Influenza Deaths: The Hype vs. the Evidence

[Dave]

Influenza Deaths: The Hype vs. the Evidence

New Scientist, October 03 2012, Barbara Loe Fisher
articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/10/03/hype-vs-evidence-of-influenza-deaths.aspx?e_cid=20121003_DNL_art_1


It's that time of the year again when drug companies, doctors, government officials and media conduct a national advertising campaign to sell flu shots to every American. You can't pass by a pharmacy, enter a supermarket, shop in a "big box" store or catch a plane without seeing the "flu shots for sale" signs trolling for customers.

The pharmaceutical industry is cutting out the M.D. middleman and going straight for the gold in places where we shop for toothpaste, clothes and food.8 Even on the evening news, flu shot commercials are becoming as frequent as political campaign ads.

Up until the year 2000, flu shots were not recommended for everyone. Back in the 1990's, doctors were telling seniors over age 65 and younger people with chronic illness to get vaccinated.

No Flu Shot? No Job or Daycare!

Now, doctors at the CDC tell every man, woman and child over six months old they need an annual flu shot and it is OK for health care workers to be fired if they don't get vaccinated every year.

In the states of Connecticut and New Jersey, mandates are already in place that force parents to give their six-month old babies a flu vaccine or be banned from daycare. This, as state health department officials join with medical trade association lobbyists in many states to severely restrict or eliminate medical, religious and conscientious belief vaccine exemptions for all children.

The vaccine liability shield that Congress gave doctors and drug companies in 1986 and the public-private business partnership between government and the pharmaceutical industry that Congress created after Sept. 11, 2001 is paying big dividends for liability free drug companies and liability free doctors selling flu shots to more than 300 million Americans.

It doesn't matter if 80 percent of all flu-like illness is really caused by other viruses and bacteria and not influenza, or that flu vaccine efficacy is estimated at 60 percent to 80 percent, depending upon age and what kind of vaccine is given.

Selling Big Mortality Numbers to Sell Flu Vaccine

The selling of influenza vaccine has a lot to do with selling big morbidity and mortality numbers. So how bad were those numbers in the late 20th century to justify government taking a "no exceptions" cradle to the grave approach to flu shots for every American in the 21st century? Let's take a quick look at the hype versus the evidence.

The first experimental influenza vaccines were given to soldiers in World War II. It wasn't until the 1957-58 and 1968-69 influenza pandemics that the vaccine was marketed to civilians.24 Between 1970 and 2000, the trivalent influenza vaccine containing two strains of type A influenza and one strain of type B influenza was primarily recommended for the elderly. That is because respiratory infections, especially with pneumonia complications, have always been a leading cause of death for people at the end of their life span.

There was only one deadly influenza pandemic in the last 100 years that killed the young and healthy in great numbers and that was the 1918 Spanish Flu. It turns out that bacterial pneumonia is what killed most people, young or old, in the 1918 pandemic. Today, antibiotics would have prevented most of those deaths.

But just how bad is seasonal influenza today?

Is It 200,000 Influenza Hospitalizations or 37,000?

The CDC has been telling the public for nearly a decade that there are more than 200,000 estimated hospitalizations and 36,000 estimated deaths from influenza in the U.S. every year.

But are those figures accurate? Well, it all depends upon use of the word "estimate." The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported that, in 2004, there were about 37,000 Americans hospitalized for either influenza or another illness in addition to influenza, and patients over age 85 were twice as likely to die.

Now, 37,000 influenza hospitalizations is five times less than the 200,000 hospitalization figure the CDC uses. That is because what CDC employees did to come up with their influenza hospitalization "estimate" was to count a lot of people hospitalized between 1979 and 2001 – not just with influenza but also with pneumonia, respiratory and circulatory illnesses – which they counted as probably associated with influenza.

And they got away with it.

Counting Influenza Deaths & A Whole Lot More

In 2003, CDC employees also used a convoluted statistical modeling scheme to "estimate" that 36,000 people die from influenza in the U.S. every year. Again, they counted not just influenza death cases but also threw in other respiratory, circulatory, cardiac and pulmonary deaths they thought might have been associated with influenza.

And they got away with it.

In 2005, a young PhD candidate at MIT published an article in the British Medical Journal and asked the question: "Are U.S. Flu Death Figures More PR Than Science?" He analyzed the U.S. Vital Statistics Mortality Data, which has been carefully recorded for more than a century by the National Center for Health Statistics. I recently looked at that Vital Statistics data, too, and created a chart of influenza and pneumonia deaths recorded between 1940 and 2010.

Recorded Influenza Deaths Dropping in 21st Century

Here is what I found: Since 1940, the highest number of influenza deaths recorded in a single year was 21,047 deaths in 1941. In fact, the mortality rate from influenza was NOT rising in the late 20th century – as the CDC employees have alleged – it was dropping.

There were only between 600 and 750 influenza deaths recorded annually between 1995 and 1997. The most influenza deaths recorded in a single year since 1979 was about 2,900 deaths and that was in 2009, the H1N1 swine flu pandemic year!

CDC Expanding the Flu Vaccine Market Between 2000-2010

But that didn't stop CDC policymakers, along with drug company and medical trade association lobbyists ever present at the policymaking table, from using inflated influenza hospitalization and mortality estimates to justify expanding the influenza vaccine market:

In 2000, CDC policymakers voted to expand flu shot recommendations to all healthy Americans over age 50.35 Out of a population of 300 million, there were 1,765 recorded influenza deaths that year.
In 2002, CDC voted to add all healthy babies from six to 23 months. There were 727 recorded influenza deaths that year.
In 2006, CDC voted to recommend flu shots for all healthy children up to five years old as well as all healthy pregnant women in any trimester. There were 849 recorded influenza deaths that year.
In 2007, CDC voted to add all healthy children up to eight years old. There were 411 recorded influenza deaths that year.
In 2008, CDC voted to recommend annual flu shots for all healthy children up to age 18 years. There were 1,722 recorded influenza deaths that year.
In 2009, the Secretaries of Health and Homeland Security declared a national emergency because they said pandemic H1N1 swine flu was sweeping the country and tens of thousands of people could die. Liability free drug companies were told to rush an experimental swine flu vaccine to the market.
In 2010, a year when there were 494 recorded influenza deaths, the CDC officials finally reached the ultimate goal of their long game: they told doctors to give annual flu shots to every American, healthy or not, from the year of birth to the year of death.
And they got away with it.

CDC Does Not Require States to Report All Influenza Cases or Deaths

They got away with it because the CDC does not require states to "report individual seasonal flu cases or deaths of people older than 18 years of age." That's right – the CDC is not actually asking for the information they need to accurately assess influenza morbidity and mortality in the U.S. It would be funny if people weren't actually losing their jobs or being denied daycare or becoming paralyzed, by this "no exceptions" flu shot policy.

Global Flu Vaccine Market: U.S. Biggest Customer

Today, the global market for seasonal influenza vaccine is $3.6 billion and forecasters have recently reported that the U.S. is the single biggest and most profitable market in the world. They say the huge U.S. market is "driven by price increases" and high vaccine coverage rates generated by the 2009 influenza pandemic and the government's "universal" flu shot recommendation in 2010. They add that "campaigning by U.S. authorities" will continue to drive up flu shot sales.

CDC: We Don't Know How Many Influenza Deaths There Are

Meanwhile, doctors at the CDC now quietly admit on their website that the "CDC does not know exactly how many people die from seasonal flu each year." Having gotten that cradle to the grave flu shot recommendation firmly in place, they are backing away from the 36,000 influenza death figure. CDC now says that "only 8.5 percent of all pneumonia and influenza deaths and only 2.1 percent of all respiratory and circulatory deaths" are influenza related.

You can almost hear those liability free drug companies and doctors laughing all the way to the bank.

[Virginia]

Today in the internet there is a story about the H1N1 flu shots. Apparently peopleare developing Narcolepsy from the shot. This is mostly in Europe. 800 children in Sweden are sick and now children in Britain.

There is no cure for Narcolepsy and the medical problems are not just falling asleep but also paralyzation and hallucinations and other mental disorders.

30 million people have been vaccinated with swine flu shots in 47 countries.

The medical establishment claim this is a 'MEDICAL TRAGEDY'. I am sure we will be seeing more on this.

[Dave]

“… MEDICAL TRAGEDY” GSK’s swine flu vaccine causes narcolepsy in 795 children

Examiner.com, Swine Flu Vaccine, January 23 2013, Jeanie Stokowski-Bisant
www.examiner.com/article/medical-tragedy-gsk-s-swine-flu-vaccine-causes-narcolepsy-795-children


Emelie Olsson is one of about 800 children in Sweden and throughout Europe who developed narcolepsy, a sleep disorder, after being vaccinated with the Pandemrix H1N1 swine flu vaccine made by British drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2009. Fourteen-year-old Emelie uses drug cocktails to try to control her narcolepsy symptoms. For daytime sleepiness and night terrors, she uses the stimulant Ritalin and the sleeping pill Sobril. She also uses Prozac to try to stabilize and limit her cataplexies. She explains, "That's one of the things that makes me feel most uncomfortable," and adds, "Before I got this condition I didn't take any pills, and now I have to take lots - maybe for the rest of my life. It's not good to take so many medicines, especially when you know they have side effects."

Scientists have published peer-reviewed studies from Sweden, Finland and Ireland showing that the risk of developing narcolepsy after the 2009-2010 vaccination campaign was between seven and 13 times higher for children who had Pandemrix than for their unvaccinated peers. Emmanuel Mignot, one of the world's leading experts on narcolepsy at Stanford University in the United States, says that the evidence is already clearly pointing in one direction. Mignot says, "There's no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Pandemrix increased the occurrence of narcolepsy onset in children in some countries - and probably in most countries."


4 really good points to Ponder

1- A vaccine, especially a Flu vaccine, has caused harm
2- It took 4 years for this story to surface
3- Medicine made for itself a life long cash cow customer
4- The role of demographics in when viewing the evidence

1- Just as "Vaccinasia" was an acceptable medical diagnosis before 1925, not only CAN vaccines cause harm - vaccines DO cause harm. Vaccines always cause harm, sometime more than others. There has never been a vaccine with ZERO side effects over a wide population base.

2- It took 4 years for this story to surface. How many more vaccinations have been carried out over this same time period. I wonder how many conditions will surface 10yrs, 15yrs, 20yrs after a vaccine was issued.

This time delay issue is, again, a known component to vaccine use. It is a known component to all drug therapies. However, the scariest aspect of this whole question is - the cumulative effect of lining up for one vaccine after another year in and year out. Cumulative dosing, combined effects, synergistic effects - if you had 2 and 6, your OK; but if you have had 1, 3, 7, and then 4 - oops! - your dead! Sooner or later, how will they be able to tell which particular vaccine caused your eventual side effect - lets just hope it isn't too serious.

3- In America, the Federal Government has made a law that prohibits people from suing a pharmaceutical manufacturer for complications of a vaccine. Instead the girl in this story ends up taking many medications per day, and for possibly for the rest of her life - 70+ yrs. How very unfortunate for the pharmaceutical manufacturers.

4- The role of demographics - each year some people die from the flu vaccine: If that death is within your family, vaccines are a scourge that should be eliminated. If you do not know the victim, that death statistics just gets lost in the numbers. 300 million people live in America, it is easy to present the data as if hundreds of deaths from a vaccine is within the acceptable limits of performing a greater good. - or - the death of 20 kids can power public opinion to change federal law.

However, 800 in Sweden were statistically noticed. The article failed to comment on the total number of other countries that used this same vaccine, and therefore, we can only speculate of how many children were affected around the world.

Listening to the experts debate the statistics of corporate sponsored Medical Reporting - is like - listening to Political experts debate and election that was called as 80% approved, with only 2% of the precincts reported.

Attachments:

[Dave]

Vaccine Propaganda Heats Up—The Latest Scandals You Need to Be Aware of
February 12, 2013 By Dr. Mercola
articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/02/12/flu-vaccine-propaganda.aspx?e_cid=20130212_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20130212

A wide range of vaccine stories have been featured in the news over the past few weeks – many, no doubt, published to propagandize the updated 2013 vaccination schedules for children and adults and to promote the seasonal flu vaccine.

Ironically, if not tragically, while increasing amounts of research highlight the many dangers of vaccinations and their ineffectiveness, the US government keeps insisting that everything is fine, "just get your shots and don't worry about it. We know what we're doing!"

But do they really? The evidence is overwhelmingly negative in this regard.

And, while suddenly paying lip service to vaccine safety, vaccine policymakers ignore the safest and most effective strategies that can naturally strengthen your immunity to help you stay well or move through illness with fewer complications if you do get sick.

For example, there are many far more effective ways to help prevent the flu and other flu-like diseases, such as dietary interventions, making sure your vitamin D and gut flora are optimized, being more meticulous about washing your hands, getting enough exercise and sleep, and taking natural antibiotics like oil of oregano and garlic.

Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Waned Over 2011-12 Season

Propaganda scare tactics still do work, as demonstrated by the 25 percent uptick in 2012-2013 seasonal flu vaccine sales reported by Novartis.4 This despite the fact that not just one, but three recent studies published in the journal Eurosurveillance5, 6, 7 strongly challenge the claim that the flu vaccine will protect you against the flu.

According to CIDRAP:8

"All three studies suggest that during the 2011-12 flu season, the vaccine provided modest protection at first, but its effectiveness dropped sharply after 3 or 4 months.

A multicenter study by researchers in eight European countries indicated that overall vaccine effectiveness (VE) against influenza A/H3N2 in the first months of the season was 38%, but after mid-February, it dropped to -1%. 'The concept that vaccine protection can be so short-lived provides a challenge for public health policy,' says the British report."

Ludicrous Claim of the Week: Following Vaccine Schedule Required to Ensure Vaccine Safety

But that's not the only challenge facing public health policy. Over the past few years, the science simply hasn't held up when it comes to vaccinations in general.

Multiple scandals involving fraud and conflicts of interest have surfaced, and studies are increasingly showing that vaccines don't work all that well. In response, government health agencies, who are now little more than poorly disguised mouthpieces for the pharmaceutical industry, are beefing up the propaganda.

But despite blanketing the media with carefully chosen sound bites, repeated almost verbatim by multiple media outlet sources, the "evidence" of safety and effectiveness they bring to the table is flimsy at best.

One sound bite you'll keep hearing again and again now is the ludicrous claim that the best way to ensure vaccine safety is to strictly follow the vaccine schedule.

Take Mary Anne Jackson for example. Dr. Jackson is the Division Chief of Infectious Diseases at Children's Mercy Hospital of Kansas City, MO. Reading her statements to the New York Times, it is crystal clear that she is taking her cue cards directly from the Institute of Medicine's dubious new report.9 As reported by the New York Times:10

"The timing is specific for a reason. 'We want to prevent the vaccines from competing against each other... Sticking to the schedule also ensures that a child's immunity is likely to be maintained. These alternative schedules that are springing up have no data behind them,' Dr. Jackson told me. 'They're not rigorously tested. It's impossible to test all of them.'

...the most obvious problem with the exodus of parents from the recommended vaccination schedule is that it makes vaccine safety more difficult to monitor. 'We want to drill down as far as we can, and make vaccines as safe as we can,' said Dr. Jackson. 'We're not going find the one-in-a-million serious adverse event if you have thousands of different vaccine schedules out there.'"

To me, all of this sounds like both illogical and dangerous reasoning. They're essentially saying everyone needs to participate in the experiment in order to tease out potential harms. This is not safety. This is human experimentation. Safety of a vaccine should be addressed PRIOR to being added to the vaccine schedule. Ditto for the safety of giving multiple vaccines at the same time.

Immunization Schedule Guaranteed 'Safe,' IOM Panel Declares

Speaking with WebMD, Dr. H. Cody Meissner, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee was also undoubtedly reading his cue cards when he said:11

"It's so important to adhere to these immunization schedules. People need to understand: These schedules are put together with great care and discussion and review of scientific data... It's critically important to adhere to the schedule..."

Fortunately, parents are slowly but surely waking up to the tragic fact that vaccine damage is real with a capital "R." If each and every dose of every vaccine on the schedule, alone and/or in combination with others, is indeed safe, then show us the research! I want to see the methodologically sound studies using true placebos as controls and conducted by investigators without conflicts of interest with industry or public health agencies for each and every one of those vaccine combinations.

The fact is, there aren't any studies like that. That kind of credible vaccine safety science doesn't exist. So it's no wonder that as many as 21 percent of American parents are now delaying or refusing some or all of the recommended childhood vaccines12 for their children. More and more parents are seeing the very real effects of vaccine damage to children all around them, and they have good reason to exercise caution.

"In response to those fears – or, rather, the quantifiable impact of reduced vaccination that stems from those fears – the Department of Health and Human Services asked the I.O.M. to review all the current scientific evidence13 on the schedule, and to research ways to address parental concerns.

That friendly face on the recommended schedule is still lacking (that's up to individual pediatricians), but... the panel concluded that the current schedule is not only safe, but 'rather than exposing children to harm, following the complete childhood immunization schedule is strongly associated with reducing vaccine-preventable diseases,'" the New York Times reports:14

And, according to a recent NPR report15 on the IOM panel's findings:

"'...some parents still worry that the schedule of vaccinations – 24 immunizations by the age of 2 – can be dangerous. That worry is likely misplaced, according to a yearlong review of all available scientific data. Researchers from the Institute of Medicine found there is no evidence that the federally recommended timeline for childhood vaccines is unsafe.

According to family physician Alfred Berg of the University of Washington School of Medicine, who was a member of the IOM committee, the research team looked at a large number of medical conditions, including 'things like autoimmune diseases, which even captures diabetes, asthma, hypersensitivity, allergies, seizures, epilepsy, child developmental disorders including autism, and other learning disorders, communications disorders, intellectual disabilities, and even rare things like tics or Tourette's syndrome.'

None could be linked to the vaccination schedule. Parents should be reassured, says Berg.

...Even though this review finds that there's no reason to worry and that the current recommended schedule is completely safe, Berg says it still might be useful to know what happens to children who don't get their vaccinations on time – by comparing them to children who do. Preliminary research does show children who don't get vaccinated on time are hospitalized more often than children who are immunized according to federal guidelines."

It would be laughable if it wasn't so darn serious. As Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) has pointed out, the panel relied on fewer than 40 studies, which, she argues, "is not nearly enough science to give parents confidence that the current vaccine schedule is safe."16 Furthermore, to PROMISE that the schedule is "completely safe," as if it comes with an ironclad guarantee, is not only irresponsible, it's completely immoral.

Let me ask you: Who takes the blame and steps in to make things right when your child is harmed by a vaccine? NO ONE. You and you alone are left holding the tattered pieces of your life. As a parent, you are legally and morally responsible to provide for your minor child's health and well being. You are the one left to mourn and cope with what has happened to your child and pay the medical bills, the special tutoring bills and whatever additional expenses you may face after your child is injured by a vaccine or combination of vaccines.

How much is that ironclad guarantee you were promised really worth then?

If all vaccines are "completely safe," when taken alone and together, why did Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court completely shield drug companies selling vaccines in the U.S. from all vaccine injury lawsuits in civil courts when vaccines cause injury and death? Ironically, while the NPR17 reports (above) that children who don't get vaccinated on time are hospitalized more often than those who get their shots according to schedule, the New York Times18 pointed out research demonstrating the complete opposite:

"...But following an alternative vaccination schedule does not appear to present a health risk for an individual child. In fact, a study of under-vaccination published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics19 found that children who were under-vaccinated because of parental choice had lower rates of outpatient and emergency department visits, even among the studied population consisting of children enrolled in and receiving primary care from managed care organizations – in other words, not the children of parents who shunned medical care altogether."

Adult Vaccination Rates 'Too Low' CDC Says

In related news, vaccination coverage for American adults is "too low," the CDC says,20 and in an effort to improve the numbers the agency has created a new webpage21 that will tell you what vaccines you need when and where to get them, because "immunizations are not just for kids!" According to CDC data, a mere 16 percent of adults over the age of 60 are vaccinated against shingles, and only about 20 percent over 65 have received the pneumococcal vaccine.

Similarly, only 13 percent of American adults have been vaccinated against pertussis (whooping cough). Meanwhile, last summer Australia stopped providing free pertussis vaccinations for parents to protect their newborns – a practice known as "cocooning" – after it was determined the practice doesn't work. According to news.com.au:22

"...the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) had determined vaccinating parents was not effective in protecting newborns, after two pharmaceutical manufacturers made submissions to the PBAC.

'The PBAC, which is totally independent and very expert, has determined that there is no clinical effectiveness of this strategy,' Professor Brook [Department of Health divisional executive director] said. He said this had made it clear the cocooning strategy should not be continued. So all jurisdictions who have been in this program will be effectively ceasing the cocooning strategy as of the end of June this year [2012]."

In the US however, the discovery that the pertussis vaccine is ineffective has simply led them to add more booster doses to the schedule. The updated 2013 vaccine schedule includes additional doses of pertussis vaccine for both adolescents and pregnant women. Women are now advised to get a pertussis vaccine during each and every pregnancy. The CDC and AAP also now suddenly claim that egg-based seasonal flu vaccine is safe for those with egg allergies. Here again, the irresponsibility is staggering.

You Cannot Vaccinate Your Way Out of Disease and Death...

Why do those promoting the complete safety of vaccines keep trying to deceive the public by reassuring us with absolute statements of vaccine safety and effectiveness when truths like this keep breaking through?

· The widespread use of influenza vaccine is not an effective public health policy because vaccinated persons, especially seniors, are still gettting the flu;

· Whooping cough is spreading through vaccinated populations and "cocooning" pertussis vaccine strategies do not work

Their answer? Just add more! Increase the number of pertussis doses, and quadruple the flu vaccine dose for seniors. This is not good medicine. And it's certainly not safe medicine.

Look... we cannot win the war against disease by trying to eradicate microoranisms in a misguided attempt to make certain viruses and bacteria extinct. It doesn't work that way! When there was an attempt in the past century to kill certain bacteria with widespread use of antibiotics in animals and humans, what happened? The bacteria found a way to mutate and survive and now we have a serious problem with antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.

Microorganisms find ways to survive, and we end up with progressively more aggressive and difficult-to-treat diseases. We've taken a wrong turn with over-use of antibiotics and vaccines and it's time to mend our ways before matters get any worse than they already are.

For example, one of the most recent examples of the devastating harm that can occur from widespread use of a single vaccine dose are the side effects of the 2009-2010 flu vaccine, which caused some 800+ cases of narcolepsy in Sweden and other European countries.23 As reported by Reuters on January 31:24

"The findings, which have not yet been published in full, are the first firm evidence in Britain that the flu vaccine, called Pandemrix, is linked to narcolepsy cases in children. Research in Finland, Sweden and Ireland has already found clear associations... In a research summary... seen by Reuters, the British researchers say 'the increased risk of narcolepsy after Pandemrix suggests a causal association consistent with reports from Finland and Sweden.'

The abstract shows that the research team, led by Liz Miller, a consultant epidemiologist at the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA), found an almost 10-fold increased risk in cases of the sleep disorder in children seen in sleep centers who had been immunized with Pandemrix."

Meanwhile, Norwegian researchers25 blame vitamin D deficiency for the latest flu epidemic in the Netherlands. That's right:

"'According to the study, these flu epidemics experience a steep rise in infection and mortality rates as soon as exposure to sunlight (and the corresponding synthesis of vitamin D) drops,' Medical News Today reports.26

'This is not only true of the outbreak of flu epidemics but also of the way in which they unfold. Seasonal differences are particularly apparent in the number of deaths. In winter, when vitamin D deficiency is at its greatest, the number of deaths is 20 to 600 times higher than during a summer epidemic, the Norwegian study reveals.

...Vitamin D acts as an antibiotic and strengthens the immune system. UV radiation exposure stimulates the production of vitamin D in the skin. In the winter months, when the sun's zenith is too low in the sky for vitamin D synthesis to take place, the body's vitamin D level drops, as a result of which its protective effect is unable to fully develop', explains Professor Johan Moan."

Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More

I encourage you to visit the following web pages on the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) website at http://www.NVIC.org:

· NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.

· If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions: Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.

· Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment and sanctions by doctors, employers, school and health officials for making independent vaccine choices.

Connect with Your Doctor or Find a New One that Will Listen and Care

If your pediatrician or doctor refuses to provide medical care to you or your child unless you agree to get vaccines you don't want, I strongly encourage you to have the courage to find another doctor. Harassment, intimidation, and refusal of medical care is becoming the modus operandi of the medical establishment in an effort to stop the change in attitude of many parents about vaccinations after they become truly educated about health and vaccination.

However, there is hope.

At least 15 percent of young doctors recently polled admit that they're starting to adopt a more individualized approach to vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns of parents. It is good news that there is a growing number of smart young doctors, who prefer to work as partners with parents in making personalized vaccine decisions for children, including delaying vaccinations or giving children fewer vaccines on the same day or continuing to provide medical care for those families, who decline use of one or more vaccines.

So take the time to locate a doctor, who treats you with compassion and respect and is willing to work with you to do what is right for your child.

[Dave]

How to Protect Yourself During the Flu Season

Aside from avoiding the flu vaccine, also beware that one of the main staples for treating pain and cold symptoms, acetaminophen, is a leading cause for calls to the Poison Control Center, and accounts for 56,000 emergency room visits, 2,600 hospitalizations, and an estimated 458 deaths annually.27

Avoiding a serious case of influenza is not about vaccination but more about maintaining a healthy, well functioning immune system. By following these simple guidelines, you can help keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you're far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with or, if you do get sick with the flu, you are better prepared to move through it without complications and soon return to good health.

· Optimize Your Gut Flora. This may be the single most important strategy you can implement as the bacteria in your gut have enormous control of your immune response. The best way to improve your beneficial bacteria ratio is avoid sugars as they will feed the pathogenic bacteria. Additionally, processed foods and most grains should be limited and replacing with healthy fats like coconut oil, avocados, olives, olive oil, butter, eggs and nuts. Once you change your diet than regular use of fermented foods can radically optimize the function of your immune response.

· Optimize your vitamin D levels. As I've previously reported, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds, and vitamin D deficiency may actually be the true culprit behind the seasonality of the flu – not the flu virus itself. This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. Regularly monitor your vitamin D levels to confirm your levels are within the therapeutic range of 50-70 ng/ml.

Ideally, you'll want to get all your vitamin D from sun exposure or a safe tanning bed, but as a last resort you can take an oral vitamin D3 supplement. According to the latest review by Carole Baggerly (Grassrootshealth.org), adults need about 8,000 IU's a day. Be sure to take vitamin K2 if you are taking high dose oral vitamin D as it has a powerful synergy and will help prevent any D toxicity. But be sure and get your level tested as that is the only way to know for sure.

· Avoid Sugar and Processed Foods. Sugar impairs the quality of your immune response almost immediately, and as you likely know, a healthy immune system is one of the most important keys to fighting off viruses and other illness. It also can decimate your beneficial bacteria and feed the pathogenic yeast and viruses. Be aware that sugar (typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup) is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice. If you are healthy then sugar can be consumed but the LAST thing you should be eating when you are sick is sugar. Avoid it like poison while you are sick.

· Get Plenty of Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night's Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.

· Have Effective Tools to Address Stress. We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness. If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique, which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma.

· Get Regular Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads. Be sure to stay hydrated – drink plenty of fluids, especially water. However, it would be wise to radically reduce the intensity of your workouts while you are sick. No Peak Fitness exercises until you are better.

· Take a High-Quality Source of Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid damaged omega-6 oils that are trans fats and in processed foods as it will seriously damage your immune response.

· Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don't use antibacterial soap for this – antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.

· Tried and True Hygiene Measures. In addition to washing your hands regularly, cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. If possible, avoid close contact with those, who are sick and, if you are sick, avoid close contact with those who are well.

· Use Natural Antibiotics. Examples include oil of oregano and garlic. These work like broad-spectrum antibiotics against bacteria, viruses, and protozoa in your body. And unlike pharmaceutical antibiotics, they do not appear to lead to resistance.

· Avoid Hospitals. I'd recommend you stay away from hospitals unless you're having an emergency and need expert medical care, as hospitals are prime breeding grounds for infections of all kinds. The best place to get plenty of rest and recover from illness that is not life-threatening is usually in the comfort of your own home.

[Dillon]

Flu shot doing poor job of protecting older people

By MIKE STOBBE, Associated Press, 02/22/2013
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ATLANTA (AP) — It turns out this year's flu shot is doing a startlingly dismal job of protecting older people, the most vulnerable age group.

The vaccine is proving only 9 percent effective in those 65 and older against the harsh strain of the flu that is predominant this season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

Health officials are baffled as to why this is so. But the findings help explain why so many older people have been hospitalized with the flu this year.

[Dave]

Strong Flu Season Boosts Vaccine Profits, Despite Flu Vaccine having Shockingly Low Effectiveness Rate in US and Europe

March 12, 2013
articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/03/12/flu-vaccine-profits.aspx?e_cid=20130312_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130312


The vaccine industry is also ceaselessly working to figure out which propaganda strategy can most effectively lull concerned parents back to sleep and quit asking questions about safety.

Such questions threaten that which is truly important to the vaccine industry: their profits. Sadly, vaccines DO come with potential side effects, and many parents are already grossly underinformed about such risks. Narcolepsy, for example, has yet again been confirmed as a vaccine-induced side effect from the European version of the 2009-2010 H1N1 swine flu vaccine that contained an oil in water adjuvant, ASO3.

With such serious side effects at stake, should the government really be permitted to resort to what’s looking like outright fraud, in order to increase vaccination rates?

Flu Vaccine Shown to have Shockingly Low Effectiveness Rate

Propaganda scare tactics still do work, as demonstrated by the 25 percent uptick in 2012-2013 seasonal flu vaccine sales reported by Novartis.1 This despite the fact that not just one, but three recent studies published in the journal Eurosurveillance2, 3, 4 strongly challenge the claim that the influenza vaccine will protect you against the flu.

According to CIDRAP:5

“All three studies suggest that during the 2011-12 flu season, the vaccine provided modest protection at first, but its effectiveness dropped sharply after 3 or 4 months.

A multicenter study by researchers in eight European countries indicated that overall vaccine effectiveness (VE) against influenza A/H3N2 in the first months of the season was 38%, but after mid-February it dropped to -1%.

'The concept that vaccine protection can be so short-lived provides a challenge for public health policy,' says the British report.”

Similarly, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently admitted that this year’s flu vaccine is doing a “startlingly dismal job of protecting senior citizens,” to quote the San Francisco Chronicle.6

While not at a negative percentage rate, as reported by CIDRAP for the European community, the US flu vaccine is only nine percent effective against this season’s type A (H3N2) influenza strain in people 65 and older. Across all age groups reviewed by the CDC, the flu vaccine's effectiveness was found to be just 56 percent—in essence, the statistical equivalent of a coin toss...

When Does Misrepresentation of the Facts Equate to Outright Fraud?

While none of this surprises me, I am troubled by the gross discrepancies between the government’s claims about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine compared to the actual effectiveness.

“Get vaccinated” is the mantra, even though the scientific evidence backing such a recommendation is flimsy at best. And, when you factor in effectiveness rates of negative one percent, or nine percent, or even 40-50 percent within the first few months of vaccination, the recommendation to use vaccination as your primary flu prevention strategy really becomes rather ludicrous. Not only that, but at what point do these PR tactics become equivalent to outright fraud?

More people than ever are reportedly sick this winter,7 including those who got their flu vaccination. This is in large part due to a new flu strain, the “H3N2 type variant,” identified as being particularly aggressive, and believed to be the cause of many if not most of the illnesses.8

Interestingly, according to Dr. Joseph Bresee, a medical epidemiologist in the influenza division at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the H3N2 component in this year’s seasonal flu vaccine “has been a good match against almost all the confirmed H3N2 samples the agency has tested,”9 and due to flu fears, vaccines have been flying off the shelves this year.

So, the vaccines are a great match against the most virulent flu strain in circulation, yet the effectiveness rate for the type A H3N2 influenza strain is nine percent for seniors, and equivalent to a 50/50 tossup for the rest of us? Personally, I would never accept the potential side effects associated with the influenza vaccine—such as permanent paralysis from Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) —for such odds.

Another thing to consider is that states that have fired health care workers for refusing the flu vaccine10 have done so over an absolutely useless vaccine that provides nothing but profits for the vaccine industry. Meanwhile, health professionals who buckle to the pressure are taking some very real health risks, just to keep their jobs.