Osterholm co-authored " The Compelling Need for Game-Changing Influenza Vaccines, " which came out last October.
That analysis shows significantly less effectiveness than what has been the conventional wisdom within the scientific community, Osterholm said.
Osterholm's study suggests this has been a general pattern in American public health history with relation to the flu vaccine.
"This enthusiasm to get more people vaccinated gets in the way of a critical look at the science, " Osterholm said.
"I think all of us have been very impressed with the Chinese response, " said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious-disease expert.
"In promoting vaccination, it became a mantra that it was 70 to 90% effective across all ages completely, and that wasn't true, " Osterholm said.
Michael Osterholm, a former Minnesota state epidemiologist, is even blunter.
ECONOMIST: Biowarfare could be the worst terrorist threat of all
While some health officials have mentioned the possibility of cholera and typhoid, Osterholm said those diseases don't pose a problem because they didn't exist in the region before the hurricane.
"They may have much more information but it surely hasn't been forthcoming, " said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, of the Saudi government.
WSJ: Virus's Toll in Saudi Arabia Raises Fears of Faster Spread
"There is a real downside to the promotion (of the current flu vaccine), as it dampens serious investment and shuts down any real interest in start-ups to create a more effective vaccine, " Osterholm said.
Michael Osterholm, of the University of Minnesota, and Donald Henderson, of the University of Pittsburgh, however, argue in Science that H5N1's human-fatality rate means any benefits that might flow from the research are dwarfed by the risks.
Michael Osterholm, director of the Minnesota Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance at the University of Minnesota, believes people should get the vaccine, but he worries that the current policy gives the impression the vaccine is more effective than it actually is.
应用推荐