the war on influenza takes casualties. AGAIN

In Missouri, as in other places across the county, health care workers are being threatened with termination if they refuse to get the flu vaccine.  Despite the evidence that the vaccine gives very little protection against most flu viruses or flu-like viruses. Oh yeah, there is a difference.  There are an estimated 200 hundred or more different viruses that cause flu like symptoms.  The flu vaccine itself generally targets Influenza A and B strains.  And each year, most manufacturers pick another strain then add it to the mix hoping that it will be the predominate variety for that year.  What that means is that the vaccines being manufactured today are generally about 10% effective. Given that the numbers of side effects and severity are increasing dramatically throughout the world, I don't think that there is enough evidence that this vaccine should be required.  In fact, isn't it our right as Americans to refuse to take something that we suspect may harm us?  I believe this calls falls under the heading of freedom of religion.  I believe that manufacturers that worship money above all else, that produce a product that is not thoroughly tested, that has specific proven detrimental side effects and that is NOT effective against the stated purpose: is against my belief that I want to live life.  Freedom of religion for us both.  They make money, except on me, and I get to live.

I think I may have mentioned in my blog elsewhere about my bout with Guilliane-Barre Syndrome.  GBS.  Back when I was living in an area that was sprayed with Agent Orange every fall in order to harvest cotton, I got relatively ill from the stuff and came down with pneumonia.  When at my primary care doc's place, he suggested that I get a pneumonia and flu vaccine.  So I did.  About a week later I began to feel horrific tingling and pain in my arms and legs.  In fact, it became so debilitating that I could not work and took several weeks off work as could not do anything at all.  Went to two neurologists and they were of no help, in fact one told me that since I have asthma, that if I was hyperventilating that I was getting my blood oxygen above 100% and the high oxygen content could, COULD, cause tingling and numbness.  Yeah right.  I had GBS symptoms, of course not a significant number of people get that particular problem.  But the numbers are on the rise, right along with the numbers of people getting vaccinations.  I was lucky, within 4 weeks, the symptoms went away, and I was not paralyzed permanently as so many victims are.  

The basic problem with all of this is that we should have the freedom to choose what goes into our bodies.  It isn't just about labeling of genetically modified foods that more and more research is showing are harmful to us; but it is about basic stuff like our healthcare.  Yeah, the numbers of children with autism in the US are astronomical and coincide with the numbers of vaccinations that US kids receive as opposed to children in other industrial nations.  Maybe it is because vaccines are not the holy grail that the manufacturers want us to believe that they are.  Vaccine manufacturers have been granted immunity from liability by the US government.  So if you are one of the unlucky growing numbers of people that are stricken with total body paralysis from GBS, or in one of a huge list of complications from flu vaccines, you can't sue the manufacturer.  EVER!  Tough shit.  Lump it, they made money on your REQUIREMENT to get a vaccine that health authorities across the world are beginning to recognize is unsafe.

November 2011 issue of "Journal of Virology" there is an article that is confirming that seasonal flue vaccines weaken the immune systems of children and increase their chances of getting sick from viruses not included in the vaccine, which is to say, all but three strains. A Cochrane Database Review—which is the gold standard for assessing the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of commonly used medical interventions – concluded:     

"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. WARNING: This review includes 15 out of 36 trials funded by industry (four had no funding declaration). An earlier systematic review of 274 influenza vaccine studies published up to 2007 found industry funded studies were published in more prestigious journals and cited more than other studies independently from methodological quality and size. Studies funded from public sources were significantly less likely to report conclusions favorable to the vaccines.

The review demonstrated that reliable scientific evidence confirming that influenza vaccines are effective is thin and there is plenty of reason to suspect that there may be a manipulation of conclusions when the studies are funded by drug companies. The content and conclusions of this review should be interpreted in light of this finding."

What does all that mean.  Well it means that when the guys that make the stuff show the world that their stuff is good, then even though other guys who spend their own money to try to reach the same conclusion about the stuff, they CAN'T.  Does it mean that they are lying?  In order to make tons of money, why wouldn't they?  After all, YOU can't sue them if we find out they really are lying about it all.