Re: Can we take flu shot

November 14, 2002

Hi,

Vaccines stimulate your immune system so in active GD, your symptoms can

worsen. Most docs recommend not having it if you have an autoimmune disease

unless there are extenuating circumstances, particularly in the elderly. Take

care, Elaine

November 14, 2002

I think it's a bad idea for anyone to take the flu shot because all the

fillers in vaccinations can be very bad for us (mercury for example), but

for people with autoimmune diseases, immunizations stimulate our immune

system, and we really don't want that to happen. You would be better off, in

my opinion, to make sure you are supporting your immune system with

antioxidents, good rest, and good nutrition. And wash your hands everytime

you come home from a public place.

Here is an article in response to this question from another board:

Flu Vaccine Everyone knows about the flu and the flu vaccine.

Natural Health Newsletter Randall Neustaedter OMD

Time for the Flu Vaccine? Think Again The flu vaccine gets the

most-useless-vaccine-of-all-time award. Now the CDC is recommending the

vaccine for children under two years old and all adults over 50. Don't fall

for it. Read the flu chapter from the new edition of my book, The Vaccine

Guide, (North Atlantic Books 800 337-2665) which will be available at

bookstores by late October.

Flu Vaccine Everyone knows about the flu and the flu vaccine.

What people do not know is that flu vaccines are nearly useless in

preventing flu, they will cause the flu, and they often result in nervous

system damage that can take years for the body to repair. Other nations

chuckle at Americans' infatuation with the flu vaccine. The joke would

indeed be funny, if it weren't for the damaging effects caused by the

vaccine.

The history of the flu vaccine reads like one stumbling fiasco after another

Take an example. Ever wonder how the particular viruses are chosen for next

year's vaccine? The answer could be drawn from a 1930s film noir of Shanghai

villainy.

Scientists kill migrating ducks in Asia, culture the viruses and put those

in next year's vaccine, because they have seen an association between bird

and pig viruses and the following year's human flu epidemics.

Perhaps this desperate guesswork is responsible for so many years when the

flu vaccine's viruses had nothing in common with circulating viruses.

According to a CDC report of the 1994-1995 flu season, 87 percent of type A

influenza virus samples were not similar to the year's vaccine, and 76

percent of type B virus were not similar to the virus in that year's vaccine

During the 1992-1993 season, 84 percent of samples for the predominant type

A virus were not similar to the virus in the vaccine.

Here is a list of the most common side effects of the flu vaccine as stated

by the CDC - fever, fatigue, muscle aches, and headache. Sound familiar?

The primary targeted population for flu vaccine is the elderly, yet the

vaccine is notoriously ineffective in preventing disease in that population.

According to the CDC, the effectiveness of flu vaccine in preventing illness

among elderly persons residing in nursing homes is 30-40 percent (CDC,

2001b).

Other studies have shown an even lower efficacy of 0-36 percent (averaging

21 percent). The CDC proudly notes that for those elderly persons living

outside of nursing homes, flu vaccine is 30-70 percent effective in

preventing hospitalization for pneumonia and influenza.

Yet the Department of Human and Health Services found that, with or without

a flu shot, pneumonia and influenza hospitalization rates for the elderly

are less than one percent during the influenza season. Regardless of

vaccination status, 99 percent of the elderly recover from the flu without

being hospitalized. The ineffectiveness of flu shots in the elderly led the

CDC in 2000 to begin recommending the shots for all persons age 50 years and

older. The rationale being that one third of Americans have a risk factor or

chronic disease that puts them at risk of increased morbidity from the flu.

Annual flu vaccination is recommended for those individuals with asthma and

other chronic respiratory and cardiovascular disorders. However, those

people with impaired immune systems are the most likely to suffer adverse

autoimmune reactions.

Children are the next frontier for the lucrative flu vaccine campaign.

Vaccination is currently recommended for children over six months of age

with high-risk medical conditions, but is not recommended for healthy

children.

Experts in the field suggest that parents of children age six months to two

years " be informed that their children are at risk for serious complications

of influenza, and allowed to make individual informed decisions regarding

influenza immunization for their children " (Neuzil et al., 2001).

This statement was made by Marie (and others), the same author who

was implicated in the flawed study that supposedly exonerated the pertussis

vaccine of nervous system damage. She is also a paid consultant to one of

the world's largest vaccine manufacturers, Burroughs Wellcome.

The children's market is the next big hope for vaccine campaigners.

A 1998 working group began investigations to not only support, but also to

recommend " flu vaccine for young children.

The next big change in flu vaccines will be the introduction of a live

intranasal flu vaccine, a dose that is actually sprayed into the nose. This

vaccine has already been tested on young children. Live intranasal vaccine

was found 93 percent effective in preventing influenza in children age one

to six years old (Belshe et al., 1998).

Unanswered questions about the live vaccine include the possibility of

transmitting other, more dangerous viruses through the vaccine, the

possibility of enhanced replication of the attenuated virus in individuals

with compromised immune systems, and the possibility of bacterial

superinfection if the replicating live virus disrupts nasal membranes

(Subbarao, 2000). This vaccine waits in the wings for its chance as the next

big gun in the vaccine arsenal aimed at our children.

Guillain-Barr* Syndrome In 1976 the flu vaccine was dealt a near fatal blow

when reports appeared that the vaccine caused Guillain-Barr* syndrome (GBS),

an autoimmune nervous system reaction characterized by unstable gait, loss

of sensation, and loss of muscle control.

A mass vaccination program was mounted that year by the US Government, and

45 million Americans received the swine flu vaccine. Statistical studies

have confirmed a causal relationship between the vaccine and GBS. During

that year the rate of GBS in Ohio was 13.3 per 1,000,000 in vaccine

recipients compared to 2.6 per 1,000,000 in nonrecipients (Marks & Halpin,

1980).

A follow-up study also showed a significantly increased incidence of GBS

during the first 6 weeks following receipt of the vaccine in patients

residing in two other states. The rate of GBS was 8.6 per million vaccinees

in Michigan and 9.7 per million vaccinees in Minnesota (Safranek et al.,

1991). This episode, which became known as the swine flu catastrophe, left

doctors extremely reluctant to administer flu vaccine, and shattered the

public trust in the flu vaccine campaign.

The association between GBS and flu shots was not unique to the swine flu.

Earlier reports had also summarized cases of nervous system disorders

occurring soon after the flu vaccine (Flewett & Hoult, 1958; Horner, 1958).

More recently, an increased risk for GBS occurring in patients during the

six weeks following the flu vaccine was revealed in the 1992-1993 and the

1993-1994 flu seasons (Lasky et al., 1998).

Pregnancy One of the most bizarre twists on the flu vaccine saga is the CDC

recommendation of 2001 that all pregnant women receive the vaccine in their

second or third trimester. This recommendation even has doctors confused,

since the vaccine remains a category C drug (unknown risk for pregnancy). No

adequate studies have been conducted to monitor safety of the vaccine for

mother and fetus. The only studies of adverse effects in pregnancy were

conducted in the 1970s (Heinonen et al., 1973; Sumaya & Gibbs, 1979).

Some flu vaccines still contain mercury as a preservative, despite a 1998

FDA instruction to remove mercury from all drugs. According to the CDC, two

groups are most vulnerable to methylmercury*the fetus and children ages 14

and younger.

An article published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 1999 stated,

" the greatest susceptibility to methylmercury neurotoxicity occurs during

late gestation "

(Grandjean et al., 1999). How did CDC committee members determine that flu

vaccines were safe for pregnant women? They did not. The committee, despite

its own recommendation, states, " additional data are needed to confirm the

safety of vaccination during pregnancy " (CDC, 2001b).

Flu Facts - Flu vaccine manufacturers are notoriously inaccurate at

predicting the appropriate viruses to use in an individual year's vaccine,

rendering the vaccine ineffective.

- Flu vaccine is relatively ineffective in those patients most at risk of

flu complications.

- The vaccine has caused GBS in recipients during several different flu

seasons.

- Those most at risk of flu complications probably share a higher risk of

adverse reactions to the flu vaccine as well.

Randall Neustaedter OMD, LAc Classical Medicine Center 1779 Woodside Rd

#201C Redwood City, CA 94061 650 299-9170 www.cure-guide.com email:

randalln@... Author of The Vaccine Guide

November 14, 2002