Unplanned Flu Shot Study

We’ve got an interesting unplanned study underway in the U.S. this flu season. According to recent reports, only one third of Americans have received a flu shot this year. And based on a survey of 4,000 people, only seventeen percent more are planning on getting one. Nice--a fifty-fifty split.

So what’s the study? Well, public health officials at the U.S. Centers of Disease Control (CDC) recommend that 85% of the population (261 million people) get vaccinated against the flu to prevent pandemonium. The flu kills 36,000 people and sends 200,000 to the hospital in the United States annually.

If you’ve listened to my podcast on vaccinations (Dr. Nick Show, Episode 8) then you know all about herd immunity. Herd immunity is the protection an entire population receives from a certain number of the people getting vaccinated. This number is roughly 80-90%. So by 261 million Americans receiving the flu vaccine, we should in theory be “protected” against the devastation promised by the flu. Hmmmm….

Well it ain’t happening this year. Less than fifty percent of the population will be getting the vaccine. So what do you think? Death and pestilence to sweep through the nation? I guess we’ll see. That’ll be the study. If we experience mass devastation, then I’ll concede--I’ll stop bagging on the flu vaccine. But it’ll have to be a significant difference. Not the same numbers we see every year. I’m betting they’ll be pretty close to the same.

As I keep saying: it is nearly impossible to develop a flu vaccine that matches the current strains in the wild. They mutate too quickly. The influenza virus is the true Master of Disguises.

But I’m excited to see the upcoming results. Even though I think that if the pandemic doesn’t happen, public health officials will rationalize it in one way or another; they'll never let go of the flu shot fallacy. However, it’ll pretty much prove things to me. Combine it with last year’s flu vaccine debacle (massive illness despite record numbers of people vaccinated), and the flu shot might just be shot.

Vaccines: Protection or Poison?

What do you think about vaccinations? Public health miracle or a conspiracy ploy by the pharmaceutical industry? Listen to this month's episode of The Dr. Nick Show (episode 8) to get the scoop on vaccinations. For a taste:

Haven't millions of lives been saved by vaccinations? Aren't illnesses like whooping cough, diphtheria and the flu horrible enough to warrant mass protection? Most people sure think so.

But there is another camp--a group of people who feel strongly about not vaccinating their children. They think that vaccines are toxic and can cause more harm than good? There is concern that the rising number of vaccines (24 before the age of 2) are increasing the risk of autism in American children. According to one report, autism has gone up by 500% (check here, too) in the last 15 years. Check out the video below to hear one celebrity vaccine activist speak out against the toxic substances still present in a number of vaccines.

Where do you stand on the subject? Do you wonder about some of the preservatives put into vaccines, like thimerosal or aluminum? Can these preservatives lead to autism? Do you need to vaccinate against chicken pox...or the flu? Or do you think people who don't vaccinate their children are crazy child abusers? You know, Guillan-Barré syndrome is a very real illness tied to vaccinations (check out some side effects as reported by the CDC). Perhaps you think like actress Amanda Peet does, that parents who don't immunize their kids are "parasites", since they leech off the responsible families who get vaccinated.

Oh wait, you didn't know that? Yeah, it's called herd immunity: If 80-85 % (give or take 5% depending on the infectious agent) of the population is immunized, then there is a very low chance of illness spreading since such a large number of people are already protected. If you listen to this month's podcast, you'll get information like this and more! It's a must hear for anybody struggling with the decision on whether they should vaccinate or not.

No matter how you stand on the issue, please check out this month's podcast, Vaccines: Protection or Poison?, to get all the information necessary to make an intelligent and informed decision. Don't make assumptions or take anything for granted. This is a big issue and you need to know the facts. So take a few minutes to listen up, you'll be happy you did.

Mandatory Flu Vaccinations

Jawohl! You've got it--National Socialism is alive and well in the good ol' US of A. Seems like one state is making flu vaccination mandatory for preschoolers. New Jersey State Health Commissioner Dr. Fred M. Jacobs has approved the requirement that all children attending preschool or licensed day care centers will need to get an annual flu shot. Heil, Herr Commandant!

You all know my feelings on mandatory vaccinations in general, and you definitely know how I feel about the flu shot--it's pure bunkum! I get the concept of public health; but the flu shot hasn't been proven to protect anybody, except maybe the manufacturers of the vaccine.

According to recent reports, preschool children are "being targeted because their developing immune systems make them as susceptible to flu complications as senior citizens, and because they are more likely than older kids to spread the virus." Uh, let me see here....don't we need to encounter microorganisms to develop immunity? There is no long lasting immunity derived from the flu vaccine anyway, since the virus mutates rapidly and new strains pop up every year. So why force it upon the public? Isn't it better for kids to contract the flu and strengthen their systems? I just don't get it.

One thing I do get is the concept of herd immunity. Herd immunity is the protection of non-vaccinated individuals by the large number of vaccinated people in a population. The idea is that an illness has less of an opportunity to spread as there are not enough links in the chain (non-vaccinated people) to create a full blown epidemic. So if people want to vaccinate (and, of course, many will) then, by the process of herd immunity, the population as whole will be safe. Go ahead, give 'em out like candy. There'll be plenty of takers. There is enough fear of illness to make the flu vaccine business boom. Why make it mandatory for everyone to subject their children to a questionable substance?

I wouldn't want to give my child the flu vaccine (and believe me, our pediatrician tries; oh boy, does she try). Thank goodness California isn't yet a part of the Third Reich. Put simply--the flu just isn't a menacing enough illness for me to go there. What's next? Chicken Pox. Oh, they try that one too. Haven't most adults alive today had the chicken pox? But the powers that be are trying to sell us on that nonsense as well. Can't wait till they come up with the vaccination for stupidity.

And to top it all off, that glorious Reichian state New Jersey has recently had a recall on one of its most common children vaccines. Ah very good, you guessed it, the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine. Granted this is the vaccine for the bacterial flu strain and not the viral one, but it's still a recall. Appears that 14 million doses of the vaccine produced by Merck (them again?) were contaminated. Contaminated? Scary, man. According to the report, "It was unclear how many of the 1.2 million doses [that got out] were administered to children." Yikes!

The report goes on to say, "Should the vaccine later prove contaminated, health officials believe most children will experience, at worst, skin irritation around the shot site. Problems could be worse for children with weakened immune systems (emphasis mine)." Isn't that the group they are supposedly protecting? That really scares heck out of me.

Here's my advice: Stay up on this story, and any story like it; do whatever you can to prevent its passage in your state. And if you live in New Jersey, get out as fast as you can. Heil Hib-ler!