Is getting a flu shot
really the single most important thing you can do to protect your health and
that of your family? Here at Wantagh
Woods Chiropractic and Health, we respectfully disagree. Even if there wasn't a list of potential side
effects that can be much more serious than the flu, that fact is that this
year's flu shot just isn't very effective.
The main strain that is causing problems this year showed up in the
sampling after the formula for the vaccine was already set, so this year's biggest
threat is not included in the
vaccine.
The published effectiveness rate for this year's vaccine is
about 23%. However, that figure is only
based on people who actually got sick enough to seek medical care. People who remained healthy were not even
considered in the study. Only about 2%
of the population ever develops flu, so a 23% effective rate actually becomes a
less than half of one percent improvement in your chances of developing flu. Would you buy a car whose brakes have been
shown to work less than on half of one percent of the time?
So, what is the price you pay for this less than one half of
one percent reduction in flu risk?
According to the National Vaccine Information Center, moderate reactions
to the flu vaccine may include fever, localized reactions at the injection site,
headache, nasal congestion, fatigue,
sore throat, cough, muscle and joint pain, and nausea. Don't those last seven
side effects sound a lot like flu symptoms?
More serious complications may include brain inflammation,
convulsions, Guillain Barre Syndrome, Bell’s Palsy, limb paralysis, neuropathy,
shock, wheezing/asthma and other breathing problems. Guillain Barre
Syndrome (GBS) is a severe neurological disorder involving temporary or
permanent paralysis that may lead to death.
A closer review of the more serious side effects shows that most or all
of them can be attributed to neurotoxicity.
The number of reactions, hospitalizations, injuries and deaths following
flu vaccines reported to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System
(VAERS) exceeded 93,000 as of November 2013.
Studies suggest that repeated flu vaccines in healthy
children may interfere with their immune response, making them more likely to
develop influenza. Current guidelines
also recommend routine flu vaccines for pregnant women, despite findings by the
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that influenza infection is
rarely a threat to normal pregnancy.
Instead, they note that Thimerosal,
a mercury-containing preservative, used in many vaccine formulas, has been shown
to cause a number of human neurodevelopment disorders.
Chiropractic, nutritional supplements and other natural healing modalities can improve immune function without unwanted side effects.
In short, if you
have a choice in taking the flu vaccine and there is no compelling reason to do
it, don't. 