A preprint from the Cleveland Clinic evaluated the “effectiveness of the influenza vaccine during the 2024-2025 respiratory viral season.”

The study found that “influenza vaccination of working-aged adults was associated with a higher risk of influenza during the 2024-2025 respiratory viral season.”

The researchers concluded the flu shot was not effective in preventing influenza.

From the preprint:

Employees of Cleveland Clinic in employment in Ohio on October 1, 2024, were included. The cumulative incidence of influenza among those in the vaccinated and unvaccinated states was compared over the following 25 weeks. Protection provided by vaccination (analyzed as a time-dependent covariate) was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression.

Among 53402 employees, 43857 (82.1%) had received the influenza vaccine by the end of the study. Influenza occurred in 1079 (2.02%) during the study. The cumulative incidence of influenza was similar for the vaccinated and unvaccinated states early, but over the course of the study the cumulative incidence of influenza increased more rapidly among the vaccinated than the unvaccinated. In an analysis adjusted for age, sex, clinical nursing job, and employment location, the risk of influenza was significantly higher for the vaccinated compared to the unvaccinated state (HR, 1.27; 95% C.I., 1.07 – 1.51; P = 0.007), yielding a calculated vaccine effectiveness of −26.9% (95% C.I., −55.0 to −6.6%).

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“All ‘flu’ vaccines must be pulled from the market pending large prospective studies of their safety and effectiveness,” reporter Alex Berenson commented.

“End the flu vaccine scam. NOW. Public health should agree to this, because nothing has been worse for public confidence in childhood vaccines than the endless efforts to push flu and Covid jabs that people can tell do not work,” he added.

Per Trial Site News:

Of the 53,402 employees analyzed, 82.1% received the flu vaccine. Yet, the cumulative incidence of influenza climbed faster in the vaccinated than the unvaccinated cohort. A total of 1,079 infections occurred—overwhelmingly, influenza A. After multivariable adjustment, the vaccinated had a 27% higher risk of influenza infection (HR 1.27, 95% CI: 1.07–1.51, P = 0.007), translating to a vaccine effectiveness of –26.9%. These results are not due to testing bias: while vaccinated individuals were more likely to get tested, their test positivity rate was nearly identical to the unvaccinated, indicating a true excess of infections.

The findings are deeply concerning. The negative vaccine effectiveness (VE) figure—suggesting harm rather than protection—contradicts public health messaging and raises serious questions about strain mismatch, immune interference, or potential vaccine-related susceptibility. This was not a marginal statistical fluke. The signal held in both unadjusted and adjusted models and was detected early using time-dependent methods. No protective effect emerged at any point.

Moreover, this wasn’t a flawed population. The cohort skewed young (mean age 42), mostly healthy, with high occupational compliance. The data were robust enough to reject the common defense that odds ratios from “test-negative” studies exaggerate protection—because here, direct risk was measured.

The study focused on the inactivated trivalent vaccine, used by 99% of participants. Effectiveness of other formulations like quadrivalent or live-attenuated vaccines was not assessed. The researchers did not evaluate flu-related hospitalizations or deaths, which were too rare to analyze. The study also excluded children and the elderly and could not capture home-diagnosed cases outside the Cleveland Clinic system. Despite these limitations, its findings remain highly relevant to adult public health policy.

The results should be peer reviewed.

This hard-hitting real-world analysis suggests the 2024–2025 flu vaccine not only failed to protect working-age adults but may have increased their risk of infection. In an era of mounting skepticism and vaccine fatigue, public health authorities must reckon with data like this—not dismiss it. Annual flu vaccine strategies may need a serious rethink, particularly in years of poor strain matching. At minimum, real-time effectiveness tracking should become a national imperative, not an afterthought.

 

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