Fear and the Flu Part Three

     Every flu season it never fails. Drive by any medical clinic, hospital, pharmacy or senior center and the signs are everywhere; FLU SHOTS AVAILABLE HERE.  Seniors as well as children are lining up to receive their flu shot.  Then, I think to myself, I never have had a flu shot, neither has my wife and kids.  And, come to think of it, we have never had the flu.  Even with more and more people every year getting the flu shot.  36,000 Americans die each year from the flu or complications related to the flu.   The numbers are the same year after year.   I did a little research, it turns out, the flu vaccine is not all it's cracked up to be.  Below is some highlights from the research of Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, an authority on vaccines.

     * In 2006, scientists conducted a large-scale, systematic review of 51 studies that involved 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months.  They found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more than the placebo.  This was published in the Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews.

     * In October of 2008, the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine reported that vaccinating young children against the flu had no impact on flu-related hospitalizations or doctor visits during two recent flu seasons.  The researchers concluded that significant influenza vaccine effectiveness could not be demonstrated for any season, age or setting.

     * In 1980, only 15 percent of seniors in the US received flu vaccination.  Today, the rate has increased to 65 percent. Yet two studies published in earl 2009 in The Lancet and American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care both noted that there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza or pneumonia during that period.

     * Adults are also not protected by flu vaccine. In a review of 48 reports including more than 66,000 adults, "Vaccination of health adults only reduced risk of influenza by 6%, and reduced the number of missed work days by less than one day (.16).  It did not change the number of people needing to go to a hospital or take time off work." ( Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults."  The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2008. 

     The only ones benefiting from the flu vaccines appear to be the pharmaceutical companies.  They rake in billions every year, pushing what appears to be a product who's efficacy comes into question.

     

Love, Light & Laughter

     Dr. Corey