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[Previous entry: "Tylenol. Don Rickles flavor, please."] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Keith Moon's birthday party or Car meets swimming pool."] 09/25/2005 Entry: "Flu shots really work." Flu shots really work. I've always assumed this, but there seemed to be some disagreement on their effectiveness because of how difficult it is to verify a flu related death. Sweden's social security system, which is tied to its healthcare system, allows for some better datamining. But at a meeting in Malta last week Ake Ortqvist of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, reported that flu vaccination in Stockholm cut overall deaths among the elderly during the flu season by 15 to 20 per cent. "We could measure this because of Sweden's unique social security system, in which everyone has a number," he told New Scientist. All people over 65 in Stockholm county - and not just those in nursing homes as in other studies - could be followed meticulously, and differences in illness and death rates between vaccinated and non-vaccinated people measured accurately.