A Courtesy of Healing Touch Chiropractic and Dr. Gary L. Easter
November 1st, 2004

Flu Vaccines, Pro's/Con's and Alternatives:I was recently talking to a good friend of mine who I grew up with in WV.  (Hi Joe ;)) He was asking me about the pros and cons of getting the influenza vaccine for himself and his family.  Now I've known Joe forever and I consider his family part of my own so I wanted to give him the best information available to make an informed decision.  Instead of giving him the “all vaccines are bad” speech or the “you need to take your vaccine” lecture, I did the research on the flu vaccine from the best available sources.  The following is what I've found.First, the Pro's.  Flu vaccine is touted by health officials as the best way to avoid death by the influenza virus.  According to the CDC's website the following are those who should get the vaccine:

• all children aged 6–23 months; adults aged 65 years and older; persons aged 2–64 years with underlying chronic medical conditions; all women who will be pregnant during the influenza season; residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities; children aged 6 months–18 years on chronic aspirin therapy; health-care workers involved in direct patient care; and
• out-of-home caregivers and household contacts of children aged <6 months.

These are people who are at high risk for serious flu complications or are in contact with people at high risk for serious flu complications. People who are not included in one of the priority groups listed above are asked to forego or defer vaccination because of the vaccine supply situation.

There are some people who should not be vaccinated. These include:

• People who have a severe allergy to chicken eggs. People who have had a severe reaction to an influenza vaccination in the past. People who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) within 6 weeks of getting an influenza vaccine previously. Children less than 6 months of age.
• People who are sick with a fever. (These people can get vaccinated once their symptoms lessen.)

Ok, now the Con's.  First of all what are your actual chances of death from influenza and how effective is the vaccine at preventing it. 

The CDC routinely reports approximately 62,000 deaths per year from the combined category of influenza and Pneumonia.  However, when you break that number down according to the CDC's comprehensive death report (page 31) 257 deaths are attributable to influenza and 61,777 deaths are attributed to pneumonia.  Now pneumonia can result from the flu but it can also be caused by numerous other conditions and is a severe type of infection and should receive immediate medical care.  But your chances of dieing from influenza out of all causes of death in the US are .0001%. (there was a total of 2,416,425 deaths in 2001 from all causes of death.)  So you have a slightly better chance of dieing from flu than being struck by lightning. (which is .000001% if you want to know)   Now, how effective is the vaccine at preventing you getting the flu in the first place?  Due to the numerous strains of influenza and their ability to change quickly, each year 3 strains are chosen to be included in that years vaccine.  Due to the virus mutation and “drift”, the effectiveness of the flu vaccine in any given year ranges from 0% effective to 57% effective.  (this according to the American Medical Association's website).  For the 2003-2004 year, the vaccine that year had, “no or low effectiveness” according to the CDC.  So basically if you get the flu vaccine, you still have a 50/50 chance of catching the flu.

 

Ok, to play devil's advocate, “So what if the vaccine's around 50% effective and I only have a .0001% chance of dieing from it.  What does it hurt to go ahead and be on the safe side and get the vaccine?” 

 

Well, let's start with the mercury and aluminum included in the flu shot as preservatives.  Both of these substances have been implicated in neurodegenerative lesions similar to Alzheimer's and MS.  In this study their conclusion was, “We conclude that this visual evidence and previous biochemical data strongly implicate Hg (mercury) as a potential etiological factor in neuro-degeneration."   One interesting note is that in this study they were studying the effects of a few ions of mercury on neurological cells.  The combined mercury exposure of all childhood recommended vaccines is 187.5 Micrograms of mercury.  Mercury has a half-life in the nervous system of 15-30 years so getting your flu shot every year, combined with the shots that you got as a kid, can up your chances of Alzheimer's and other neuro-degenerative diseases. 

Another problem resides in the new nasal flu vaccine which uses a LIVE influenza virus.  The CDC recommends that health care workers NOT take the nasal live virus due to a chance of passing the virus to immune suppressed individuals or people.  The following populations should not be vaccinated with LAIV (live-attenuated-influenza -accine):

• persons aged <5 years or those aged >50 years;* persons with asthma, reactive airways disease or other chronic disorders of the pulmonary or cardiovascular systems; persons with other underlying medical conditions, including such metabolic diseases as diabetes, renal dysfunction, and hemoglobinopathies; or persons with known or suspected immunodeficiency diseases or who are receiving immunosuppressive therapies;* children or adolescents receiving aspirin or other salicylates (because of the association of Reye syndrome with wild-type influenza infection);* persons with a history of GBS; pregnant women;* or
• persons with a history of hypersensitivity, including anaphylaxis, to any of the components of LAIV or to eggs.

If there is a chance of spreading the live virus then there is a chance of you spreading it to any of the people in your life who fall into one of the above categories. 

 

What can you do to prevent the flu other than the vaccine?  According to the CDC there are several common sense ways to prevent the spread of the flu.  In addition to these there are several more here.

 

In my personal opinion, the con's far outweigh the pro's in the decision whether to vaccinate against the flu or not.  However the decision is a personal one and you should make an informed choice.  Hopefully the information I have provided here can help you get started but don't stop there.  As always, the final decision is yours, so make an informed one.

 

Laughter Therapy

"Hey, Chris! How's your new pet fish doing? You told me he was really something special."

"To tell you the truth, I'm really disappointed in him. The guy who sold him to me said I could teach him to sing like a bird."

"You bought a fish because you thought you could teach him to sing like a bird? I can't believe it!"

"Well, yeah. After all, he's a parrot-fish".

"I hate to tell you this, Chris, but while you might be able to teach a parrot-bird to sing, you're never going to get anywhere with a parrot-fish."

"That's what you think! He can sing all right. The thing is, he keeps singing off-key. It's driving me crazy."

"Do you know how hard it is to tuna fish?"