Waiting Room
Should I get the Flu Shot?
A PHYSICIAN’S PERSPECTIVE
by Tracy Morton MD
One of the most heartbreaking cases I saw as a resident was during flu season in 1997. We had a particularly severe year with dozens of patients of all ages admitted with the flu. One evening, a three-year-old boy was admitted to hospital with influenza. By the next morning, the virus had infected his brain and he began to have seizures. The following day, he died.
Influenza is a common infection that most of us will get at least once. Depending on the year, between two and 20 percent of us will come down with the flu. It has been described as “the worst cold you can get,” with the standard cold symptoms we all know and hate, but more intense. While most spend some time in bed, drinking lemon tea and going through a box of Kleenex, a small number will get very sick.
Although the flu can also spread to the lungs (pneumonia), muscle (myositis), heart (myocarditis) and brain (encephalitis), cases like these are uncommon. During the 1918 pandemic, though, when an estimated 20 million died worldwide from a particularly virulent flu strain, many died of the effects of infection of the heart.
Those most likely to experience these complications are the most vulnerable groups: the young, the old, and those with chronic medical conditions.
Does the flu shot help? Statistics show that 70 percent of those immunized will be protected from the flu. Flu experts choose each year’s vaccine by an educated guess as to what strain of flu we are likely to see, based on the flu seen in Asia during their flu season. When the guess is wrong, these are years we see much more flu. The only time I’ve ever had to stay home from work was when I had flu, in a year that the vaccine did not protect me.
The vaccine contains a killed virus that cannot give you the flu. It can give mild side-effects of injection-site pain and, in some cases, mild flu-like symptoms. This is due to the vaccine activating the immune system. Many people who come down with flu symptoms after the flu shot are actually getting the common cold.
It is true that there is a lot of controversy about the flu shot, and immunization in general, but not for the medical community—the WHO and Centres for Disease Control around the world. Those opposed to vaccines magnify the side-effects while minimizing the benefits. In part, this is because people that are helped by immunizations don’t know it. If people remain healthy, they usually don’t see that their immunity has helped them avoid the flu.
There has been a lot of focus on the flu vaccine’s preservative, thimerosal, which contains a small amount of mercury (25 micrograms in an adult dose). That amount of mercury is found in five bites of halibut or one pound of wild salmon. In other words, we ingest far more mercury from our food than we get from the flu shot. The WHO’s Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety has concluded there is no evidence of toxicity in infants, children or adults exposed to thimerosal in vaccines.
The bottom line is that the flu shot is safe. It can make for a much more comfortable flu season, and it could save your life. Would the flu shot have saved the child in the beginning of the article? Who knows, but it I think it would have increased his chances.
Facts about Influenza:
http://www.bchealthguide.org/healthfiles/hfile12b.stm
Flu shot Myths and Facts:
http://www.bchealthguide.org/healthfiles/hfile12c.stm
World Health Organization flu page:
http://www.who.int/topics/influenza/en/
A HOLISTIC VIEW
by Julie Chaplin CHHP
With the weather cooling down and the seasons changing, we need to keep ourselves and our children protected against viruses entering and infecting our bodies. If our immune system is weak, we are vulnerable to colds and flu. If you are considering getting the flu shot, please continue reading before making your decision.
There is a lot of controversy over the health benefits vs. risks of flu shots. If you are generally healthy, a flu shot is not necessary; it is only recommended for the elderly and anyone with high-risk medical conditions such as respiratory, heart, blood, kidney and immunosuppressive conditions (including Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and AIDS).
However, it has been reported that the vaccine is known to be ineffective in preventing disease in the elderly. Those with impaired immune systems are most susceptible to suffer adverse autoimmune reactions from the vaccination, and some flu vaccines still contain mercury as a preservative. Exposure to mercury can cause brain neuron degeneration, mercury toxicity, and autism in children.
Dr. Randall Neustaedter, author of The Vaccine Guide: Risks & Benefits for Children and Adults (2002), states “… 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.” (www.cure-guide.com/index.html)
The potential side effects of the flu shot include fever, fatigue, muscle aches, headache, wheezing, chest tightness, breathing difficulty, sore throats, runny nose and vomiting.
The Vaccination Risk Awareness Network Inc. (www.vran.org) states: “The only ones who benefit from flu vaccinations are the companies who make them, public health bureaucrats who promote them and the medical personnel who administer them.” Even CDC (US Centers for Disease Control) officials confessed that “influenza vaccines are still among the least effective immunizing agents available…” Did you know that this season’s vaccine was created 6 months prior to the flu season based on “international surveillance and scientists’ estimations”? (www.cdc.gov/flu)
Why not boost your immune system prior to the flu season and avoid the risks associated with the vaccination? You can take preventative steps by incorporating some of the following into your daily lifestyle:
*Wash your hands regularly
*Stay home and rest when sick
*Avoid contact with sick people
*Include immunity builders in your diet: Echinacea, garlic, oregano oil, goldenseal, Vitamins A, C & E
*Stay hydrated with water, herbal teas, soups/broth and diluted citrus juices
*Live a healthy lifestyle of daily exercise, fresh air, proper nutrition, and try to avoid stress.
*Avoid alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and processed foods!
*Keep your energy and spirits high! Dance. Stretch. Sing. Energize. Meditate. Breathe. Relax.
“Through a daily discipline of inner attention and physical exercise, you can create a more open, resilient and supple body, a mentally and physically relaxed state; and a stronger resistance to disease.” (_Staying Healthy with the Seasons_, Dr. Elson Haas)
By: Julie Chaplin
8 October 2007