"Do your homework!"
It's what our parents always reminded us to do when we were young. So why are we, as adults, failing to do it when it comes to the information for our health? Why do we allow ourselves to be fed by the media when we could seek out the answers for ourselves and maybe learn something?
With talk of this flu or that flu, there has been some discussion recently about alternatives to the flu vaccines, vaccines which are not found to be effective in several populations based on several recent studies:
A 2005 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that the flu vaccine was not effective for the elderly (See Simonsen, L et al. Impact of Influenza Vaccination on Seasonal Mortality in the US Elderly Population. Arch Intern Med.165:265-272. 2005).
A 2003 study by the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention made a similar finding when a survey of 3100 health workers found that the flu vaccine protected between ZERO and 14% of those vaccinated. It showed virtually the same percentage of people suffered from influenza-like illnesses whether they were vaccinated or not, leaving researchers to conclude that the vaccine “was not effective or had very low effectiveness.”(See Preliminary Assessment of the Effectiveness of the 2003--04 Inactivated Influenza Vaccine --- Colorado, December 2003. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Weekly. Jan 16, 2004 53(01);8-11).
Most recently, an article in the Journal Lancet, says that the flu vaccine may not protect even healthy elderly people against pneumonia during the flu season. (See Influenza vaccination and risk of community-acquired pneumonia in immunocompetent elderly people: a population-based, nested case-control study, Michael L Jackson, Jennifer C Nelson, Noel S Weiss, Kathleen M Neuzil, William Barlow, Lisa A Jackson, Lancet 2008; 372: 398-405).
These findings have been confirmed by research in numerous other countries.
What's more, a look back at the data now suggests that the high death rates associated with the 1918 flu may have really been related to bacterial superinfections, and not the flu itself. Back then, of course, we didn't have the anti-biotics, which would have reduced the numbers to today’s low numbers.
See this story, orthis one about what has worked in past flu pandemics and what does work with current flu viruses. Of course, these treatments are not mainstream vaccines which take months to develop and by the time they are ready, may actually be obsolete since the virus most likely has already mutated.
I also still question those who would say the anti-virural drug Tamiflu “really works” when it had so many bad side effects to the SARS virus a few years ago. It simply has not been tested on the swine flu so how can anyone make claims that it works effectively? In fact, the Avain flu virus has become more resistant to antiviral drugs.
Also, if normal flu vaccines don’t work in sick or healthy people, why take them at all? Especially when they contain known metals that are injected directly into the bloodstream- like mercury, aluminum hydroxide, phenol (a human carcinogen), and other toxic additives like MSG, that accumulate in the body, additives which are later found on autopsy in those who had Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons?
Do injecting toxins against the flu make sense? Is this why so many people who get the flu shot, come down with the flu?
As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So educate yourself, think for yourself, and make your kids proud by being a good example.