A cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington recommends avoiding the flu shot and taking vitamin D instead. Donald Miller, MD, says “Seventy percent of doctors do not get a flu shot.”
Health officials say that every winter 5–20 percent of the population catches the flu, 200,000 people are hospitalized, and 36,000 people will die from it. The National Vital Statistics Reports compiled by the CDC show that only 1,138 deaths a year occur due to influenza alone, and more than 34,000 of the “36,000” flu deaths are what officials estimate are “influenza-associated” pneumonic and cardiovascular deaths.
There is also a lack of evidence that young children benefit from flu shots. A systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;1:CD004879).
A randomized trial found that the incidence of influenza in infants whose mothers had a flu shot during their pregnancy was 4%. The incidence of flu in infants whose mothers did not have a flu shot was 10%. (NEJM 2008;359:) In the study, flu shots reduced the relative risk of influenza illness in infants by a seemingly impressive 63%, yet only 6 out of 100 infants actually benefited from the shot. The other 94 received no benefit – 4 got influenza anyway – and all are at risk from being harmed by the vaccine, particularly from the mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde in it. – Donald Miller, MD
Flu shots contain a number of substances which may have adverse effects on health, especially for children:
- Mercury: Two-thirds of the vaccines made for the 2008–09 flu season contain full-dose thimerosal, an organomercury compound, 49% mercury by weight. It is used to disinfect the vaccine. Each of these flu shots contain 25 micrograms of mercury, a mercury content of 50,000 part per billion, 250 times more than the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety limit. Mercury is a neurotoxin, with a toxicity level 1,000 times that of lead.
- Formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing agent is used to inactivate the virus.
- Aluminum, added to promote an antibody response,is a neurotoxin that may play a role in Alzheimer’s disease.
- Other additives in the flu vaccine include:
- Triton X-100 (a detergent)
- Polysorbate 80
- carbolic acid
- ethylene glycol (antifreeze)
- gelatin
- various antibiotics such as neomycin, streptomycin, and gentamicin that can cause allergic reactions
So why does the CDC push the flu shot every year?
The CDC’s 15-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes recommendations each year on who should be vaccinated. Almost all the ACIP members who make these recommendations have financial ties to the vaccine industry. The best anti-aging serums for 30sare one of the most effective weapons against aging skin. Understand which are the best ones that’ll give you efficient results.
Hmmm… Big money influencing public health policy.
The CDC put out a 7 part Recipe to increase demand for the flu vaccine:
- Influenza’s arrival coincides with immunization “season” (i.e., when people can take action)
- Dominant strain and/or initial cases of disease are:
– Associated with severe illness and/or outcomes
– Occur among people for whom influenza is not generally
perceived to cause serious complications (e.g., children,
healthy adults, healthy seniors)
– In cities and communities with significant media outlets - Medical experts and public health authorities publicly (e.g., via media) state concern and alarm (and predict dire outcomes)–and urge influenza vaccination.
- The combination of ‘2’ and ‘3’ result in: Significant media interest and attention, Framing of the flu season in terms that motivate behavior (e.g., as “very severe,” “more severe than last or past years,” “deadly”)
- Continued reports (e.g., from health officials and media) that influenza is causing severe illness and/or affecting lots of people – helping foster the perception that many people are susceptible to a bad case of influenza.
- Visible/tangible examples of the seriousness of the illness (e.g., pictures of children, families of those affected coming forward) andpeople getting vaccinated (the first to motivate, the latter to reinforce)
- References to, and discussions, of pandemic influenza
Vaccination demand, particularly among people who don’t routinely receive an annual influenza vaccination, is related to heightened concern, anxiety, and worry. For example:
- A perception or sense that many people are falling ill
- A perception or sense that many people are experiencing bad illness
- A perception or sense of vulnerability to contracting and experiencing bad illness.
- Some component of success stems from media stories and information that create motivating (i.e., high) levels of concern and anxiety about influenza.
Great… more fear selling more vaccines.
Dr. Miller’s stance on Vitamin D and health:
The U.S. government and its citizens currently spend $2,000 billion dollars ($2 trillion) on “health care,” i.e., sickness care, each year. The cost of taking a 5,000 IU supplement of vitamin D every day for a year is $22.00. The cost for 300 million Americans taking this supplement would be $6.6 billion dollars. The number and variety of diseases that vitamin D at this dose could prevent, starting with a 50 percent reduction in cancer, is mind-boggling. If everyone took 5,000 IU/day of vitamin D, the U.S. “health care” industry would shrink. It would no longer account for 16 percent of the gross domestic product.
The increased number of deaths that occur in winter, largely from pneumonia and cardiovascular diseases, are much more likely due to vitamin D deficiency than to an increased prevalence of serologically-positive influenza virus (which also results from vitamin D deficiency).
Read the full flu vaccine article at LewRockwell.com
And another doctor is against everyone getting the flu vaccine:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/15ycdbSsnAU]
P.S. Due to the large number of comments accusing me of being irresponsible, I am adding this caveat: Ask your health provider (MD, Naturopath, or other professional) about flu shots, and make your decision based on that. This blog does not dispense medical advice. The point of the article is to show that there are conflicting opinions about vaccines, flu shots, and other medical treatments.
Image: NathanF at Flickr under Creative Commons License
Ah, for the good old days when we could pretend those working for the public health were only interested in the public good!
Vitamin D rocks!
Yeah, flu shots are for the birds. If you eat right, exercise and take whole food supplements you should not needs such nonsense to stay healthy. I’m around sick people and germs constantly and I have not had the flu once in my adult life.
Neither I nor my wife work for the CDC, any vaccine makers, etc.
This is perhaps some of the poorest and most dangerous nonsense I’ve ever seen on this site or anywhere else. You ever consider searching for proof of anything or providing evidence for wild claims?
-Seventy percent of doctors don’t get vaccinated? Show me a citation other than “some doctor said so.”
-Industry ties to vaccines? Would you rather have someone with no vaccination experience?
-“Two-thirds of the vaccines made for the 2008–09 flu season contain full-dose thimerosal” Citation please?
-“25 micrograms of mercury” Really? I can’t find that anywhere and the CDC specifically says otherwise
http://www.cdc.gov/FLU/ABOUT/QA/thimerosal.htm
Perhaps you might consider more citations and less unsubstantiated proclamations.
vitamindcouncil.org – sunlightinstitute.org – vitamindwiki.com
If you want a flu shot go get one. If you want the truth…….follow the money!
@Jeremy you are CLUELESS!!!!!! @Len, great response and to the point : )
Why is asking for citations “clueless?” It’s always good to research articles, especially ones that come without citations and/or links.
Dangerous nonsense? Dangerous for who? Only dangerous to big pharma, doctors and anybody else who has a vested interest in making money through vaccinations.
Studies have consistently shown that the flu vaccines don’t work, are usually the wrong strain, even if they would work, and that old people who get a flu vaccine five years in a row have a 50% higher chance of developing Alzheimers.
On the other hand, it has also been proven many times over that people who take enough vitamin D, especially during the winter months, simply won’t get the flu, even when exposed to it.
You go ahead and get your flu shot, poison yourself and get sick (the flu shot is known to cause the flu), while I will avoid the flu this winter by taking my vitamin D. We all have choices, evidence will show eventually if we’ve made sound ones.
@Jeremy – Exactly. This IS irresponsible publication especially since many people will take what is written here as gospel truth when most “facts” cited have no source and others are just untrue (the CDC facts). Putting a disclaimer at the end and saying you are just showing conflicting opinion is very disingenuous when you go out of you way to show the conflicting opinion you are providing is honest and can be trusted while the original opinion (that flue vaccines makes sense) is dishonest, a scam, meant to hurt rather than help you and part of a huge industry/govt conspiracy. Oh by the way I am not directly tied to any vacaccine (pro or con) group and i say “directly” because my wife is a health profession who deal with vaccines and I am a health law attorney who mainly sue (and win) the big Sharma and health institutions that people are here railing against. I along with my teenage son CHOOSE to get the vaccine every year and it works fine for us, My wife and younger son CHOOSE not to it, works fine for them. So let’s base decision on personal choice arrived at after being properly informed and based on facts not fiction or loony conspiracy theories. Trust me there are true conspiracies and they loook nothing like what is presented here, all this does is allow people who really want scam us to use the cry wolf message here as a cover to get away with real transgressions, so stop it already,
Jeremy – Thanks for your comment.
I’m not sure what you mean by stating that neither you or your wife work for the CDC or vaccine makers… Are you a doctor yourself?
I think you are confusing me with the author of the original article, which is found here: http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller27.html He is an MD, the author of many scholarly medical articles with citations, along with several books. His list of articles is here: http://www.donaldmiller.com/.
He also recommends Saying No to Vaccines, by Dr. Sherri J. Tenpenny, and Vaccine Safety Manual for Concerned Families and Health Practitioners: Guide to Immunization Risks and Protection by Neil Z. Miller.
He gives his email address as dwm@u.washington.edu if you have any concerns.
And following your link above, I found this:
“Does the influenza vaccine contain thimerosal?
Yes, the majority of influenza vaccines distributed in the United States currently contain thimerosal as a preservative. However, some contain only trace amounts of thimerosal and are considered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be preservative-free. Manufacturers of preservative-free flu vaccine use thimerosal early in the manufacturing process. The thimerosal gets diluted as the vaccine goes through the steps in processing. By the end of the manufacturing process there is not enough thimerosal left in the vaccine to act as a preservative and the vaccine is labeled “preservative-free”.”
Remember folks, this is a blog, not a medical journal. We share information. We don’t do medical research.
Please read Dr. Miller’s full article, do some research on your own, and then make your decisions.
Among the other things this doctor has written is an article
http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller26.html
in which he disputes (a) the role of human activity in causing global warming through increased CO2 emissions and (b) HIV as the cause of AIDS (“The real cause: Lifestyle (receptive anal intercourse….”).
I cannot impugn his credentials as a surgeon, but to me he sounds like a homophobic conspiracy theorist. On the flu shot questionI wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
A doctor after my own heart. Have you not heard of ‘climate gate’, the e-mails that show without a doubt that ‘global warming’ has been a hoax from the very beginning? It is fear mongering, meant to soften people up for more rules, more taxes and less freedom, and to let that happen for ‘the greater good’.
There IS NO global warming, it is all a big lie. So, this doctor is actually doing his research and drawing LOGICAL conclusions.
The same goes for AIDS and HIV. It has NEVER been proven that HIV causes anything at all, including AIDS. In fact, there is no such thing as AIDS, as there are an awful lot of different illnesses that are supposedly part of it.
The HIV test is another hoax. Pregnancy alone can give you a positive result! And then what happens? People get ‘medicines’ like AZT that are KNOWN to destroy the immune system because of extreme toxicity, causing the very illnesses they are supposedly preventing. It is the treatment that kills people who are declared HIV positive.
Watch this video for the truth:
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/hiv-aids-fact-or-fraud/
And the term ‘homophobic’ has been invented by gay activists to shut people up who tell the truth. A phobia means you have an unreasonable fear of something. I am not afraid of homosexuals, but I sure don’t like what they do. I can tolerate them, but I can’t agree with them or their chosen lifestyle (yes, chosen, the idea that you’re born with a ‘gay gene’ has long been refuted).
I don’t agree with the guy’s ideas carte blanche, but I do think he’s on to something on the flu issue.
Even conspiracy theorists can be right about some things…
I stated that to make it clear that I’m not a shill for the industry.
This may not be a medical journal but you are very clearly dispensing or at the very least publicizing medical advice that is based upon the musings of a physician with no particular background, training or expertise in this area. His views, based upon David’s link above and some basic research suggest that this individual is prone to erratic thoughts without any basis in fact.
Are you willing to post the illogical and non-scientific hypothesis of anybody?
To promote his ideas without any research on your own, let alone linking to any background information is reckless, IMHO.
You don’t have to read the ‘reckless’ musings of this blogger, so why are you offended? He has the right to blog about anything he sees fit, and you can leave and decide not to read if you make that choice.
Clearly YOU are the one who hasn’t done the research. Because my 20 year research on vaccines shows that the truth is, that not a SINGLE vaccine in history has ever been proven to be either safe or effective. Including the flu vaccine.
I’m not arguing against or for flu shots, but this article is about as unbiased and unscientific as you can get.
Read this quote again:
“A randomized trial found that the incidence of influenza in infants whose mothers had a flu shot during their pregnancy was 4%. The incidence of flu in infants whose mothers did not have a flu shot was 10%. (NEJM 2008;359:) In the study, flu shots reduced the relative risk of influenza illness in infants by a seemingly impressive 63%, yet only 6 out of 100 infants actually benefited from the shot. The other 94 received no benefit – 4 got influenza anyway”
Now, looks to me (and everyone else) that infants who’s mother had flu shots were less than half as likely to get the flu. That’s a significant advantage.
But instead, the article tries to say that only 6 out of 100 infants actually benefited from the shot. Um, do you understand how preventative medicine works? We can’t only give the vaccine to people we know will otherwise get sick. There’s absolutely no what to know. The whole point of the vaccine is to reduce your chance of getting the flu. Which, by your own numbers, this seems to do.
Shame of the shoddy, shoddy writing.
I understand if you don’t believe the vaccine is effective enough to warrant use, but at least back that up with real facts and logic. Don’t try and twist the numbers to mean something they do not.
@Jeremy: I agree that citing sources in general the best practice. If you don’t have to think twice that injecting yourself yearly with a cocktail of thousands of “dead” viruses and Mercury to stay “healthy”, based on the CDS’s ever-expanding bucket list of humans, then please help natural selection and inject yourself daily until being sick is not longer applicable for you. Also, nobody cares about your wife.
I agree that this article is reckless, incompetent, and terrible for the public health. The flu shot SAVES lives. Not just the lives of those who take it, but the lives of everyone else in the world who would be at risk from a pandemic flu. The reasoning, “evidence,” and arguments presented here are seriously flawed. There are serious documented health benefits and almost no documented health risks. The level of mercury in the shot is in excess of any *relevant* health limits, including those of the EPA. I think posting lies like this borders on criminal.
You can’t put your face and title on the top of an article making rather extreme medical claims and do as little research as you clearly did. Simply passing the buck onto the original article does not absolve you of responsibility, you offered your opinion and have helped promote and give credence to someone with pretty suspect ideas. Exactly how much of your own research did you do before you drew a line between this mans Aids denial and his vaccine denial?
Seriously, I’m glad we have these anti-vaccine weirdos in the same way I’m happy to have 911 conspiracy theorists and HIV-isn’t-related-to-AIDS promoters. They’re mostly delusional, but it’s good to have your conclusions challenged anyway. Once in a million times there may actually be something to what the outliers have to say… so we should listen.
However, this is not one of those times.
Got the flu shot this year. Will keep getting ’em. Having the flu sucks.
W
PS. I got through the article without reading the word “autism” once? Shocking.
Well, I don’t know how old you are, but it is very likely that Alzheimer’s will be your fate from all those flu shots. Unfortunately, you’re the one who is delusional.
The WHO (World Health Organization) and EPA both recommend keeping mercury exposure to less than 30 micrograms per day. This is for methyl-mercury substances, not the ethyl-mercury substance that is in Thimerosal. Ethyl-mercury compounds are more easily excreted by the body, and the level of mercury in the bloodstream drops rapidly.
Check out these references:
http://www.fda.gov/CbER/vaccine/thimerosal.htm
http://www.rochester.edu/pr/releases/med/mercury.htm
Eat a piece of swordfish and you will have consumed almost double the amount of mercury in a flu vaccine.
The mercury from eating fish goes through your digestive system, and a lot gets excreted. The mercury from a flu shot goes directly into your bloodstream and to your brain. HUGE difference. You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about.
Ursula, thanks for the information, you have clearly done your research : )
I am a graduate fellow working on influenza. I do not work on vaccines, but on computational analysis of influenza evolution. The reason we need annual vaccines is because this virus evolves extremely quickly. The vaccines DO induce protective immunity, that is, when you get infected with influenza after being vaccinated your immune system will recognize the virus before it can get a foothold in your respiratory system. We can argue whether the immunogenicity is as good as it could be, but its undeniable that the vaccine primes your immune system against the virus, and that reduces the probability of getting a full-blown influenza infection after exposure.
The author of the article misquotes in the only citation mentioned: 16 infants got laboratory-confirmed influenza from their unvaccinated mothers as oppose to 6 who got influenza from their vaccinated mothers. He lists these numbers as 10 and 6. See here for the citation: content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/359/15/1555
Also, a brief PubMed search for influenza and NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine, the most prestigious medical journal in the US) reveals 256 results, many of which are trials of vaccines. Here are a few that flatly contradict LewRockwell’s ideas:
content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/357/14/1373
Influenza vaccine is effective at reducing influenza-related morbidity and mortality in an elderly population,
content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/357/13/1280
No link between thimerosal exposure and neuropsyciatric effects – remember, many forms of mercury are not absorbed.
content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/356/7/685
Live attenuated virus versus inactivated virus vaccines in children. Live attenuated virus is more effective in children.
There are many more articles on this than these. Anybody who is interested in science or health should be familiar with pubmed. We as citizens pay for this research, but we are not educated to understand it. This allows crackpots like Lew Rockwell to influence us unduly. Rockwell is barely a physician. He is an ideologue. Some of his economic views are reasonable, but when it comes to health, he should probably leave the detailed analysis to individuals actively involved in medical research and treatment. He should stick to radical economic ideas rather than misinforming citizens with his ‘medical’ opinions.
No one can say for certain any effects man made chemistry will have. We simple don’t have generations of evidence on the flu shot, especially since it is always evolving.
What I do know is I have survived the flu many times in my life and I am not a healthy lifestyle person. I smoke, drink, do drugs, and eat garbage food all the time and I have never had a flu shot.
It’s true that every conspiracy theorist is probably going to get a few things right. Alex Jones, for instance, successfully uncovered the US military’s recent development of microwave weapons, even though he has been written off by most as a nutcase a long time ago.
The way I see it with health care is, if you look at the history of medicine, no one disputes that at some point in the past, patients were being unnecessarily harmed by their treatment. What I ask is, when did that end? And if you look at the timeline, you’ll see that it didn’t end at all. There is no point where you can say, OK, this is when western medicine stopped harming people unnecessarily, because we haven’t gotten even close to that point. In the future, we will probably look back at this point in time and view it as an uncivilized world.
Injecting a potent neurotoxin directly into the bloodstream of children is considered harmless? You gotta be kidding me. The industry is who developed this mentality, slowly and unconsciously over a long period of time, and the institutions are designed to self-preserve, so it’s not so much a conspiracy as is it simply the way things work based on the current money based economy.
This is my third year working in a hospital and so far I have not accepted the flu shot, nor have I gotten the flu. I also take Vit D supplements, live an active lifestyle, eat well, and practice good sanitary hygiene (espcially at work). And that works just fine.
Perhaps my family is blessed to visit a medical office that makes sure our vaccines are as clean as safe as possible. For example, my physician will not use a vaccine with mercury. Secondly, no one in my family seems to have ever had a bad reaction to vaccines, so I count us lucky. However, several of us have had very very bad cases of the flu. Several years ago I was so sick I seriously thought I would die. I’ve know of babies who got rushed to the hospital with the flu and I’ve known second hand babies who have died of the flu. Everyone in our family (hubby, son and I) get flu shots every year now.
Furthermore, if this is really just a conspiracy of “big medicine” then why does my insurance (and or my husbands place of work)pay for it every year? Insurance companies only pay for things that save them money overall. That means that people who don’t get flu shots, but who need medical treatment cost them money. So on one hand the insurance company wants to save money by giving you a flu shot, on the other hand, it saves them money, because you don’t get sick as a dog and need to go to the hospital!
Something else to think about: in years in which the number of vaccines are limited — they vaccinate at risk people first. My father is 79, has emphysema and could easily die from the flu, hence he also gets a flu shot every year.
I know of a heathly active woman, who was talked into getting the flu shot and was dead one week later. Most people at my work who get the flu shot, gets the flu. I have never had a flu shot and never had the flu, I take Vitamin D 5000 iu everyday.
Really, this entire blog network is discredited by regurgitating dangerous pseudo-science like this. The entry needs to be updated pronto with a headline clarification that the “doctor” quoted is a conspiracy nut, and that there is no scientific evidence to support his ravings.
Andy
-I agree with you. Medicine is a science. And the point of science is that it is in constant flux. We have in the past engaged in medical practices that caused harm. And we certainly still do. New data emerges and improves our understanding. Medicine did not used to be practiced as a science, but as an empirical study, where new treatments were tried and evaluated. Now before trying anything new, we must have a very clear understanding of the mechanisms underlying the process we are trying to affect. Medicine does harm people. But it helps more people than in harms. The people at high risk for influenza-related death are the elderly. Vaccine use reduces the size of the epidemic, reducing the probability that any given person will contract influenza. It is very unlikely for someone under 60 or 70 with a healthy immune system to die of influenza or influenza-related pneumonia. Except for the 1918 Spanish flu of course. That preferentially killed people in the late teens through 40s.
I agree that we will look back and see this as an uncivilized world, medically. Medicine will change more in the next 100 years than it has in the last. When you think about it, that is a stupefying thought.
The live attenuated influenza virus is extremely effective, administered intranasally, and does not contain mercury. FYI.
I don’t think anyone is saying the flu shot isn’t effective. However, the question for me is. is it necessary? And the answer (so far) seems to be no. If I’m very unlikely to get the flu anyway, because I have a very strong immune system and sanitary awareness, why bother?
Derek, you have likely caused some people to die today who would have lived otherwise. Some people are going to read this and believe and not get a shot or not give one to their kids, and a few of those are going to die. 20,000 kids were put in the hospital last year because of the floor, 90-some died. Only 6% of those had the flu shot. Even more older Americans will die this year from the Flu. How many of the deaths this year will be on your hands? You should be ashamed.
And at least 17 children under the age of 3 died after getting the flu shot in 2010, in the U.S. alone, according to the VAERS database (which is considered to only be 1-10% of actual adverse reactions). Whose hands will those deaths be on?
I have read MANY accounts of flu epidemics in nursing homes. ALL of the residents were forced to have the flu shot in the fall, and they all got the flu in the spring, and some died.
I’ve read of one case, were an older man didn’t want the flu shot, but take vitamins instead. In nursing homes, people are only allowed to take vitamins if their doctor orders them (a travesty). Fortunately for this man, his doctor ‘allowed’ him to take vitamins instead of getting a flu shot. Predictably, in the spring there was a flu epidemic in that nursing home. This man was the ONLY one who didn’t get the flu!
I know two nurses at my doctor’s office, who told me that when they caved after years of resisting, and got the flu shot about three years back, they were sick all winter, with one cold and flu after the other. They both swore to NEVER get another flu shot. And they hate being forced to give the flu shot to the patients who come in, when the doctor orders them!
NONE of my grandchildren get any vaccines at all, including the flu shot. Unfortunately I expect that thanks to children getting those now every year, that we can expect an epidemic of early onset Alzheimer’s (in their twenties), Lou Gehrig’s Disease, MS etc. in about 15 to 20 years. It will be a terrible tragedy. I am glad my own children and grandchildren won’t be part of it.
My daughter and grandson have NEVER had any vaccines or flu shots and NEVER will. I know they will won’t be a part of the cancer epidemic that plagues this country, and all the other terrible side effects of vaccines(witches brew)
5000 IU Vitamin D per day for a year – $22.00 Why don’t I believe that? This appears to be, at best, pseudo-scientific.
I take 5000 IU of vitamin D a day and since then had not had a cold or flu and i work around people who are sick at work a lot. They get the flu shot and get the flu.
Alex – Again, people need to make their own decisions based on their own research and health provider’s advice. I hardly think that anyone will base their flu shot decision on the basis of this post.
As far as the elderly go, read this NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/health/02flu.html
I’m not telling anyone to not get the shot… I’m just letting people know that not everyone agrees with the recommendations of the CDC.
Before I rant let me say that I am NOT a spokesperson for the American Lung Association, but a past employee.
I was employed by my local chapter of the American Lung Association as their Health Information Specialist and also to direct their Flu Vaccine Program. I worked directly with my state’s health department and with the CDC. I have stood in a medical van and in snowy parking lots giving free flu vaccines when we were the only agency in the state who had ANY vaccine, which I luckily ordered before there was a shortage with a CDC grant.
I hope that this “loose canon” doesn’t get any more publicity past this blog with his dangerous manic activities. Yes, he is right on ONE count. A high percentage of those in the CDC stats DO die from flu related illness. Duh. That’s why ya don’t want to contract influenza. The elderly, those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, their caregivers, those with immune deficiencies, on and on. I spent five flu seasons beating down misconceptions about the flu vaccines and along comes this rocket scientist.
This is already a long comment, and I am not ONCE AGAIN going to drag out the stats and tell everyone you can’t catch the flu from the vaccine, side effects are rare, blah, blah, blah. Get the vaccine. Especially if you fall into the above categories. JUST DO IT!
I am a physician with no ties to the CDC or any pharmeutical company.
The flu isn’t the biggest killer out there and the decision to take the vaccine is a personal one.
I just want to state the simple fact that there has been no scientific evidence linking any vaccine ingredient to adverse outcomes when given in the recommended dosages and to the recommended patient population. (This even applies to those claims linking infant vaccines to autism. There is ZERO evidence to support that.) There is always a small chance of an allergic reaction with any medication, but that is rare and highly unpredictable.
Also, in my professional opinion, I would not recommend taking super-doses of Vitamin D (or any other vitamin). There has been little, if any, evidence showing an advantage to these very high doses over simply getting around 100% DV. There has, however, been stronger evidence linking too much vitamin to adverse outcomes (kidney stones, etc, depending on the specific vitamin). In most parts of the world, getting about 30 mins of sunlight each day gives you enough Vitamin D.
Unfortunately, most of my references require subscription to a research journal or internet journal database, but I urge anyone concerned about any of this to do some independent research or speak to a few doctors before making drastic changes.
Sorry, but lazy thinking is not an excuse for a Dr. or a journalist. This kind of Quackery is prevalent and is effective when a large part of the population is not skeptical. Most people in our country are not critical thinkers and there are some that use their position whether it be inadvertently or overtly to make the news and get attention to create in crowd rumours.
I definitely think the FDA has oversight problems. I think they are solving some of them as well.
The danger in this article is that the majority of the people in this country in which health care is a very expensive and necessary service can’t afford it. But if you believe you can take supplements,workout,and obviously make enough money to cover your medical coverage you probably are not in need of a vaccination. However honest,truthful information,is a precursor for a healthy population who can understand the necessity and difficulty of finding out. We as reasoning skeptical people can espouse over simplifications to polarize people and keep status quo on the same track that got us here in the last place.
This way we can have; I’m right, your wrong, and not get to the truth but stay in infinite loops of perpetuating ignorance as a commodity or porn like addiction. More than not we have to make invidious judgements that may seem personal but are necessary to describe the features and characteristics of a problem and not our personal thought on it. For the better good.
Derek says: “I hardly think that anyone will base their flu shot decision on the basis of this post.”
On a single post, maybe yes or maybe no. I’d suggest that many people likely will but regardless, this post does a disservice to people doing research and looking for multiple sources of information. If they see Eco Child’s Play as a “trusted resource for information,” as I imagine the editors here would like, then this post will be seen as such and may sway people’s opinions and thus their decision.
The post lends credence to the discredited and illogical ideas of the doctor.
what an impressive statistical analysis! i guess 4% vs 10% is not a big deal.
why don’t you extend your statistical analysis to the claim of thimerosal being a harmful agent? i.e. between infants who receive thimerosal and those who don’t, what is the rate of neurotoxic effects?
Its scary to hear that there are harmful substances in flu shots. I have never had a flu shot because I exercise regularly and take vitamins. Now that I know that vitamin D can enhance my immune system so well I will be taking more vitamin D daily. In addition, I will not be getting any flu shots ever.
thanks from Tony
Do NOT I repeat do NOT take the doses of vitamin D that this doctor is recommending. I have a severe calcium deficiency, so I take the equivalent of 100 pills of these 1000 IU a day. This can make you very very sick. One time when I did not have my pill, I went to the drug store and bought a bottle of vitamin D. Since my dosage in the cacitriol is 100,000 IU of vitamin D, I took 100 of these pills.
Note that this is THE SAME dosage that the Dr. here is recommending. I got such a bad headache, and there was swelling between my skull and my brain. I had to go to the ER and get my stomach pumped.
Again, this is the dosage that I take everyday, but the calictriol is *sustained* release.
Taking 100 or so of these vitamin D pills is NOT the same.
Please talk to your doctor before you do this. It’s very important.
Oh my goodness, who is giving out misinformation now? What utter nonsense.
5000 IU a day for an adult is perfect, some (like me) need more to keep their vitamin D level optimal (and yes, you should be tested to make sure you need that much vitamin D).
If you take the ‘recommended’ dose of 400 IU you might as well not bother, as that amount has never shown to have any benefit at all.
Even babies should get at least 800 IU a day to be healthy.
I am 32 years old and have NEVER had the flu shot and have NEVER had the flu. Vitamins, eating right and excercise work just fine. If there is ANY doubt that a vaccine has chemicals in it, I will not take it. I think that is ridiculous to trust anyone that is shooting crap into you without you knowing what it is.
Would you go to the dentist to perform Cardiac Surgery on you?
This is pretty the same like asking a cardiac surgeon about his opinion on flu shot.
Now I understand what Darwin was talking about… Well, go on, you don’t need any vaccination, because in the healthy old time without vaccination, antibiotics, and all that stuff, noone died on cancer.
Maybe because people used to die in the age of 29 on pneumonia or flu.
Check this site out… the doctor in the video has been ordered by the FDA to stop illegal claims:
http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html
The dose of vitamin D that this guy is suggesting is so ridiculously high, it’s likely dangerous. As a reference, adequate intakes of vitamin D per day by the average person (14-70 years old) is 200-400 international units (IU) per day, as evaluated by the Food and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (formerly the National Academy of Sciences). Upper limits for oral vitamin D intake are set at 2,000 IU per day for most adults.
To those of you who peddle the views of vaccine manufacturers and most doctors. -Ever thought of the fluoride in your water? You´ve been told that it´s just for killing off germs and some (I hope not many) actually think that it helps your teeth!! -It does when in toothpaste, but drinking it? Do a little research people and use a bit of common sense! You should stop being sheep and thank Derek for thinking independently for the greater good of you all… Don´t let doctors shoot you and your kids full of crap just because “that´s what 9 out of ten doctors say is good for you”
Vitamin D will promote Ca uptake. Enhancing Ca intake has been linked with prevention or reduction in frequency of some cancers, but to carte blanche say that Vit D prevents half the cancers out there is ludicrous. And pneumonia and CVD are due to Vit D deficiency? That’s a new one.
Looking back on the 1918 influenza epidemic, which killed at least 500,000 healthy Americans, mostly young, and who knows how many people worldwide, I opt for any shred of immunity to help prevent the next round of deaths from the upcoming antigenic shift of influenza. Influenza can lead to pneumonia (secondary infection) and stress the system enough to cause cardiac problems, so saying the two are not related to influenza is deceptive. Plus, herd immunity is useful, even if only 1/4 of a population is immune. The preservatives are minimal, and the aluminum link to Alzheimer’s has been discredited for the most part.
This article is scare tactics and sensationalism at its best (worst?).
I got hustled into receiving ONE flu shot in my entire adult life,”THE SWINE FLU SHOT”.
The next day I was unable to get out of bed with a 104 temp and truly thought it was my time to leave this world. I have had the flu once in my adult life, immediately after flying back from Greece, but it was nothing compared to the reaction I received from the infamous swine shot.
Let’s see we were close to being extinct via the Swine Flu. Then the Bird Flu was gonna’ wipe us out and I’m sure there were others and will be more to come and of course the drug companies will engage the media, to manipulate us into another frenzy of injecting our bodies with chemicals ….. ha, what a cruel joke it is .
Next time you want to dispense medical advice, go to med school. That’s what I did.
Sarah Lovinger, MD
If the flu shots worth for protection from flu they would give you long-term immunity. Also flu is mutating, so no flu shot can not cover a whole spectrum of flu variants.
I commend you for sharing this information.I truly
believe these shots are one of the main causes of Autism in children today.By age 4 or 5 years old it is certain,and too late. Thank you again.
Nancy
Corporate power is the problem. With 5 major companies contolling the main stream media we are barraged with phoney claims of wonder cures and scare tactics. Only 2 countries (USA & N.Z.) allow pharmacuetical propaganda direct to consumers, Imagine how much advertising revenue alone generates. The their are millions and millions paid to influence doctors,scientist,journalists and politicians. I applaud the author here for getting the message out, as education is the only chance to fix the systemic problem that faces us in terms of the medical industry. One of the foundation principles in medecine involves …informed consent….since medical professionals shirk from that ethical resposibility…IT IS UP TO YOU to inform YOURSELF, before you CONSENT!
ps..dont be bullied.
Yes Jeremy, 25 mcg in multidose vials, along with the Flulaval single dose. http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/components-Influenza.htm You can find the direct links to manufacturers inserts there. you can find ingredients to most vaccines here, and the link to the manu’s pdf.
You can find the direct links to manufacturers inserts there. Some brands have less reactive ingredients in them but 99% of population has no idea.
Ah, another anti-vaccination crook lying and twisting truth just to push his own crazy conspiracy theories and the usual herbal supplement bullshit. For examplke just look up the actual authors’ conclusions from the Cochrane Review and you’ll get a slightly different perspective:
“AUTHORS’ CONCLUSIONS: Influenza vaccines are efficacious in children older than two years but little evidence is available for children under two.”
It’s a sad and dangerous pseudoscience the anti-vaccination lunatics are pushing…
I truly hope you see you are wrong in posting this op outlandish conclusion, i dont even understand why you seem to defend it as the rest of your blog seems to indicate that you are a thoughtful guy.
Please inform yourself some more if you are not convinced that this is dangerous and you were wrong in your conclusions, at least be skeptical about them- i know you want to do the right thing.
It’s amazing how strong people come down on someone who has an alternative opinion on the whole barrage of “get your vaccination..” epidemic that is being pushed on Americans. Calling them lunatics and conspiracy theorists, how original! When in reality, I think you’d have to be a fool not to be suspect of the criminal money making scheme that is taking place in the drug industry today — it’s just business to them — and of course they are going to try to scare the shit out of you to take your flu shot. And like good little sheep, most Americans buy into it… not to mention all the other mandatory shots they are coming up with for children — and then wonder why so many kids are coming down with developmental disabilities.
Total joke…. this country has turned into. I never had a flu shot, and never will. Those bastards can take their garbage and shove it up their asses.
All your non-arguments can be turned around against your own beliefs virgil, i could “argue” how the anti vaccination crowd denies agressively anything not serving their view wich they sheepishly follow, instead i have to remind you that there have been many studies wich have not shown any evidence of the claimed effects.
Even worse in this case there is a recommendation of a “doctor” who instead of a proven benificial vaccine says you should use insane doses of vitamine wich actually could put someone in danger.
If you inform yourself a little you would see there are lots of dubious holes and misrepresentations in this article and does not serve anyone.
As for the joke i dont see it, all i see is that you seem to be defending dangerous practice and thats offensive to say the least.
for Jeremy, Information regarding the influenza vaccine supply for the 2008-2009 season is posted on the CDC flu website at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/vaxsupply.htm
this link shows where the 2/3’s figure comes from, the CDC itself. As for the 25 micrograms of mercury simply google vaccine ingredients and you will see that is the amount used in multi vial vaccines. or look for the Vaccine Excipient & Media Summary on the CDC website. it will confirm everything stated here is correct
I am a pediatrician in Oklahoma and I am a mother. This website gives a false impression of the statistics. The “secondary causes of death” with influenza are just that, secondary. If a person does not get sick with influenza, they cannot have a secondary pneumonia or infection. You may not agree with vaccinations, but to publish information that scares parents is irresponsible. You might consider taking a public health class or attending medical school if you want to gain more understanding of the affect vaccinations have made on society. Yes, a few number of people have allegic reactions to immunization components, but you do not address the number of children and adults that are spared the life-time morbidities and some fatalities from the illnesses prevented by vaccinations. Should you do better, more informed research, you might spare a few people from dying of preventable illnesses our vaccines can prevent. Please, reconsider the comments you make that influence parents. Thank you.
“Yes, a few number of people have allegic reactions to immunization components, but you do not address the number of children and adults that are spared the life-time morbidities and some fatalities from the illnesses prevented by vaccinations.”
Where can I find these statistics?
There was a statement that this is merely a blog and not a place that does research…the readers are asked to do more research and then make their own decision. It is a shame that a place like this “green parenting for Non toxic, healthy home” is deceitful in it’s messages. Concerned mothers are looking for resources to help in decision making. Why should a place like this exist if not to do the work of summarizing legitimate information? How is this place any different than a gossip website that is used for brainwashing through media? Maybe this entire article should have been prefaced by the actual viewpoint of the author stating an obvious bias. Thank you to the commentor, Jeremy, who took the time to inform readers of the authors standing on some very serious topics. Shame on anyone that gives equal “scientific merit and voice” to any old idea. Should we post creationst theories and flat earth articles too. Let’s keep it to that research which follows the procedure of the scientific method. Mom’s have enough to do.
Thank you, I’ve avoided the flu vaccine every year and my extended family seems to get it every year (they take the vaccine) and I don’t. Interesting, it’s about time a Doctor stood up to the hype.
I’d be interested in hearing from others who’ve regularly had annual flu shots, then decided for whatever reason to not have one and then gotten a real bad flu. Well that’s me. After years of getting annual flu shots, I made a decision this year after reading all the cons against it to not get one. Now I’m into my 8th day of having the worst flu I’ve every had, and by the way, I take vitamin D (1000 units/day) regularly. I have a keen interest in natural medicine, but this flu shot thing has really got me thinking about maybe I’ve made the wrong decision. I pretty sure I’m going to get one next year.
Check out this link for more information on flu shots. Mary Tocco has researched flu shots for many, many years and has great video clips on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=dr+mary+tocco&aq=f
If the link doesn’t work, then go to http://www.youtube.com and search “Mary Tocco”.
Our family chooses not to get the flu shots, and we never get the flu. I have friends that get the flu shot and almost always get the flu. It’s almost humerous to watch them make that decision year after year. I choose to watch what I eat, and keep my immune system strong that way 🙂
Jeremy it is easy to make worthless comments (in November 2008) and with the wave of your hand think your ridicule is doing away with valuable information. Derek Markham in reporting on the article by Dr Donald Miller is not posting the illogical and non-scientific hypothisis of anybody. Dr Donald Miller is a cardiac surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle VA Medical Center. Dr Miller also is not an individual prone to erratic thoughts without any basis in fact. Dr Miller’s views are based in scientific facts about vitamin D. Dr Miller’s article is as much an article about vitamin D as it is an article about flu vaccinations. It just happens that a very direct link between flu and vitamin D has been discovered so Dr Miller entitled his article “Avoid Flu Shots, Take Vitamin D Instead.”
Just a few minutes of real research into vitamin D would reveal that a wealth of information is now coming out about the value of vitamin D. I have been researching about vitamin D for quite a while now and have read some fourty scientific studies on many aspects of health impacted by vitamin D. Many of these studies have been written just within the past year to two years so Dr Miller’s views are at the cutting edge of current research.
Rather than give you links to fourty studies on vitamin D I will give you the link to an article about vitamin D and its relationship to the flu. Anyone who has had the flu or has received a flu shot will be very interested in the article.
http://www.whale.to/a/cannell.html
The article linked above is entitled “Epidemic Influenza and Vitamin D” by Dr John J. Cannell, MD. This is the kind of information that prompted Dr Miller’s article. Since this article was published Sep 15, 2006 Dr Cannell and many other researchers have further validated the theory Dr Cannell is introducing with this article.
“On the Epidemiology of Influenza,” a more in depth article about Dr Cannell’s research about vitamin D and its relationship to the flu was published in the Virology Journal, February 5, 2008. Here is a link to that article published in Virology Journal 2008, 5:29.
http://www.virologyj.com/content/5/1/29
I could give you many links to many articles and research studies but instead I am going to give you a link to the Vitamin D Council web site.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
Anyone who is really interested can go to this web site and find a wealth of articles, studies, and research about vitamain D, the flu, flu vaccines and many other areas of interest. If you have a child with Autism, Asthma, or Diabetes you will be especially interested to read what Dr Cannell and other researchers have discovered about vitamin D, wintertime exposure to the sun, and the exploding incidence of these three serious health conditions.
There is a wealth of information available about Vitamin D and it’s ability to keep a person safe from the flu virus, and even the common cold. You will find an overwhelming amount of info regarding the benefits of flu shots, as well. Most of that information comes from the companies which produce the drugs. For instance, a South Korean Veterinarian has developed a shot for the current H1N1 virus but it has recieved no media attention. Why not? I believe there is too much money to be made by other companies. He offered it up for free. Why the inattention?
I guess there is no corruption. There is no deception. Everyone can be trusted. Two planes knocked down three buildings in NYC in one day.
Conspiracy theorists, of which I am one, at least ask questions. Those who trust and do as they are told, and believe what they told, have a name as well. Sheeple.
Sleep tight.
Epidemic Influenza And Vitamin D
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/51913.php
snip>
All of the patients on my ward had been taking 2,000 units of vitamin
D every day for several months or longer. Could that be the reason
none of my patients caught the flu? I then contacted Professors
Reinhold Vieth and Ed Giovannucci and told them of my observations.
They immediately advised me to collect data from all the patients in
the hospital on 2,000 units of vitamin D, not just the ones on my
ward, to see if the results were statistically significant. It turns
out that the observations on my ward alone were of borderline
statistical significance and could have been due to chance alone.
Administrators at our hospital agreed, and are still attempting to
collect data from all the patients in the hospital on 2,000 or more
units of vitamin D at the time of the epidemic.
Four years ago, I became convinced that vitamin D was unique in the
vitamin world by virtue of three facts. First, it’s the only known
precursor of a potent steroid hormone, calcitriol, or activated
vitamin D. Most other vitamins are antioxidants or co-factors in
enzyme reactions. Activated vitamin D – like all steroid hormones –
damasks the genome, turning protein production on and off, as your
body requires. That is, vitamin D regulates genetic expression in
hundreds of tissues throughout your body. This means it has as many
potential mechanisms of action as genes it damasks.
Second, vitamin D does not exist in appreciable quantities in normal
human diets. True, you can get several thousand units in a day if you
feast on sardines for breakfast, herring for lunch and salmon for
dinner. The only people who ever regularly consumed that much fish are
peoples, like the Inuit, who live at the extremes of latitude. The
milk Americans depend on for their vitamin D contains no naturally
occurring vitamin D; instead, the U.S. government requires fortified
milk to be supplemented with vitamin D, but only with what we now know
to be a paltry 100 units per eight-ounce glass.
The vitamin D steroid hormone system has always had its origins in the
skin, not in the mouth. Until quite recently, when dermatologists and
governments began warning us about the dangers of sunlight, humans
made enormous quantities of vitamin D where humans have always made
it, where naked skin meets the ultraviolet B radiation of sunlight. We
just cannot get adequate amounts of vitamin D from our diet. If we
don’t expose ourselves to ultraviolet light, we must get vitamin D
from dietary supplements.
The third way vitamin D is different from other vitamins is the
dramatic difference between natural vitamin D nutrition and the modern
one. Today, most humans only make about a thousand units of vitamin D
a day from sun exposure; many people, such as the elderly or African
Americans, make much less than that. How much did humans normally
make? A single, twenty-minute, full body exposure to summer sun will
trigger the delivery of 20,000 units of vitamin D into the circulation
of most people within 48 hours. Twenty thousand units, that’s the
single most important fact about vitamin D. Compare that to the 100
units you get from a glass of milk, or the several hundred daily units
the U.S. government recommend as “Adequate Intake.” It’s what we call
an “order of magnitude” difference.>end snip
I don’t know how effective vitamin D would be in preventing flu, but it does help maintain your body’s circadian rhythms and boosts one’s immune system.
I have been on Vitamin D for over a year. I believe in the vitamin D because I have not been sick at all. As the flu hits, I believe I am in better condition because of Vitamin D.
I will never get another flu shot since I had an adverse effect in the 80s and was sick for 2 weeks. There will always be another virus or bacteria that some people will get and some will die. The herd will always be culled one way or another–happens to every species. Especially one that has too many members for the environment to support. I’d rather see money spent on keeping the population down world wide. Instead, people watch TV shows that glorify having 8 or 17, 18 kids. It’s sad when people die, but that’s life.
My grandmother lived in the country and my mother and her brothers all lived in louisiana and never ever got a flue shot this is over 100 years ago….my people hardly went to the doctor….they got sick and got better..did they need a flu shot…??
I have been having some CFS issues lately. So i’ll be increasing my vitamine D intake and getting the “flu mist” form of the vaccine. I think they say that one is safer.
I’m surprised at some of the reactions to the information given by Dr. Donald Miller. Of course, any intelligent person would want to sift through ALL the information from many sources before making a decision. I checked Dr. Millers’ credentials and they are impressive: Professor, surgeon, Dartmouth, Harvard educated. Dr. Miller provides ADDITIONAL information for people to make informed decisions. In fact, it gives people an opportunity to check facts on both sides of the issues and to ask appropriate questions of their physicians. The Hippocractic oath state, “…never do harm…” depending upon which translation. If they don’t have the data for you, then continue to investigate! When patients start asking their doctors tough questions, and look on them as partners in their health, we’ll all benefit. Perhaps that is why you can now find vaccines without thimerosal today. Isn’t that what taking personal responsibility for your health and partnering with your health care providers in achieving optimum health should be about? The more information a person has, the more likely he/she is able to make the best decision for himself/herself and family. My experience with doctors has been that they welcome the patients’ input and want to dialogue about prevention, treatment, health options, etc.
I agree with the Vitamin D principle – BUT your analysis of the flu vaccine’s components is shrill and hysterical.
I have no idea who you chose to list biologically irrelevant agents such as Polysorbate 80 (used widely throughout medicine, BTW) and then place comments such as “detergent” and “antifreeze”. Ethylene glycol is indeed used in high concentrations as car antifreeze, but that doesn’t mean low concentrations are dangerous.
Medicine 101 says that the “dose makes the poison”. Common table salt will kill you if I make you consume or inject enough of it; but removing even a small percentage of it from your body will make you die a horrible death. I’m sure if I injected 400,000IU of Vitamin D into you, you would die terribly as well.
So let’s take ANOTHER look at this list of ingredients:
– Thimerosal – agreed, organomercury compounds are to be avoided on general principle, and are a source of concern to me. However the fact still stands that adults given thousands of times the organomercury dose have exhibited no noticeable ill-effects. You consume organomercury compounds in foods, water and air every single day – your body CAN get rid of low amounts, and does. The point is just not to cross the threshold.
FYI, many studies done on this subject have been unanimous in finding no causal link between vaccine-strength thimerosal and illness. Howewer, thousands of people die each year from not being immunised, partly from their fear of “mercury in my injection”. Oh, and evidence is also mounting that each ‘flu infection you get aggravates longterm congnitive and biological decline. Which is worse, d’ya think?
– Gelatine?! Oh no! It’s NEVER in this vaccine… what, you mean gelatin i.e. collagen, keratine and proteins of which most of your skin and body is made? Shock! Horror!
– Various antibiotics… yup, can cause an allergic reaction, but dude I would certainly prefer my injection NOT to have unknown nasties in it, wouldn’t you? Or are you the type of guy that likes to inject with a rusty needle too? Of course, we could choose to fear the (very) low risk of a reaction, but then see the possible consequences in my point above. FYI my mother is one of the most antibiotic-allergic people around; gets lots of vaccines as she travels a whole lot; and she hasn’t had an issue yet…
– A detergent? Oh no! Sounds creepy, until you realise that you’re using the word “detergent” in its chemical meaning and not the popular meaning. No, it doesn’t mean you have Tide in it. It means you have a surfactant in it. FYI your body is adept at making “detergents” for its own use as part of normal functioning. In this case, the “detergent” is a very commonly used product widely regarded as biologically inert.
– Ditto the surfactant Polysorbate-80.
– Carbolic acid… so harmless that even homeopaths recommend it as a solution!
So… apart from the use of thimerosal, your house of cards just came crashing down. Dude, I am totally in agreement about your general idea… but your argument is not helped when you abuse buzzwords and sow misinformation.
Knowledge is power; fearmongering is just fearmongering.
I don’t think this provides an accurate risk/benefit analysis of vaccines. And anyone that goes on about HIV NOT causing AIDS loses me. That person is not credible in any fashion whatsoever.
However, what most disturbs me about this blog–where is the evidence that vitamin D3 prevents flu? I’m all for use of micronutrients and use them. But I want evidence, not just unsubstantiated claims, particularly from an AIDS denialist.
Hi, I am not a dr., but I think the dr. is right, maybe then I will get the flu shot when it is properly researched and not loaded with so much mercury and additives.
Rationale, why is CDC pushing everyone to get the flu shot?
I think it is about money and not the protection of anyone. I think someone or something has panic the world governments and now everyone is suppose to get the swine flu shot. I think the public should write to their government officials and tell them to do a better job on researching the flu shot before it is introduced to children, young adults.
I am concerned citizen thinking we are doing more harm than good, so here is another scenario from me; maybe the swine flu shot is going to make a generation of retards, so they will follow the government’s agenda. Anyways that is what I think, so do not take the flu shot, because there is already too much additives in our bodies and the swine flu shot in our bodies will just overload you and me and make us more at risk of getting sick.
Ben a concerned citizen
in reviewing the comments, let anyone who wants a ‘shot’ to get one,,,then they are ‘protected’ right? So, they should not be upset that I will not assume the 100% risk when I decide not to put toxins and who knows what else in my body or my family’s bodies, VITAMIN D makes a lot of sense and the CDC recently admitted that is does help prevent flu furthermore:there is big money in the ‘shots’ do not kid your self!
Two-thirds of the vaccines made for the 2008–09 flu season contain full-dose thimerosal
I will get vitamin D instead of flu shot for my child,my child get flu shot before,but child gets cold every month.thanks for share
flu shot is hamful to us body?
I don’t like to take a flu shot,I don’t want my child to take it either.So I will take your suggestions.
I don’t want my child to take a flu shot,I don’t like to take it either,thanks for your share
you folks defending the good intentions of big pharma and/or denying the dangers of vaccines are just plain (edited out)….
let’s start with some data on vaccines…
http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/graphs/
and add in some legal reality…
http://info-wars.org/2009/10/26/government-concedes-vaccine-autism-case-in-federal-court-now-what/
and fiscal reality… (H1N1 was exposed as payola…)
http://www.naturalnews.com/028936_WHO_vaccines.html
and let’s add in some practical experience, just for kicks…
http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/finland-suspends-h1n1-flu-shots-after-300-pct-rise-in-narcolepsy/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6178045/Two-thousand-schoolgirls-suffer-suspected-ill-effects-from-cervical-cancer-vaccine.html
http://seeker401.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/merck-admits-putting-cancer-viruses-in-vaccines/
not to mention that if your vaccines work so well, how do you explain the amish?
http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/295.html
it’s all about money – they stopped caring about our health a long, long time ago…
….
and here are a couple good ones on flouride, just for good measure…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBmVY8lUcXg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv8vyPYSMT8&feature=player_embedded
Stop taking the vitamins stay sick, do your part in keeping the pharmaceutical companies rich, they don’t make any money from well people. And by all means lambaste the guy thats asking you to take your blinders off. Do some of your own research, instead of just lining up like cattle at the slaughter. There haven’t been enough studies on the effects of vitamins to prove or disprove the use. Fact is the pharmaceutical companies are trying to keep it that way, simply because they don’t make money if you are well. Did you know that high doses of vitamin C can cure cancer? Yes from the studies I’ve read it surely can, guess what shortly after this fact was made known, the pharmaceutical companies lobbied Congress and made it illegal in the US to treat cancer with vitamin therapy. Did you know that 90% of all doctors have no training in nutrition. I’m going to leave it at this, no I’m not going to include any cites, simply because I want you to get off your asses and do the research for yourself, its far better for you if you read it from many sources than have to trust some nut on a blog.
Thank you for sharing!
I’m not a doctor either, and I base my decisions on my own experiences in life, and my own research.
In my own experience, I notice that those around me who get the flu shot appear to be sick a lot more all Winter. Those who don’t get a shot appear to have a more solid immune system. Maybe it’s the shot, and maybe it’s just that weaker people tend to get the shots. I don’t know. I choose not to, and choose not to give it to my own children. My husband gets the shot, and he is sick all Winter.
We did start vitamin D this past winter. One thing I have noticed is with my daughter: She never gets sick. If she appears to be coming down with something, it lasts about 12 hours or less and she is back to her normal, energetic self. She’s 8 now and loves the outdoors. We live in Texas (sunny, even in Winter) and she spends at least 3 hours per day outside. When all of us had the swine flu here, she didn’t get it. She was tired during the day for about 6 hours, then was fine. I’m sure the fact that I nursed her for 5 years probably helped develop her immune system as well, but I do believe that the fresh air and sunshine have a lot to do with it. If only we all ate as healthy as she does, and got the amount of exercise and sunshine…. maybe the flu shot wouldn’t even be a subject that we would discuss.
Today’s miracle cure? Vitamin D.
Yesterday’s miracle cure? Vitamin C!
When will you chumps learn?
Vaccines account for only 2% of pharmaceutical profits. “Follow the money” would be fine advice, except that people don’t do their homework. Rather than FOLLOWING the money, they SPECULATE.
It’s a shame to see such well-meaning distrust of authority diverted away from the real evils of Big Pharma. STOP buying vitamin supplements with zero medical value, and for their sake, vaccinate your children.
70% of doctors don’t get a flu shot? Well… Why would they need to?! How is that statement anything but deliberately misleading?! ‘Irresponsible’ doesn’t cut it. Cynical, exploitative lying, is what this article amounts to. Only high risk individuals are vaccinated against flu!
You need to compare the rate of flu vaccinations in doctors with that in the general population, which I promise you, is nowhere near as high as 30%.
No, there is NO LONGER any mercury in vaccines. The same CDC document that you probably sourced those ingredients from confirms that. Even when there was, you would get less mercury from vaccines than from eating fish. There is nothing wrong with those other ingredients, shocking though they sound.
The detailed comments by the ingredients are pure nonsense. The 2008-2009 flu season claim is a straight lie. The aluminium claim is extremely misleading. It’s the most abundant element on Earth, and you swallow a thousand times more in a single antacid tablet.
I could go on all night about the stupidity of this article. But it would not be good for me. I want to wake up in a good mood tomorrow.
Penn & Teller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4fCVp9b6Bs
Frequent strong language warning!
For a more detailed analysis, I recommend Ben Goldacre’s book Bad Science. I recommend it to all viewers, whether they agree with this video or not. (I certainly do.)
http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Science-Ben-Goldacre/dp/0007240198
Know thine enemies, and type their words into Google! If you want to convince people that they’re wrong, first make you sure that you know what they’re saying!
When it comes to the how vitamin D benefits everyone in a lot more ways than is commonly known. The ‘sunshine’ vitamin, as it is sometimes called, is commonly known for its effect on strengthening the bones and joints in the human body by aiding the absorption of calcium. It also helps the body build up immunity. Our bodies can produce vitamin D organically, if we have sufficient amounts of sun (at least an hour a week). Alternatively, it wouldn’t be uncommon for it to be added to certain foods such as milk, egg yolks, fatty fish, sardines, mackerel, tuna and salmon. These vitamin d rich foods are known to be a great source of omega 3 fatty acids. Cod liver oil capsules are one of the most popular nutrient and Vitamin D dense supplements. I’ve found that adequate vitamin D levels are absolutely essential for a healthy body. I hope it helps you as much as it did for me.
Vitamin D is an important factor in the etiology of autism…
For more info and to read of Dr. John Cannell’s Vitamin D Theory of Autism, see the following links:
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2009/apr2009_The-Link-Between-Autism-and-Low-Levels-of-Vitamin-D_01.htm
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/autism-information.shtml
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17920208
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/PDFs/cannell-on-the-aetiology-of-autism.pdf (PDF DOWNLOAD)
Vitamin D is an important factor in the etiology of autism…
For more info and to read of Dr. John Cannell’s Vitamin D Theory of Autism, see the following links:
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2009/apr2009_The-Link-Between-Autism-and-Low-Levels-of-Vitamin-D_01.htm
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/autism-information.shtml
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17920208
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/PDFs/cannell-on-the-aetiology-of-autism.pdf (PDF DOWNLOAD)
Уважаемые форумчане, открывая тему очень надеюсь, что люди тут взрослые, которые могут вести диалог БЕЗ скандалов
И давайте быть добрее, уступать места пожилым людям, беременным …
Родителям хочу сказать, если кто то делает замечание ребенку – это не значит, что человек не любит всех детей, или хочет сделать вам гадость, дети бывают невоспитанные, так же как и родители, к сожалению
не нужно воспринимать такие ситуации как личное оскорбление
И предлагаю больше не поднимать тему
Куда бабульки едут с утра, да еще с сумками/тележками
приятного общения
QUACK!
Eco Parenting just got a way less responsible. Are you insane leaving yourself open to this by posting quackery at its best without a disclaimer. DO you believe this stuff?
. There’s no mercury in my flu vax, the flu virus is DEAD and can’t replicate and infect you .. The body only reacts to the dead virus by producing antibodies for when you get the flu, it wont stop it, but it WILL stop it killing you. I lost a close elderly relative to whooping cough – she was exposed to it by a health “professional” of Andys ilk who not only refused the Vax in a health care facility, she then came to work infected with it . 7 people died there. Of course our elderly have not been vaccinated for 40-50 years, their immunity has worn off, but by now Whooping Cough should have been eradicated. Nope, anti-vaxxers strike again, keeping it in the mix for all …BOO. Kids DIE from it, elderly die fro it, that’s WHY Vaxx were developed, because these diseases can be FATAL
I take the flu shot almost every year (some years i put it off until it is too late.)And every year i got the flu shot,i did not get sick. 3 times i did not get a flu shot, and i got sick 2 of those times. Yeah, eating healthy, getting vitamins, and exercise certainly help. But they do not prevent the flu altogether!
That Dr is nuts, not getting the flu shot. If I listened to my mother after my 40th b/d and got the shot, I may not have ended up like I am now… The virus got into my bloodstream and took out my heart and lungs at the same time. Never miss that shot ever again..
Thank you for your words. I NEVER allow my children to be pumped full of these toxic substances, nor myself. And this year I finally was able to convince my husband to forgo the shot. Progress! Now if I could just get the rest of my family to look at the facts, and not just the vaccine manufacturers disinformation.
Whenever you find yourself with a banana that’s getting
a little too ripe, peel it, and then slice it.
These “smoothies” are used in lieu of meals during the day.
By replacing one or more meals with green smoothies everyday, you give
your body optimum nutrition while staving the need to snack unnecessarily
during the day.