LA Times: The toll of the anti-vaccination movement, in one devastating graphic.
74 Replies to “Vaccinate Your Kids”
I agree with you, including H1N1.
We were living in Saskatoon when the hysteria hit.
People were lining up for hours in the freezing cold at Prairieland Park to get the shot.
And freaking out on local tv when they ran out.
It was a very cry wolf moment.
And I thought at the time we were being softened up for the next hysteria.
At work, we were urged to get the shot.
It was free.
No free lunch, I thought.
Then the stories about the adverse effects of the vaccine came out.
In fact, just last week we were in the walk in clinic waiting for a prescription.
The guy next to us said that he hadn’t any health problems all his life.
Until he got the flu shot a few years ago.
I had a patient earlier this week who was ranting about how the influenza vaccine was a big conspiracy etc., etc. No sense wasting your breath arguing with someone like that, but it got me to thinking:
The only way these people will start to take things seriously is when someone famous goes down. Last time H1N1 went through five years ago, about 280,000 people died. You tell my dimwit patient that, she won’t believe it or won’t care. But if someone famous, let’s say Brittney Spears, dies of influenza, it will be in the news for months, and they’ll be lined up around the block next year.
Well I am the dumb one here so I will say that. I believe in vaccines for kids at after birth for such things like polio ect ect . as for flu shots…please! I have had the flu twice in about 5 years …the 2 times I had it I stayed home for 5 days rested drank lot’s of liquids and quit honestly enjoyed the time off to let my body heal itself naturally ….same like my kids if they have a cold or a cough they will stay home until it is all gone. I under stand using things like cold fx and other medicines DO work but I think your immune system will become weaker if it never allowed to work it’s self..i think a balance maybe? maybe 2 cold with out and maybe one cold using medicine. just be respectful of other people stay home wash your hands keep clean and don’t contact others. my colds don’t last long at all. maybe 3 days 4 tops. sometimes I think it is a great way to rest and give your body a break. maybe I am just not smart enough to know. anyway that’s my thoughts.
Some idiot above sneered at a mere 0.3 per cent mortality rate. As far as I’m concerned, that’s 0.3 per cent too much to be tolerated by the casual indifference to the health and welfare of others.
You’re obviously a Lieberal as you took my comment out of context. It’s my choice to get vaccinated or not. It’s my responsibility to not transmit any infections to others. Notice the difference? You control freaks can go to hell.
As a conservative/libertarian I am somewhat conflicted by the issue of freedom
from a legal requirement to be vaccinated, and the public good. However, “no
man is an island”, not even a libertarian, and we (libertarians and others)
do rely on public services such as snow clearance, road-building, public transport,
the armed forces, etc. Perhaps one way of approaching the matter is to note that
he who is vaccinated, and who sees that his children are vaccinated, is enlarging
the pool of resistance; while he who is not vaccinated, or does not have his
children vaccinated when they reach the age limit, is enlarging the pool of infection.
The latter is relying on the former to keep healthy, and is therefore much like
the welfare recipient who does not actively seek work. He is a drain on
responsible people, and a public malefactor.
I note that my university is decidedly healthier now that many students receive
flu vaccinations, as I do, than it was back in the 1980s, when most of us relied
on luck. Well, luck usually was bad as well as good, and I might lose two weeks
to flu, and some students lost more – one very talented student, now a senior
research director with Merck, lost one whole month out of one semester in her
senior year.
This issue is not for the math-challenged. Fortunately Ms. McMillan is literate in
statistics. No vaccine is entirely safe; one is likely to get a little sick after
a vaccination, and on occasion perhaps very ill indeed (see Guillain–Barré syndrome
for instance). Conversely, even in a
pandemic it is unlikely that a majority of people will become infected (depending
on the disease of course; pneumonic plague supposedly has a high infection rate).
Really, going without vaccination is like playing Russian roulette. You probably
won’t die. But vaccination is like playing Russian roulette with 50
empty cartridge chambers and one bullet rather than five chambers and one bullet.
Play the game you must, but you have the choice of weapon.
Another matter for consideration in vaccination vs non-vaccination is that a
number of infectious diseases do permanent damage – in my instance Bell’s palsy.
What context is needed? You said “0.3% is insignificant”, and it doesn’t matter what it’s compared to. That’s 0.3% that could be avoided except for types like you ranting about your freedom, presumably to infect others.
You’re new around here, aren’t you? Otherwise you’d know better than to say “You’re obviously a Lieberal”. But from your own words, you’re obviously a nitwit.
“That’s 0.3% that could be avoided except for types like you ranting about your freedom, presumably to infect others.”
Who cares if people don’t want Vaccines, if you have one you won’t get sick.
“Presumably infect others”? If their vaccinated how can they get sick from someone who doesn’t want one?
I’m not a H1N1 conspiracy person. My reasons for not getting that particular flu vaccination was made after I did quite a bit of research from both pro and con sides. One important factor was an article in The Irish Times, if I remember correctly, that had actual stats on both how contagious the swine flu was and the serious illness/mortality rates. In this case the rates were lower than than average. In fact, this was correct because that year fewer people died from the flu since H1N1 turned out to be relatively mild – although the vaccination push may have contributed to that reduction. Different numbers would have changed my decision.
And that’s the point. I want to be the one who makes that call. Personally, after doing the research when my kids were babies, I cannot think of a rational reason for refusing the basic, routine shots. Low risk, high reward. The flu is different and this is just my opinion.
My concern about statism/crony capitalism is that even the best intended program becomes corrupt and incompetent in the hands of government. I’m not worried about them poising citizens.
I can confirm cgh is not a libtard, BTW. 🙂
Wiki say there were 428 deaths out of 25000 cases of H1N1 in 2009 in Canada.
Many of those deaths were attributed to people who already had underlying medical conditions.
I still contend that the risk of dying without being vaccinated during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic was overstated.
My son and daughter have been vaccinated for all the major diseases like diphtheria, rubella and polio.
My daughter was also vaccinated for HPV.
I recognize the value of vaccines.
H1N1 in 2009, however, was a media hysteri-storm that verged on Jonestown.
It would appear that the Canadian measles outbreaks are predominantly in indian territory.
Don’t we give them free health care?
Really enjoying this discussion.
But I repeat…the flu vaccine cannot be lumped in with vaccines against childhood diseases.
turtle…where did you get that number?
dance…I agree with your comment, except for HPV (do the research).
I have researched flu vaccine for many years and have made personal observations as well. The flu vaccine has many serious side effects, is 50% effective at best, and many that receive the vaccine end up with inluenza-like illness after the vaccine.
Do the research, and follow the money.
As a health care worker I have experienced pressure to get the flu vaccine. For all the reasons mentioned I refuse.
Bottom line the most important reason that I refuse is ‘personal freedom’.
In response to HCW, the 2009 mortality estimates come from a collaboration of research centers assembled by the World Health Organisation. It’s not an easy estimate to make. Challenges include under-reporting, reporting of deaths as a different cause (e.g. pneumonia), poor reporting in less-developed countries, and politics wherein some regimes aren’t keen on admitting how many of their citizens succumber.
Even in the USA, where reporting should be decent, the best the Centers for Disease Control could come up with was an estimate of 9000 to 18000 deaths.
Of course the 1918 epidemic where we lost 50-100 million people (when the earth had a lot less people) seems to be forgotten.
Regardless of whether it is more or less than 280000, the 2009 toll is a big number. And my point is that even when that many people die, the lead story on the news will still be about Justin Bieber’s Lambourghini.
It’s not an easy estimate to make. Challenges include under-reporting, reporting of deaths as a different cause (e.g. pneumonia), poor reporting in less-developed countries, and politics wherein some regimes aren’t keen on admitting how many of their citizens succumber.
In other words, they made it up. Even in the USA, where reporting should be decent, the best the Centers for Disease Control could come up with was an estimate of 9000 to 18000 deaths.
Haha, don’t hire that crew to count your cows. Must be from the ‘math is hard’ crew. Credibility personified….hahaha
I’m not sure that thousands of people dying unnecessarily/ avoidably early is a laughing matter for most people. Either way, it doesn’t change my point.
Haha, like they count deaths caused by smoking. Whatever they died from, if they smoked, it was smoking that killed them.
Yeah, a real credible outfit, into new math…
Each vaccine needs to be considered with regard to benefits and risk. For polio vaccine, it’s a no-brainer; the risk of polio far outweighs the few cases of autoimmunity which the vaccine will cause. For influenza vaccine we have effective antiviral drugs and the risk of the vaccine is likely higher than the benefit.
One thing the pharmaceutical companies don’t want you to hear about is vaccine induced autoimmunity. If the vaccine has either an aluminum based adjuvent or, in the worst possible adjuvent disaster, squalene as an adjuvent then there is a small but substantial risk of autoimmunity. The worst case scenario from this is death.
Now, by the precautionary principle, which all moonbats subscribe to unconditionally, that mere potential of vaccine induced autoimmunity should be sufficient reason to not administer vaccines.
My re-examination of vaccination was triggered by a severe reaction I had to the H1N1 vaccine in 2009 and the numerous severe reactions I saw in people who were vaccinated with that vaccine. Squalene injection is used in an experimental animal model of rheumatoid arthritis and a patient of mine was hospitalized for a week after the H1N1 vaccine in 2009. In any event, the influenza epidemic in 2009 had passed through before vaccine was available.
If one is being administered a vaccine where the disease one is trying to prevent is very unlikely to result in death whereas there’s a substantial risk from the vaccine, then people should be free to refuse the vaccine. Vaccines that I’d like to get a booster of, like the smallpox vaccine, are no longer available. The MMR vaccine is one that didn’t exist when I was growing up and I got measles, mumps and at some point rubella (as my rubella antibody titers are high) and survived these typical childhood diseases unscathed.
The HPV vaccine will, IMHO, increase the rate of death from cervical cancer in the coming decades. The HPV vaccine only has a small number of HPV strains which are linked to cervical cancer, but any girl who gets vaccinated against HPV will be under the impression that she doesn’t need regular pap tests. There’s a lot more involved with cervical cancer than coincidental HPV infection and there’s a well proven test to detect cervical cancer early — the pap test. Something women hate doing and it will be interesting in 10-20 years when suddenly we’re experiencing a spike in cervical cancer deaths and I also predict that some other factor aside from the vaccine will be invoked as the explanation for this “mysterious” rise in cervical cancer.
Whether or not to be vaccinated should be an individual choice and having the state demand certain vaccines be administered is unacceptable. When parents are in doubt, I tell them to get the childhood vaccines which have a proven track record. As far as the new vaccines go, there’s far less reason to have them as we’ve dealt with all of the easy infections to prevent and now pharmaceutical industry profits are the primary driver of new vaccine introduction.
Thank you Loki for your professional and reasoned comment.
Ontario hospitals are pressuring staff to get flu vaccine and it is my opinion that it is based on ‘poor science’.
“Presumably infect others”? If their vaccinated how can they get sick from someone who doesn’t want one?
Thanks Knight 99 for that comment. You’re absolutely correct. Those who do not wish to be vaccinated and get sick can ONLY infect others who are NOT vaccinated. The Vaccinated are pressuring others to conform and to reassure their decision.
To cgh you’re still behaving like a Lieberal or worse … a useful idiot. Twisting the information around to suit your position.
Until the government does randomized controlled studies between vaccinated and unvaccinated healthcare workers and the cases of verified hospital and nursing home acquired influenza, there will be unanswered questions to the efficacy of flu vaccination.
In 2009, a school outbreak of the pandemic H1N1 was reported in a rural community of northern BC and D.M. Skowronski (the head of the BC Centre for Disease Control) and her colleagues found that people who were vaccinated with the seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine had a statistically higher chance of contracting the H1N1 virus. One hypothesis was that repeat immunization effectively blocks the more robust, complex and cross-protective immunity afforded by prior infection. See her study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation 2011.
Doug >
For me it’s “each to his own”.
I’ve never had a flu vaccine in my life, and I haven’t been flu sick in over 30 years. That’s something because I’ve traveled the world extensively for decades. I’d personally never stick that crap in my veins but again each to their own.
I also know quite a few people who get the flu shot every year, and like clockwork they get the flu every year. I mention that they should maybe try laying off the shot for a year, and they usually tell me to mind my own business. Whatever.
It does piss me off that other people try and tell me that if they had their way, they’d have the police hold me down and a government “doctor” stick a needle of f*ck knows what in me, because it’s “for my own good”.
Just try it is all I have to say.
Let’s just hope Neil Young doesn’t decide to jump in on this issue. He’s seen the needle and the damage done!
The immunization question is an issue often tackled by the homeschool community… whether to immunize or not. I’m one of those crazy people who believed our three children could be better educated by our own family, and so we did that. They were educated at home all the way through High School. Today they are mostly straight A students at college. WE IMMUNIZED them all, but I didn’t want to. I saw sickness in my first two with the immunizations. Our third daughter was not immunized until she was a teen ager. She weathered the shots far better than my babies. I believe it is actually criminal to put that junk in babies. This is my personal experience . I’ve heard the same from medical people, doctors and nurses, that waiting until your kids are older is far better. The flu vaccine is another animal altogether.
I know two people in my own small town who died of the H1N1 when the mass hysteria hit. They were vaccinated that fall and died in the winter. AND I know two people who both got the H1N1 vaccine in the fall and both of them got the H1N1 flu and lived. One of them recovered rather quickly. One of them did not. She became so very sick she spent 4 months (?) in the hospital. Then she spent more months in rehab. Much of her hospital time was in a coma. It is years later now, what 5 ? She will never work in her profession again…. she got the flu from a patient she was working on, now she is just not well anymore. Did the vaccine make her weaker ? or was it the flu itself ? The flu nearly killed her, we know that… or do we ?
I agree with you, including H1N1.
We were living in Saskatoon when the hysteria hit.
People were lining up for hours in the freezing cold at Prairieland Park to get the shot.
And freaking out on local tv when they ran out.
It was a very cry wolf moment.
And I thought at the time we were being softened up for the next hysteria.
At work, we were urged to get the shot.
It was free.
No free lunch, I thought.
Then the stories about the adverse effects of the vaccine came out.
In fact, just last week we were in the walk in clinic waiting for a prescription.
The guy next to us said that he hadn’t any health problems all his life.
Until he got the flu shot a few years ago.
I had a patient earlier this week who was ranting about how the influenza vaccine was a big conspiracy etc., etc. No sense wasting your breath arguing with someone like that, but it got me to thinking:
The only way these people will start to take things seriously is when someone famous goes down. Last time H1N1 went through five years ago, about 280,000 people died. You tell my dimwit patient that, she won’t believe it or won’t care. But if someone famous, let’s say Brittney Spears, dies of influenza, it will be in the news for months, and they’ll be lined up around the block next year.
Well I am the dumb one here so I will say that. I believe in vaccines for kids at after birth for such things like polio ect ect . as for flu shots…please! I have had the flu twice in about 5 years …the 2 times I had it I stayed home for 5 days rested drank lot’s of liquids and quit honestly enjoyed the time off to let my body heal itself naturally ….same like my kids if they have a cold or a cough they will stay home until it is all gone. I under stand using things like cold fx and other medicines DO work but I think your immune system will become weaker if it never allowed to work it’s self..i think a balance maybe? maybe 2 cold with out and maybe one cold using medicine. just be respectful of other people stay home wash your hands keep clean and don’t contact others. my colds don’t last long at all. maybe 3 days 4 tops. sometimes I think it is a great way to rest and give your body a break. maybe I am just not smart enough to know. anyway that’s my thoughts.
Some idiot above sneered at a mere 0.3 per cent mortality rate. As far as I’m concerned, that’s 0.3 per cent too much to be tolerated by the casual indifference to the health and welfare of others.
You’re obviously a Lieberal as you took my comment out of context. It’s my choice to get vaccinated or not. It’s my responsibility to not transmit any infections to others. Notice the difference? You control freaks can go to hell.
Nonsense.
There’s some question whether Coldfx does anything at all. Could well be another case of it works if you think it does.
http://www.thepaltrysapien.com/2012/01/cold-fx-the-1-placebo-for-good-canadians/
As a conservative/libertarian I am somewhat conflicted by the issue of freedom
from a legal requirement to be vaccinated, and the public good. However, “no
man is an island”, not even a libertarian, and we (libertarians and others)
do rely on public services such as snow clearance, road-building, public transport,
the armed forces, etc. Perhaps one way of approaching the matter is to note that
he who is vaccinated, and who sees that his children are vaccinated, is enlarging
the pool of resistance; while he who is not vaccinated, or does not have his
children vaccinated when they reach the age limit, is enlarging the pool of infection.
The latter is relying on the former to keep healthy, and is therefore much like
the welfare recipient who does not actively seek work. He is a drain on
responsible people, and a public malefactor.
I note that my university is decidedly healthier now that many students receive
flu vaccinations, as I do, than it was back in the 1980s, when most of us relied
on luck. Well, luck usually was bad as well as good, and I might lose two weeks
to flu, and some students lost more – one very talented student, now a senior
research director with Merck, lost one whole month out of one semester in her
senior year.
This issue is not for the math-challenged. Fortunately Ms. McMillan is literate in
statistics. No vaccine is entirely safe; one is likely to get a little sick after
a vaccination, and on occasion perhaps very ill indeed (see Guillain–Barré syndrome
for instance). Conversely, even in a
pandemic it is unlikely that a majority of people will become infected (depending
on the disease of course; pneumonic plague supposedly has a high infection rate).
Really, going without vaccination is like playing Russian roulette. You probably
won’t die. But vaccination is like playing Russian roulette with 50
empty cartridge chambers and one bullet rather than five chambers and one bullet.
Play the game you must, but you have the choice of weapon.
Another matter for consideration in vaccination vs non-vaccination is that a
number of infectious diseases do permanent damage – in my instance Bell’s palsy.
What context is needed? You said “0.3% is insignificant”, and it doesn’t matter what it’s compared to. That’s 0.3% that could be avoided except for types like you ranting about your freedom, presumably to infect others.
You’re new around here, aren’t you? Otherwise you’d know better than to say “You’re obviously a Lieberal”. But from your own words, you’re obviously a nitwit.
“That’s 0.3% that could be avoided except for types like you ranting about your freedom, presumably to infect others.”
Who cares if people don’t want Vaccines, if you have one you won’t get sick.
“Presumably infect others”? If their vaccinated how can they get sick from someone who doesn’t want one?
I’m not a H1N1 conspiracy person. My reasons for not getting that particular flu vaccination was made after I did quite a bit of research from both pro and con sides. One important factor was an article in The Irish Times, if I remember correctly, that had actual stats on both how contagious the swine flu was and the serious illness/mortality rates. In this case the rates were lower than than average. In fact, this was correct because that year fewer people died from the flu since H1N1 turned out to be relatively mild – although the vaccination push may have contributed to that reduction. Different numbers would have changed my decision.
And that’s the point. I want to be the one who makes that call. Personally, after doing the research when my kids were babies, I cannot think of a rational reason for refusing the basic, routine shots. Low risk, high reward. The flu is different and this is just my opinion.
My concern about statism/crony capitalism is that even the best intended program becomes corrupt and incompetent in the hands of government. I’m not worried about them poising citizens.
I can confirm cgh is not a libtard, BTW. 🙂
Wiki say there were 428 deaths out of 25000 cases of H1N1 in 2009 in Canada.
Many of those deaths were attributed to people who already had underlying medical conditions.
I still contend that the risk of dying without being vaccinated during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic was overstated.
My son and daughter have been vaccinated for all the major diseases like diphtheria, rubella and polio.
My daughter was also vaccinated for HPV.
I recognize the value of vaccines.
H1N1 in 2009, however, was a media hysteri-storm that verged on Jonestown.
It would appear that the Canadian measles outbreaks are predominantly in indian territory.
Don’t we give them free health care?
Really enjoying this discussion.
But I repeat…the flu vaccine cannot be lumped in with vaccines against childhood diseases.
turtle…where did you get that number?
dance…I agree with your comment, except for HPV (do the research).
I have researched flu vaccine for many years and have made personal observations as well. The flu vaccine has many serious side effects, is 50% effective at best, and many that receive the vaccine end up with inluenza-like illness after the vaccine.
Do the research, and follow the money.
As a health care worker I have experienced pressure to get the flu vaccine. For all the reasons mentioned I refuse.
Bottom line the most important reason that I refuse is ‘personal freedom’.
In response to HCW, the 2009 mortality estimates come from a collaboration of research centers assembled by the World Health Organisation. It’s not an easy estimate to make. Challenges include under-reporting, reporting of deaths as a different cause (e.g. pneumonia), poor reporting in less-developed countries, and politics wherein some regimes aren’t keen on admitting how many of their citizens succumber.
Even in the USA, where reporting should be decent, the best the Centers for Disease Control could come up with was an estimate of 9000 to 18000 deaths.
Of course the 1918 epidemic where we lost 50-100 million people (when the earth had a lot less people) seems to be forgotten.
Regardless of whether it is more or less than 280000, the 2009 toll is a big number. And my point is that even when that many people die, the lead story on the news will still be about Justin Bieber’s Lambourghini.
It’s not an easy estimate to make. Challenges include under-reporting, reporting of deaths as a different cause (e.g. pneumonia), poor reporting in less-developed countries, and politics wherein some regimes aren’t keen on admitting how many of their citizens succumber.
In other words, they made it up.
Even in the USA, where reporting should be decent, the best the Centers for Disease Control could come up with was an estimate of 9000 to 18000 deaths.
Haha, don’t hire that crew to count your cows. Must be from the ‘math is hard’ crew. Credibility personified….hahaha
I’m not sure that thousands of people dying unnecessarily/ avoidably early is a laughing matter for most people. Either way, it doesn’t change my point.
Haha, like they count deaths caused by smoking. Whatever they died from, if they smoked, it was smoking that killed them.
Yeah, a real credible outfit, into new math…
Each vaccine needs to be considered with regard to benefits and risk. For polio vaccine, it’s a no-brainer; the risk of polio far outweighs the few cases of autoimmunity which the vaccine will cause. For influenza vaccine we have effective antiviral drugs and the risk of the vaccine is likely higher than the benefit.
One thing the pharmaceutical companies don’t want you to hear about is vaccine induced autoimmunity. If the vaccine has either an aluminum based adjuvent or, in the worst possible adjuvent disaster, squalene as an adjuvent then there is a small but substantial risk of autoimmunity. The worst case scenario from this is death.
Now, by the precautionary principle, which all moonbats subscribe to unconditionally, that mere potential of vaccine induced autoimmunity should be sufficient reason to not administer vaccines.
My re-examination of vaccination was triggered by a severe reaction I had to the H1N1 vaccine in 2009 and the numerous severe reactions I saw in people who were vaccinated with that vaccine. Squalene injection is used in an experimental animal model of rheumatoid arthritis and a patient of mine was hospitalized for a week after the H1N1 vaccine in 2009. In any event, the influenza epidemic in 2009 had passed through before vaccine was available.
If one is being administered a vaccine where the disease one is trying to prevent is very unlikely to result in death whereas there’s a substantial risk from the vaccine, then people should be free to refuse the vaccine. Vaccines that I’d like to get a booster of, like the smallpox vaccine, are no longer available. The MMR vaccine is one that didn’t exist when I was growing up and I got measles, mumps and at some point rubella (as my rubella antibody titers are high) and survived these typical childhood diseases unscathed.
The HPV vaccine will, IMHO, increase the rate of death from cervical cancer in the coming decades. The HPV vaccine only has a small number of HPV strains which are linked to cervical cancer, but any girl who gets vaccinated against HPV will be under the impression that she doesn’t need regular pap tests. There’s a lot more involved with cervical cancer than coincidental HPV infection and there’s a well proven test to detect cervical cancer early — the pap test. Something women hate doing and it will be interesting in 10-20 years when suddenly we’re experiencing a spike in cervical cancer deaths and I also predict that some other factor aside from the vaccine will be invoked as the explanation for this “mysterious” rise in cervical cancer.
Whether or not to be vaccinated should be an individual choice and having the state demand certain vaccines be administered is unacceptable. When parents are in doubt, I tell them to get the childhood vaccines which have a proven track record. As far as the new vaccines go, there’s far less reason to have them as we’ve dealt with all of the easy infections to prevent and now pharmaceutical industry profits are the primary driver of new vaccine introduction.
Thank you Loki for your professional and reasoned comment.
Ontario hospitals are pressuring staff to get flu vaccine and it is my opinion that it is based on ‘poor science’.
“Presumably infect others”? If their vaccinated how can they get sick from someone who doesn’t want one?
Thanks Knight 99 for that comment. You’re absolutely correct. Those who do not wish to be vaccinated and get sick can ONLY infect others who are NOT vaccinated. The Vaccinated are pressuring others to conform and to reassure their decision.
To cgh you’re still behaving like a Lieberal or worse … a useful idiot. Twisting the information around to suit your position.
Until the government does randomized controlled studies between vaccinated and unvaccinated healthcare workers and the cases of verified hospital and nursing home acquired influenza, there will be unanswered questions to the efficacy of flu vaccination.
In 2009, a school outbreak of the pandemic H1N1 was reported in a rural community of northern BC and D.M. Skowronski (the head of the BC Centre for Disease Control) and her colleagues found that people who were vaccinated with the seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine had a statistically higher chance of contracting the H1N1 virus. One hypothesis was that repeat immunization effectively blocks the more robust, complex and cross-protective immunity afforded by prior infection. See her study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation 2011.
Doug >
For me it’s “each to his own”.
I’ve never had a flu vaccine in my life, and I haven’t been flu sick in over 30 years. That’s something because I’ve traveled the world extensively for decades. I’d personally never stick that crap in my veins but again each to their own.
I also know quite a few people who get the flu shot every year, and like clockwork they get the flu every year. I mention that they should maybe try laying off the shot for a year, and they usually tell me to mind my own business. Whatever.
It does piss me off that other people try and tell me that if they had their way, they’d have the police hold me down and a government “doctor” stick a needle of f*ck knows what in me, because it’s “for my own good”.
Just try it is all I have to say.
Let’s just hope Neil Young doesn’t decide to jump in on this issue. He’s seen the needle and the damage done!
The immunization question is an issue often tackled by the homeschool community… whether to immunize or not. I’m one of those crazy people who believed our three children could be better educated by our own family, and so we did that. They were educated at home all the way through High School. Today they are mostly straight A students at college. WE IMMUNIZED them all, but I didn’t want to. I saw sickness in my first two with the immunizations. Our third daughter was not immunized until she was a teen ager. She weathered the shots far better than my babies. I believe it is actually criminal to put that junk in babies. This is my personal experience . I’ve heard the same from medical people, doctors and nurses, that waiting until your kids are older is far better. The flu vaccine is another animal altogether.
I know two people in my own small town who died of the H1N1 when the mass hysteria hit. They were vaccinated that fall and died in the winter. AND I know two people who both got the H1N1 vaccine in the fall and both of them got the H1N1 flu and lived. One of them recovered rather quickly. One of them did not. She became so very sick she spent 4 months (?) in the hospital. Then she spent more months in rehab. Much of her hospital time was in a coma. It is years later now, what 5 ? She will never work in her profession again…. she got the flu from a patient she was working on, now she is just not well anymore. Did the vaccine make her weaker ? or was it the flu itself ? The flu nearly killed her, we know that… or do we ?