Flu For You?
Its February and that’s VaIentine’s day and I should be writing about your love life but I have done that plenty of times in the past and it’s time for another issue altogether. It’s a little late in the season but knowledge comes to me when it comes and when it comes to me it comes to you … after I have done my due diligence. I’m hoping to do an article that’s not controversial someday but every time I read a new book or review a medical issue I feel compelled to write about it . This time I take on the flu shot. Everyone should get a flu shot is what we are told. Children from six months and older should get the shot. Pregnant women should get the shot. Grampa especially needs the shot. The flu shot is safe and effective.
Well, that’s the party line but I am crashing the party. Yes I know many of you think I am off my meds. Just some crazy fringe doctor who has lost his way. I have said we take way too many pills including statins. I have written that milk is really not good for you at all. I have recommended a crazy diet that eliminates sugar and wheat and dairy to lower your inflammation. Now I tell you that the flu shot should be avoided. That’s right …the flu shot is neither effective nor safe and the data comes right from the Supreme Court, the Centers for Disease Control and major publications including the prestigious Cochrane Review. That’s not the musings of this crackpot physician who is oppositional, these are straight facts from the major literature that you can easily snoop or fact check on the Internet.
Let’s start with the safety issue first. The Supreme Court has ruled in 2011 that vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe.” Ask your doctor as he draws up the solution from the vial … is this safe? If it is why does the Supreme Court say its unavoidably unsafe. That should start an interesting conversation and you will probably be labeled a kook just for asking that question. Depending on the manufacturer and the specific vaccine the vaccine can contain mercury, formaldehyde, aluminum, polysorbate 80, cell lines from aborted fetuses, tissue from hamsters, dog kidneys, monkeys, peanut oil adjuvants and much more. I will have more to say on mercury and aluminum in other writings but everyone in power says thimerosal is safe and does not cause autism, etc. Why then does the FDA say there is no safe dose of mercury exposure? Why then have the manufacturer’s made such efforts to get the thimerosal out of the vaccines?Adverse reaction to the flu shot is one of the leading causes for payout from the Vaccine Injury compensation Program. This program was established when the Supreme Court said vaccines are unavoidably unsafe and you can’t sue the pharmaceutical companies but you can appeal to this court if you feel you have been injured. Over 3.5 billion dollars has been awarded by this court … and flu vaccine awards are among the top listed. So how are they safe. We know that one particular flu shot lead to cases of narcolepsy. Who would have predicted or expected that! Flu shots are given to pregnant women even though they are labeled pregnancy category B or C ( meaning no real testing has been done on pregnant women). The CDC itself reported that there has been an increased risk of miscarriage with certain flu shots. One uncommon but well known risk of the flu shot is Guillain Barre which is an ascending paralysis! How is that for safe!
Let’s turn now to the efficacy side of safe and efficacious. The Flu shot is indicated per the CDC for all kids 6 months of age or older, all adults, pregnant women and seniors. There has never been an efficacy study in pregnant women. The Cochrane Review is an independent board tasked with independently reviewing published research on medical issues. They concluded that there was no evidence that flu vaccine protected any children between 6 months and 23 months. CDC says to do it but this independent panel, looking at published studies, says it is not effective. The CDC says the elderly are most in need of the flu vaccine due to their underlying chronic illnesses, etc. The Cochrane Review of 75 research studies over 40 years said due to the poor quality of the available evidence any conclusions regarding the effectiveness of influenza vaccine for people over 65 years of age are suspect. Furthermore influenza vaccines have a modest effect in reducing influenza symptoms and working days lost. There is no evidence that they affect complications, such as pneumonia, or transmission.
Furthermore, from the Lancet volume 7 issue 10 October 2007 “ Recent excess mortality studies were unable to confirm a decline in influenza-related mortality since 1980, even as vaccination coverage increased from 15% to 65%. The remaining evidence base is currently insufficient to indicate the magnitude of the mortality benefit, if any, that elderly people derive from the vaccination programme.” We went from vaccinating very few people to vaccinating most people and there was no evidence of less deaths!
Finally, again referencing the Cochrane Review … ”Vaccination of healthy adults only reduce risk of influenza by 6% and only reduce the number of missed work days by less than one day. Universal immunization of healthy adults was not supported by the results of this review.”
So … maybe not so safe … maybe not so efficacious … Why the big push to immunize everyone? Well the lady doctor who took over the CDC’s vaccine Julie L. Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H. went to work for Merck (one of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world) when she left government service. Immediately after working for the CDC. Since then she has cashed in Merck stock valued at approximately 2 million dollars and still has more stock with a cash value of almost 2 million dollars.
Well, I will still give you a flu shot if you ask but I won’t offer it up as safe and effective anymore and I probably should apologize for the glib way I gave out shots in the past. What can I say except I have kept an open mind and am continuing the process of self improvement and there is obviously more progress needed.
Until next month … get well … stay well. Dr Joe Barry
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