine
Speaker 1: is a crucial part of self care and healthcare. So
Speaker 1: let's start with the basics. The flu vaccine is different
Speaker 1: every year. That's because there are different types of viruses
Speaker 1: and strains of each virus. The flu vaccine is different
Speaker 1: every year, and that's because there are different types of
Speaker 1: viruses and strains of each virus. The contents of the
Speaker 1: vaccine depend on the kind of flu that has been
Speaker 1: circulating in any given year. The FDA Vaccines and Related
Speaker 1: Biological Products Advisory Committee determines vaccine for the coming flu
Speaker 1: season using the best scientific evidence at hand to determine
Speaker 1: which virus strains should be included. To mass produce the
Speaker 1: flu vaccine, a large amount of virus needs to be replicated.
Speaker 1: Vaccine manufacturers do this in chicken eggs or in animal
Speaker 1: cell lines, from which the virus can then be harvested.
Speaker 1: The final product may contain trace amounts of egg protein.
Speaker 1: Even individuals with egg allergies can usually receive these vaccines. However,
Speaker 1: for those with severe allergy to egg proteins, flu vaccines
Speaker 1: that don't contain egg protein are available. The finished flu
Speaker 1: vaccines carry a killed or dead version of the virus.
Speaker 1: In turn, your body mounts an immune response, but the
Speaker 1: vaccine cannot cause the flu because the virus is killed.
Speaker 1: One flu vaccine administered as a nasal spray called flu
Speaker 1: mist does contain a weakened form of the live virus.
Speaker 1: In healthy people, this won't cause the flu, but it
Speaker 1: can cause runny or stuffy nose, headache, and sore throat.
Speaker 1: The live weakened flu vaccine should not be used if
Speaker 1: you have a weakened immune system or caring for someone
Speaker 1: with a compromised immune system. Chemical agents are used to
Speaker 1: enactivate the virus, but the amount of any inactivating agent
Speaker 1: in the finished flu vaccine is negligible. One common agent
Speaker 1: used is formaldehyde, but don't worry, higher levels of formaldehyde
Speaker 1: are naturally found in fruits. An average apple contains six
Speaker 1: hundred times more formaldehyde than is found in a dose
Speaker 1: a flu vaccine. Vaccines also must be stabilized to help
Speaker 1: maintain the effectiveness of the vaccine in case it's exposed
Speaker 1: to eat light or moisture, or if it experiences changes
Speaker 1: in acidity. Vaccine makers use stabilizers such as sucrose, sorbitol, gelatine,
Speaker 1: and monosodium glutamate or MSG. All of these are food
Speaker 1: ingredients found in almost every kitchen. Sucrose and sorbitol are sugars.
Speaker 1: Gelatine is derived from collagen and used in jello and
Speaker 1: gummy bears. Monosodium glutamate adds flavor to many seasonings and dishes,
Speaker 1: and the amount of stabilizer found in flu vaccines is
Speaker 1: very small. The average person consumes much more of these
Speaker 1: ingredients per day through normal food consumption. For example, the
Speaker 1: amount of sugar and gelatine in a vaccine dose is
Speaker 1: far less than that found in a single gummy bear,
Speaker 1: and for those with gelatine allergies or who otherwise don't
Speaker 1: eat gelatine, a flu vaccine without it is easy to find,
Speaker 1: And then there are sometimes preservatives. Vaccines can get contaminated
Speaker 1: and to prevent that. Thimerosol is sometimes added to prevent
Speaker 1: bacterial or fungal contamination from using the same vial to
Speaker 1: deliver multiple doses. The discredit study that we mentioned earlier
Speaker 1: led many people to believe that thimerisol and vaccines can
Speaker 1: cause autism, but multiple studies that followed could not establish
Speaker 1: an association between thimerosol containing vaccines and autism. Thimerosol does
Speaker 1: contain an organic derivative of mercury called ethyl mercury, which
Speaker 1: is one of two types of the element to which
Speaker 1: people may be exposed. The body actually eliminates it more
Speaker 1: easily than the second type, called methyl mercury, which is
Speaker 1: the type found in contaminated fish. It is true that
Speaker 1: high exposures to mercury can affect central nervous system, but
Speaker 1: the amount of elemental mercury found in a vaccine dose
Speaker 1: is twenty five micrograms, which equates to the amount and
Speaker 1: a three ounce can of tuna fish. That said, because
Speaker 1: thimerosol is only found in multi dose vials, it can
Speaker 1: easily be avoided by receiving a thimerosol free single dose
Speaker 1: flu vaccine. Of flu vaccines may also contain added ingredients.
Speaker 1: One vaccine called flu AD and flu AD quadrivalent is
Speaker 1: approved to prevent seasonal influenza in adults age sixty five
Speaker 1: and older. It contains an extra ingredient or adjuvant to
Speaker 1: boost the immune response. The adjuvant in this vaccine is
Speaker 1: m F fifty nine, which is an oil and water
Speaker 1: emulsion of squaling. Oil Squaling is found naturally in plants, animals,
Speaker 1: and the human body. The squaling in the flu vaccine,
Speaker 1: which is highly purified, is obtained from shark liver. Oil
Speaker 1: squaling from shark livers is also present in some cosmetics,
Speaker 1: over the counter medicines, and dietary health supplements. Each dose
Speaker 1: of vaccine contains about the amount of squaling found in
Speaker 1: four teaspoons of olive oil. No severe reactions associated with
Speaker 1: squaling in vaccines have been observed. Finally, antibiotics are often
Speaker 1: used in vaccine production to prevent bacterial contamination during manufacturing.
Speaker 1: In some cases, very small amount may be in the
Speaker 1: finished vaccines. These antibiotics are not the ones commonly associated
Speaker 1: with severe allergic reactions, like penicillin, setalosporins, and sulfa drugs.
Speaker 1: The trace amounts of antibiotics that vaccines do contain have
Speaker 1: not been clearly associated with severe allergic reactions for those
Speaker 1: who have experienced an allergic reaction to one of these antibiotics,
Speaker 1: though flu vaccines are available that do not contain them.
Speaker 1: So different formulations of the flu vaccine can contain a
Speaker 1: variety of ingredients, but most are in extremely small quantities.
Speaker 1: They are unlikely to produce negative effects when administered as
Speaker 1: a single dose once a year. Unless a person has
Speaker 1: a history of a severe allergic reaction to an ingredient,
Speaker 1: most flu vaccines can be safely administered. Centuries ago, the
Speaker 1: so called father of toxicology, Paracelsus, said, what is there
Speaker 1: that is not poison? All things are poison, and nothing
Speaker 1: is without poison. And it's true water is healthy for
Speaker 1: us in appropriate amounts, but too little or too much
Speaker 1: of it could potentially lead to death. It's the dose,
Speaker 1: as paras Eelsis says, that determines whether or not something
Speaker 1: is dangerous. All of these centuries later, consider that sage
Speaker 1: advice when you think about taking the flu vaccine. Today's
Speaker 1: episode was produced by Tyler Clang and it was written
Speaker 1: by Terry Levine, a professor of pharmacy and a pie Kim,
Speaker 1: a clinical assistant professor, both at Washington State University. The
Speaker 1: article that this episode was based on was republished on
Speaker 1: how stuffworks dot com from The Conversation dot com under
Speaker 1: a Creative Commons license. Brain Stuff is production of I
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