Flu Shot Side Effects

Do you think that flu shot side effects are fine and dandy?

Lots of children in Western Australia are not so sure.

I am going to pass on getting the flu shot this year. This is an easy decision for me because I was never convinced that it was a good idea anyway. Sure the flu shots side effects are not pleasant, but its not enough of a reason, on its own, to give it a miss. Proponents of the flu vaccine say its OK to put up with the possibility of getting a little pain, headache, soreness or swelling, and maybe also feeling generally unwell. The argument is that this is better than actually getting the flu or dying from it. Be brave because it will do you good say the US The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Australian Department Of Health And Aging.

This is a fine argument but it just doesn’t add up. There are too many questions without great answers. Lets look at a few that I ask myself.

• Why is it that more than fifty percent of health care workers (doctors and nurses) will opt out of receiving a flu vaccination?
• What’s the cause of the flu shots side effects such as fever and convulsions in hundreds of children in Western Australia which prompted the suspension of the vaccines use last week (April 2010)?
• Do you really need the risks involved in increasing your body’s intake of mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde which may be components of the vaccine? (See Avoid Flu Shots, Take Vitamin D Instead). I am sure I have too much of these already.
• Do you have better options (like boosting your immune system using natural foods and supplements) which won’t make you feel sick and actually make you feel better?
• Do you look at the statistics and say that it is just not worth the bother and the risk? To quote from Dr Millers article from the link above when writing about the results of a study written up in the JAMA: “In actuality, for every 100 people that have a flu shot only one will benefit from it – this, in medical parlance, is the “number needed to treat” (NNT) in order to achieve any benefit from the treatment. A flu shot provides no benefit for the other 99 people – 2 of them will get influenza anyway – and all 100 risk being harmed by the vaccine.”
• Have the manufacturers of the vaccine got the right mix of the strains? They in fact need to make a guess, way in advance of the flu season, about which flu strains will be the most prevalent and then mix them accordingly. Do they always guess correctly?
• Can we expose the elderly and the very young, with potentially weak immune systems, to flu shot side effects for no real gain?
• Is there a possible conflict of interest of CDC advisory board members who have financial ties to the vaccine industry?

Thankfully the pharmaceutical industry do not make it compulsory for me to inject this vaccine.

I really do feel sorry for those sick kids in Western Australia.

Cheers,

Lewis

Tagged as: Dr Donald Miller, flu shot, flu shot side effects, flu vaccine, side effects, vitamin d deficiency