Each year, the demand seemingly gets stronger. “An annual seasonal flu vaccine is the best
way to reduce the chances that you will get seasonal flu and spread it to
others,” the Center for Disease Control (CDC) states on its website.
Now, more than ever before, that advice is being heavily
scrutinized. First and foremost, a very
pertinent question exists as to whether or not the flu shot is really the best
defense against the influenza virus.
Your immune system is designed to combat foreign invaders such as
viruses, and you encounter on a daily basis a plethora of things from the
environmental allergens in the air that you breathe to the bacteria that may
live in the food that you eat to which your immune system must respond. Immunity is built by these interactions and
its development is one of the many automatic processes that occur in your
body.
Everyone is exposed to the many different strains of the
flu virus; whether or not you start to exhibit signs that it has entered your
system and proliferated in its battle against your innate defense is determined
by the strength of your immune system.
Viruses like influenza are not predators; they are more like scavengers.
Rather than attack people at random, you
might say that the flu seeks out hosts that will allow it to thrive; if your
immune system is weak, then you are a prime candidate.
The long-established medical mindset has been that the
human body is not capable enough to build immunity on its own, but considering
that you are exposed to millions of potential microorganisms that can cause
infection every day yet only rarely fall ill, it would be fair to say that the
exception is being treated as the rule.
Logic and a basic understanding of physiology would, therefore, dictate
that a strong immune system would give you the best chance to prevent the flu
and not the vaccine.
Though you have no conscious control over the actions of
the immune system, you still have the ability to consciously make choices that
will heavily influence the strength of your system. Your brain is directly linked to your immune
system via your nerves, your spinal cord, and ultimately your brainstem. Like the general of any defense system, the
brain must be able to properly communicate with the cells that it deploys to
fight your body’s battles. How well that
communication system is functioning (see Upper Cervical Care) is, therefore,
very important. The cells are
replenished regularly, produced by glands that get the materials necessary to
build new cells by the food that we eat, so nutritional decisions also govern
your ability to create a strong and efficient immune system.
Of the five essential categories to healthy living,
normal function and nutrition are the core elements that control immunity but,
stress being like a vice-grip on your body, your ability to manage stress plays
a key role too. Your basic internal
reaction to stress is to prioritize the systems of the body necessary for acute,
in-the-moment action; the immune system does not make that list and is weakened
accordingly when high levels of stress go unmanaged. So, if you manage your stress, your body is
functioning properly, and you eat well, your system should be strong enough to
fight off the vast majority of pathogens, influenza included.
As to the pressure exerted on the public by those in
favor of mass flu vaccination who champion it as our collective best chance to
prevent the flu, it is reasonable to expect a strong body of evidence in
support of their position. So, does the
flu shot’s efficacy establish well enough the widespread suggestion of its
necessity?
In an interview with Dr. Thomas Jefferson, coordinator
for the Cochrane Vaccine Field in Rome, Italy, he stated that, in a thorough
review of 217 published studies on flu vaccines, he found only 5% reliable. In other words, 95% of published flu vaccine
studies were considered flawed in his professional opinion and that their
conclusions should be dismissed. In
2013, Dr. Peter Doshi of MIT and Johns Hopkins University published a
devastating report in the British Medical Journal discrediting the official
fear tactics about flu season. "The
vaccine may be less beneficial and less safe than has been claimed, and the
threat of influenza seems to be overstated," he said.
If you simply evaluate the data offered by the CDC over
the past 12 years, the claimed-effectiveness of the flu shot has averaged out
at less than 50%, bottoming out at a low of 10% and last year professing to be
only around 20%. Even in a year when the
effective-percentage has topped 50% overall, the effectiveness for the more
likely to be immunocompromised elderly population has been as low as 8%. Some studies have suggested 20% as the standard
instead of the exception.
All such effectiveness studies, as pointed out above,
have their issues and biases, meaning that even the ones that champion 65%
effectiveness may not actually be that effective. It is not a simple thing to study, especially
when you take into account that flu vaccines do not protect you against the
common strains of influenza to which you would generally be exposed today because they contain the common
strains of influenza from several months
to a year ago; viruses adapt, so the
strains you face now are rarely the same as the ones in the vaccine. If you do not get the flu and did not have the vaccine, the answer as to
why is simple: your immune system was strong; if you do not get the flu and did have the vaccine, the answer as to
why is not as simple – statistically, it most likely was because your immune
system was strong in the first place rather than from getting the flu shot.
Next for your consideration is that the flu shot
ingredient list includes a wide variety of things that can actually suppress
the immune system’s normal response, such as known carcinogens, allergens, and
neuro-toxins, to which everyone reacts differently. It has been said that the flu is unpredictable;
just as unpredictable are chemical concoctions put into the body, hence the
frequency of adverse reactions not just to vaccines, but pharmaceuticals in
general.
Admitted side effects of the vaccine range from low fever
and chills to swelling where the shot was injected to headaches and Migraines
to extreme fatigue to joint and muscle pain; yet it has also been known to
cause major digestive issues, narcolepsy, intense vertigo, paralysis, and even
death. If your exception to not getting
the flu shot is getting the flu, then that is one thing; but if your exception
to getting the flu shot is an adverse reaction causing paralysis or death, that
is entirely another.
The supporting research is incredibly weak, the
effectiveness is scientifically unverified, and it presents with considerable
risks. Far more cons than pros exist for
getting the vaccine. Meanwhile, a
healthy lifestyle allows you to build a naturally strong immunity; and, make no
mistake, the burden of proof is not on the non-vaccinated to prove that they
can build immunity without a flu shot; it is on the proponents of the
vaccination to prove you need a flu shot to build immunity.
Thinking good things for you,
Dr. Chad
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