Homeopathy and the flu vaccine, explained by a homeopathic doctor

On 2 October Romania's Ministry of Health gave the go-ahead for flu vaccination, and the question I hear every autumn came back to my practice. If I'm having homeopathy sessions, do I still need the vaccine? It is a perfectly honest question. So it deserves an equally honest answer, especially from someone who works with homeopathy herself. Here I'll tell you what lies behind the phrase “homeopathic flu vaccine”, what researchers found when they studied the best-selling remedy for flu symptoms, how much the vaccine really protects you and why I don't take it out of your plan.

What has been announced for this season

The vaccine is free for children from 6 months up, for pregnant women and for people over 65, as well as for people with certain chronic illnesses, for healthcare staff and for those who live in care institutions. If you are between 45 and 65 and have no chronic illness, the Romanian state reimburses half the price, while everyone else can buy it at full price.

The road to the vaccine is short. Your family doctor writes the prescription, you collect the vaccine from the pharmacy, and then either the doctor or an authorised pharmacy gives you the jab. The interim Health Minister insisted on one thing. Vaccination shouldn't be put off until the real cold sets in.

Is there a homeopathic flu vaccine?

There isn't one, at least not in the sense medicine gives to the word vaccine. The phrase “homeopathic vaccine”, which has been doing the rounds in the press for years, refers to preparations called nosodes, which are made by diluting products of disease and do not make the body produce antibodies, and no authority anywhere in the world has approved them as an alternative to vaccination.

The French medicines agency made a point of saying so right at the start of the 2016 vaccination campaign, when it stated that no homeopathic medicine can be considered a vaccine. The Canadians were even firmer. In 2019 their health authority wrote that no homeopathic product should be promoted as an alternative to vaccines, for the simple reason that vaccines have no substitute, and the boxes of these products now say in black and white that they are not vaccines.

What the studies show about Oscillococcinum

You'll find Oscillococcinum in every pharmacy in Romania, and it is the homeopathic remedy people reach for most often at the first signs of flu. The most cited analysis of it is a Cochrane review from 2015. It brought together 6 studies.

On prevention there were 2 studies with 327 adults, and between the remedy and placebo there was no statistically significant difference. On treatment there were 4 studies with 1,196 teenagers and adults, and in two of them the people who had taken the remedy said slightly more often than those on placebo that they felt better 48 hours after the first dose, with an absolute difference of 7.7%. At 3 days the difference was already smaller. By 4 and 5 days it had gone.

The authors' conclusion is cautious. Good evidence is lacking, the studies were of low quality and don't allow firm conclusions, and they found no important harmful effects. For your question this means there is no evidence that Oscillococcinum protects you from flu.

How well the vaccine protects

It would be dishonest to tell you the vaccine is perfect, because it isn't. A meta-analysis published in 2012 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found an average efficacy of 59% for the inactivated vaccine in adults aged 18 to 65, and the authors called the protection moderate and showed that it varies from one season to the next.

So you can still catch flu after the vaccine. But the risk drops noticeably, and that drop weighs most for exactly the people in whom flu can turn serious, meaning those with chronic illnesses, older people and pregnant women.

Why I don't take the vaccine out of your plan

In my practice homeopathy is a complement and has never been a substitute, something I've also written on the homeopathy page. Here I say it just as firmly. If you belong to a risk group, I don't advise you to give up the vaccine for a homeopathic remedy.

Are you already on a homeopathic treatment? Tell your family doctor before the vaccination, just as you tell me what other treatments you're following. And a treatment prescribed by someone else is never stopped or changed without first talking to whoever prescribed it.

When flu needs a doctor, not remedies

Flu usually clears up on its own within a few days. But sometimes it gets complicated and then time matters, which is why the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put together a list of the signs that call for medical attention straight away.

In adults:

• laboured breathing or a feeling of being short of breath
• pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen that doesn't go away
• dizziness, confusion or drowsiness the person struggles to wake from
• seizures
• fever or cough that improves and then comes back worse
• worsening of a chronic illness

In children:

• fast or laboured breathing, bluish lips or face
• signs of dehydration, no urine for 8 hours, dry mouth, crying without tears
• a child who doesn't respond normally when awake
• any fever in a baby younger than 12 weeks

If you recognise any of the signs above, don't wait for some remedy to start working: go to a doctor or call 112.

How I work

The consultation starts from your whole history. When our conversation shows that you need a test or a conventional treatment, I tell you directly and send you there. You'll find all the steps on the homeopathy page and the fees on the fees page. If you're wondering what new rules Romania's Ministry of Health is preparing for homeopathy, I've taken them apart in detail in the article on the new rules for homeopathy and alternative medicine.

Sources

• Mathie R. T., Frye J., Fisher P., Homeopathic Oscillococcinum® for preventing and treating influenza and influenza-like illness, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2015, (1): CD001957. PubMed
• Osterholm M. T., Kelley N. S., Sommer A., Belongia E. A., Efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccines: a systematic review and meta-analysis, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2012, 12(1): 36–44. PubMed
• Health Canada, Homeopathic remedies are not substitute vaccines, 6 March 2019. canada.ca
• Le Quotidien du Médecin, Homéopathie vs vaccin, la mise au point de l'ANSM sur la grippe, 25 November 2016. lequotidiendumedecin.fr
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Signs and Symptoms of Flu, 2024. cdc.gov
• Gazeta de Sud, Ministerul Sănătății recomandă vaccinarea antigripală. Cine poate primi vaccinul gratuit, 2 October 2026. gds.ro

This article is for information and does not replace a medical consultation. Do not stop or change a prescribed treatment without talking to the doctor who prescribed it.

All articles