It’s fall, the time when health authorities, medical doctors, and
government officials start aggressively promoting flu vaccines for
everyone. My advice - just say “no.”
Marketing the flu vaccine to the public requires a lot of
misrepresentation, which includes overstating the incidence and risks
associated with the flu. The flu virus is constantly present and does
not make a brief appearance during “flu season.” Influenza is often
confused with influenza-like illness (ILI) which can result from 200
viruses in addition to influenza A and B. These viruses produce the
same symptoms as flu, which include fever, headache, aches, pains,
cough, and runny noses, making it impossible to distinguish between the
two without diagnostic testing. An individual is seven times more likely
to have an influenza-like illness than influenza, but ILI is rarely
serious.
Nonetheless The Centers for Disease Control promotes flu vaccines,
stating, “Influenza is a serious disease that can lead to
hospitalization and sometimes even death. Every flu season is different,
and influenza infection can affect people differently. Even healthy
people can get very sick from the flu and spread it to others. Over a
period of 31 seasons between 1976 and 2007, estimates of flu-associated
deaths in the United States range from a low of about 3,000 to a high of
about 49,000 people.”
[i]
But on another page of its website, the agency states, “CDC does not
know exactly how many people die from seasonal flu each year.
[ii] In other words, the CDC aggressively promotes a solution for a problem that it cannot quantify.
What can be more easily quantified is risks associated with the vaccine.
On several occasions, flu vaccine programs have been terminated due to
side effects. In October 1976, The National Influenza Immunization
Program (NIIP) started with about one million vaccinations per week, and
grew quickly to four million per week. But within only two months, ten
states had reported cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome linked to the
vaccine. In December 1976, the program was discontinued.
By January 1977, more than 500 cases of GBS had been reported. Some
patients recovered completely, some partially, and 25 people died. The
NIIP determined that the risk of developing GBS
within 6 weeks
was 10 times higher for those receiving a flu vaccine than for
unvaccinated people. While this should have been the end of promoting
population-wide vaccination for flu until safety could be established,
flu vaccine promotion programs continued. In 1992, 1993, and 1994 flu
vaccines again were shown to increase the risk of GBS.
[iii] [iv] [v]
As of November 2013, there were 93,000 reactions attributed to flu
vaccines reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)
including 1,080 deaths, 8,888 hospitalizations, 1,801 disabilities, and
1,700 cases of Guillian Barre Syndrome.
[vi]
According to data from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program,
the flu shot is the most dangerous vaccine in America. During one
reporting period, out of 134 cases settled before the court, 79 were due
to the flu shot, and these included three deaths. While the most common
injury resulting from flu shots was Guillain-Barre syndrome, others
included acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, transverse myelitis,
shingles (herpes zoster), neuropathic demyelination, seizures,
neuropathy, brachial plexopathy, rheumatoid arthritis, optic neuritis,
and Bell's palsy.
[vii]
The adjuvants in flu vaccines, which include mercury (25 mcg),
formaldehyde, polyethylene glycol, egg protein, polysorbate 80, MSG, pig
gelatin, and antibiotics are equally concerning. Between 2009-2010,
fetal deaths reported to VAERS had increased 4,250% just with the
addition of Thimerosal to flu vaccines.
[viii]
Just as concerning is the efficacy (or lack of efficacy) of the vaccine.
A Cochrane review analyzed the impact of flu vaccines on healthy adults
including pregnant women and newborns by looking at 90 reports of 116
studies that compared flu vaccines to placebo or no intervention.
Combined, the studies included close to ten million people. The group
concluded that 40 people would have to be vaccinated to prevent just one
case of influenza-like illness (ILI), and 71 people have to be
vaccinated to prevent one case of influenza. The vaccine had no effect
on the number of working days lost or hospitalization rates. The vaccine
also had almost no effect on pregnant women or their newborn babies.
Live aerosol vaccine was similarly useless.
[ix]
In another review, Cochrane reported that flu vaccines were not effective for the elderly either.
[x]
Cochrane conducted a similar review to evaluate the efficacy rates
(defined as prevention of confirmed influenza), effectiveness (defined
as prevention of influenza-like illness), and adverse events of
influenza vaccines in healthy children. The review included 75 studies
and showed:
-
Six children under age 6 have to be vaccinated with live attenuated vaccine in order to prevent one case of flu.
-
In all of the studies, there was no useable data for children under the age of two.
-
For children age two or younger, inactivated flu vaccines were no more effective than placebo.
-
In order to prevent one case of influenza in children over the age of
six, 28 children need to be vaccinated, and eight need to be vaccinated
to prevent just one case of influenza-like illness.
The researchers found “no evidence of effect on secondary cases, lower
respiratory tract disease, drug prescriptions, otitis media… (only) weak
single study evidence of effect on school absenteeism and caring
parents from work.” In other words, the children had almost no
reduction in risk of developing the flu, flu-like illness, or of
developing complications from flu. The vaccine was shown to be almost
worthless.
Side effects were noted, however, and some were serious such as narcolepsy and febrile convulsions.
The researchers expressed surprise that the current recommendation is to
vaccinate healthy children starting at 6 months of age in the U.S. and
several other countries based on such limited evidence, and advised that
research is needed in order to identify all potential harm resulting
from flu vaccines.
Just as important, researchers identified issues concerning study
design, funding, and scientific misbehavior. The Cochrane group reported
that industry-funded studies showed more positive results than those
funded with public money. They reported that “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…the review showed that reliable evidence on influenza vaccines
is thin but there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions
and spurious notoriety of the studies. The content and conclusions of
this review should be interpreted in light of this finding.”
[xi] Translation: lots of misconduct is required in order to report conclusions that support flu vaccines.
Even the package inserts on the vaccines state that they are not
effective. For example, the package insert for FLULAVAL 2013-2014
formula for Influenza subtype A viruses and type B virus states, “…there
have been no controlled trials adequately demonstrating a decrease in
influenza disease after vaccinations with FLULAVAL.
[xii]
Next week, flu vaccines for pregnant women, healthcare workers, and widespread misbehavior in promoting flu vaccines.
[iii] Lasky T, Terracciano G, Magder L, et al. “The Guillain-Barré syndrome and the 1992-1993 and 1993-1994 influenza vaccines.”
NEJM 1998;339(25):1797-802.
[iv]
Schonberger L, Bregman D, Sullivan-Bolyai J, et al. “Guillain-Barre
syndrome following vaccination in the National Influenza Immunization
Program, United States, 1976–1977.”
Am J Epidemiol 1979; 110(5):105–23.
[v] Geier M, Geier D, Zahalsky A. “Influenza vaccination and Guillain Barre syndrome small star, filled.”
Clin Immunol 2003;107(2):116-21.
[ix]
Demicheli V, Jefferson T, Al-Ansary LA, Ferroni E, Rivetti A, Di
Pietrantonj C. “Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults.”
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014, Issue 3. Art. No.:
CD001269. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001269.pub5
[x]
Rivetti D, Jefferson T, Thomas R, Rudin M, Rivetti A, Di Pietrantonj C,
Demicheli V. “Vaccines for preventing influenza in the elderly.”
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Jul 19;(3):CD004876.
[xi] Jefferson T, Rivetti A, Di Piettrantonj C, Demicheli V, FerroniE. “Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy children.”
Cochrane Database Syst Rev August 15 2012
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2289594
