A Scheduling Miracle: Unlocking the Efficacy of Flu Shots Without Clinical Trials The recent controversy over the flu shot's efficacy in children has highlighted a critical issue: the reliance on randomized controlled trials as the sole gold standard for measuring treatment effectiveness.
While clinical trials are indeed rigorous, they are not the only way to establish the value of a long established treatment like the flu shot.
The US Department of Health and Human Services' revised recommendation was based, in part, on a lack of randomized trials proving the vaccine's efficacy in children, including the very young.