Flu Vaccinations – The Right Choice?

As the days become decidedly shorter, and the air crisps up, we can rely – like clockwork – on Flu Hysteria punctuating the start of winter. This year, for the first time in the UK, Flu Vaccinations will be available in high street stores. Boots now offer the flu jab for just £15. As the media would instruct us, this is a small price to pay to protect the lives of our loved ones. But is this really the reality? Read on to find discover the realities of the situation.

Should We Be Concerned?

There is no doubt that Influenza can be a serious virus, causing a range of symptoms that, for most people, could result in up to two weeks off of work/school. There are plenty of statistics out there indicating much more serious consequences, which are worth looking into in more detail.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the organization that is usually turned to for statistics on disease. But the seem to distort the facts about flu deaths. If you go to the CDC’s main flu page, you’ll see their statistic that they say about 36,000 people die from the flu in the United States each year. If you look further into it, you’ll find that in 2005 (the most recent data available), 1,806 people died from influenza (Or 1 in 166,744) – nothing like 36,000. In 2004, there were just 1,100 flu deaths.

The reason for this is that the CDC classifies those dying from pneumonia as dying from the flu. For instance, their 2005 statistics lump influenza and pneumonia deaths together, at 62,804 deaths. More accurately, there were 60,998 deaths from pneumonia and just 1,806 from the flu.

According to the UK Chief Medical Officer’s publication “Explaining Pandemic Flu” (March 2005): “Ordinary flu occurs every year during the winter months in the UK. It affects 10-15% of the UK population, causing around 12,000 deaths every year.” But according to another official publication from the Department of Health, “Summary of Flu Immunisation Policy” (3 October 2004), “even during a winter where the incidence of flu is low, 3-4000 deaths may be attributed to flu.” According to first statement flu causes 12,000 deaths every year, while according to the second statement the figure is 3-4,000.

There is a lot of information out there if you care to look – these are just examples of the distorted statistics we’re presented with. The purpose is simple to illustrate the point that until corrected and unbiased statistics are developed, the chances for sound discussion and health decisions unaffected by PR and hysteria are limited.

Do The Vaccines Do What They Say On The Box?

In 2006, less than 40% of USA healthcare workers got flu vaccinations. The three reasons sited were:

• They didn’t believe the vaccine would work


• They believed their immune systems were strong enough to withstand exposure to the flu


• They were concerned about side effects

One wonders why these healthcare professionals would have chosen to leave themselves at risk.

Flu vaccinations were originally predominantly prescribed to the elderly. However, a yearly flu vaccine has never been proven to prevent flu-related deaths in people over the age of 65, according to a recent review in the Lancet medical journal. No studies have conclusively proven that flu shots prevent flu-related deaths among the elderly, according to the review, and some of the support for the practice is based on flawed data. And while some studies have shown a benefit of flu shots in younger adults, even though about 75 percent of flu-related deaths occur among the over 70’s, only a small number of trials included people in that age group. There is also evidence, according to the researchers, that the flu vaccines are less effective in older people because the elderly have lower immune activity. As vaccination coverage among the elderly increased from 15 percent in 1980 to 65 percent now, but there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza or pneumonia. Additionally, a Group Health study found that flu shots do not protect elderly people from developing pneumonia. Pneumonia is the primary cause of death resulting from flu.

In recent years, flu vaccinations have been being recommended to persons of all ages, from as young as 6 months. Are the vaccinations any more effective for young, healthy people than they are for aging people?

At first glance, data suggests that children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years derived some protection from vaccination in these years. But after adjusting for potentially relevant variables, a study published in The Archives Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (Oct 2008) concluded that “significant influenza vaccine effectiveness could not be demonstrated for any season, age, or setting”. The study also found that vaccinating young children against the flu appeared to have no impact on flu-related hospitalisations or doctor visits during two recent flu seasons.

In a study published in the October issue of the British Medical Journal, Dr. Tom Jefferson concluded that influenza vaccines have little or no effect on many influenza campaign objectives, such as hospital stay, time off work, or death from influenza and its complications. “I looked at the evidence described by systematic reviews and confronted it with policy and I found that there is a massive gap,” Jefferson said. “Almost none of the benefits that these policy documents list are actually given by inactivated vaccines or, if they are, they are given in slighter measure.”

Jefferson rounded off his study by advising, “We‘ve got an exaggerated expectation of what vaccines can actually do. I‘m hoping American and European taxpayers will be alerted and will start asking questions.”

There is no doubt that western society has been successful in cutting infectious disease in recent times. As much as pharmaceutical companies would like us to believe that this is due to vaccinations, Dr Andrew Weil concludes in his book Health And Healing: “Scientific medicine has taken credit it does not deserve for some advances in health. Most people believe that victory over the infectious diseases of the last century came with the invention of immunizations. In fact, cholera, typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, etc, were in decline before vaccines for them became available – the result of better methods of sanitation, sewage disposal, and distribution of food and water.”

The Dangers Of The Vaccination

Many people may simply feel more assured about their health if they receive the flu vaccine. But the jab doesn’t come without side-effects. Aside from weakening the immune system (and immune system strength is absolutely key to the prevention of viruses), the most common reactions to killed flu vaccine are fever, fatigue, painful joints and headache. These are pretty unpleasant things to inflict on oneself. The most serious reported reaction, which usually occurs within two weeks of vaccination, is Guillain Barre Syndrome, an immune-mediated nerve disorder characterized by muscle weakness, numbness, pain and paralysis.

Additionally, anyone considering flu vaccination should consider whether they want any of the following vaccine constituents in their bloodstream:

• Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)


• Phenol, also known as carbolic acid (this is used as a disinfectant, dye)


• Formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing agent


• Aluminum, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease and seizures and also cancer producing in laboratory mice (it is used as an additive to promote antibody response)


• Thimerosal (a mercury disinfectant/preservative) can result in brain injury and autoimmune disease


• Neomycin and Streptomycin (used as antibiotics) have caused allergic reaction in some people.

What Should We Do Then?

The simple truth is that most people dye from flu because they are already sick and have compromised immune systems. Whether or not you take the vaccination is a personal decision and we would not advise you either way. But we would advise you to do proper research and ask your doctor for the full information provided with the vaccination. This should help ensure that you can make an informed, rational decision.

Given that the strength of one’s immune system is the key factor for flu and all other infectious diseases, it would stand to reason that before one considers putting drugs into the body, one should take steps to strengthen the system naturally.

Researchers have found that by exercising, mice were preventing death resulting from the illness. One of the many positive effects of exercise is that you increase your circulation and blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it has a chance to spread. In a sense, exercising helps your immune system to be more efficient in weeding out and acting upon viruses and diseases.

Besides regular exercise, other key steps you can take are to:

• Eat a healthy diet and eliminate sugar and refined grains


• Get enough rest


• Eat garlic regularly


• Find a way to deal with stress


• Wash your hands regularly


• Ensure sufficient intake of Omega 3 oils from natural sources

If It Can Be That Simple, Why The Hysteria?

Pharmaceuticals is big business. Far be it from us to speculate on the economic and political specifics, Barbara Fisher, who served for ten years on the US National Vaccine Advisory Committee, provides her insights:

“We have bad science and bad medicine translated into law to ensure that vaccine manufacturers make big profits, that career bureaucrats at the Public Health Service meet the mass vaccination goals promised to politicians funding their budgets, and pediatricians have a steady flow of patients…As the drug companies have often stated in meetings I have attended, if a vaccine they produce is not mandated to be used on a mass basis, they do not recoup their R&D costs and do not make the profit they want. In the medical literature official studies of vaccine risk are published purportedly proving there is no cause and effect. What the reader does not know is that often the studies have been designed and conducted by physicians who sit on vaccine policy-making committees at the Centers for Disease Control…some of whom receive money from vaccine manufacturers for their universities and for testifying as expert witnesses in vaccine-injury cases. And others are federal employees with an eye on career advancement within HHS and a future job with a vaccine manufacturer after retirement from public service. Many of these same physicians sit on the peer review boards of the major medical journals such as Pediatrics and JAMA, where they refuse space for studies or letters from the few brave physicians who dare to challenge their assertions that there is no cause and effect.”

Some resources you might find useful if you wish to get started on reading more:
Interesting video of Dr. Gary Null, who asks why people with one trillion dollars in lawsuit claims out against them at the current time are perceived as being trustworthy. These are the vaccine people.
www.mercola.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-vaccinationist
http://www.nvic.org/Diseases/Influenza.htm
www.lewrockwell.com/alston/alston33.html
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/331/7529/1412