10 Things You Need to Know Before Getting a Flu Shot
- blogandforums
- Oct 5, 2020
- 19 min read
Updated: Oct 21, 2020
In order to avoid possibly catching the flu, millions of Americans choose to get a flu shot. There are various vaccines for influenza. How do you choose?
Key Points
• Avoid flu vaccines that are in a multi-dose vial. Multi-dose vials contain Thimerosal, which is almost 50% ethylmercury.
• Review the Vaccine Excipient List to identify anything that you know may cause an allergic reaction or ingredients you would like to avoid.
• Read the vaccine insert information prior to vaccination to review the possible adverse reactions. Flu vaccines have resulted in the most injuries of all vaccines in the U.S.
Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
1. Avoid Vaccines in Multi-Dose Vials
Some flu vaccines come in both single-dose and multi-dose vials. All multi-dose vials of vaccines contain the preservative Thimerosal, which is almost 50% ethylmercury. Prior to vaccination, request that your flu shot is in a single-dose vial.
(source: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/acip/summary/summary-recommendations.htm#composition)
Thimerosal was removed from most vaccines, not the Tetanus vaccine, after there was a concern about people ingesting too much methylmercury from food sources, mostly fish. The government doesn't have safety guidelines for ethylmercury, even though it has been used in vaccines since the 1930s. The safety guidelines for ingested methylmercury are used for injected ethylmercury. For the methylmercury safety guidelines, based on a person's weight, from the government's study, visit: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2003-05-21/html/CREC-2003-05-21-pt1-PgE1011-3.htm.
“Our data indicate that thimerosal is toxic to human neurons and fibroblasts if applied in micromolar concentrations (1–250 μM). An early sign of thimerosal toxicity is a change in cellular membrane permeability to the vital dye DAPI, which is associated with the loss of cell viability (Boutonnat et al., 1999; McCarthy and Hale, 1988). This can be detected as early as 2 [hours] after incubation.” The study's confirmed change in the cellular permeability should discourage any pregnant woman from the multi-dose flu vaccine. Thimerosal is a chemical known in the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Furthermore, from the Nomination to the National Toxicology Program in 2001, “No clinical studies were found that formally evaluated the safety of thimerosal prior to its initial marketing...No data were found evaluating the carcinogenicity of thimerosal in humans...Thimerosal was found to cross the blood-brain and placenta barriers.”
(source: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/NTP-nonimation-Thimerosal-1.pdf)
“Thimerosal was removed from vaccines after an amendment to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Modernization Act was signed into law on Nov. 21, 1997…The amendment arose from a long-standing interest in reducing human exposure to mercury, a known neurotoxin (a substance that harms the nervous system) and nephrotoxin (a substance that harms the kidneys).”
(source: Vaccine Ingredients – Thimerosal. (2020, June 9). Retrieved from https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-ingredients/thimerosal)
“…Thimerosal is still used as a preservative in some vaccines in the US and abroad (particularly, in the developing countries). For instance, in the US, over half of all influenza-vaccine doses, more than 75 million per year, still use Thimerosal as a preservative...”
(source: Geier, D. A., Kern, J. K., and Geier, M. R. (2018, December 6). Premature Puberty and Thimerosal-Containing Hepatitis B Vaccination: A Case-Control Study in the Vaccine Safety Datalink. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6316152/)
“The CDC has long answered that nettlesome question with the controversial claim that ethylmercury in vaccines is not toxic to humans. Now, two CDC scientists have published research decisively debunking that assertion. As it turns out, there is no ‘good mercury’ and ‘bad mercury.’ Both forms are equally poisonous to the brain...
‘This scientific paper [2017] is one of the most important pieces of research to come out of the CDC in a decade,’ Paul Thomas, M.D., a Dartmouth-trained pediatrician who has been practicing medicine for 30 years, said. ‘It confirms what so many already suspected: that public health officials have been making a terrible mistake in recommending that we expose babies and pregnant women to this neurotoxin...The CDC led us all to believe that it was perfectly safe.’
... A 2012 Italian study, for instance, showed that ethylmercury-containing Thimerosal diminished the viability of human cells in the lab at a concentration one-fiftieth that of methylmercury. By this measure, ethylmercury is 50 times as toxic as methylmercury to humans.”
(source: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/news/new-cdc-research-debunks-agencys-assertion-that-mercury-in-vaccines-is-safe/) (additional important source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3888271/)
“Information extracted from studies indicates that: (a) activity of low doses of Thimerosal against isolated human and animal brain cells was found in all studies and is consistent with Hg [mercury] neurotoxicity; (b) the neurotoxic effect of ethylmercury has not been studied with co-occurring adjuvant-Al [aluminum] in TCVs [Thimerosal-containing vaccines]; (c) animal studies have shown that exposure to Thimerosal-Hg can lead to accumulation of inorganic Hg in brain, and that (d) doses relevant to TCV exposure possess the potential to affect human neuro-development.”
“Mercury is one of the most damaging sources of the reproductive system in animals and humans (Boujbiha et al., 2009). By disturbing the thyroid, pituitary, pancreas and adrenal glands, mercury can affect the endocrine systems of humans and animals even at very low concentration (Rice et al., 2014)...It has been experimentally proved that mercury causes damage to male gonads and disrupts steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis (Zhu et al., 2000).”
(source: Ijaz, M.U., Batool, M. and 8 others. (October 2020). A study on the potential reprotoxic effects of thimerosal in male albino rats. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1319562X20302849)
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
2. Review the Excipients in the Different Flu Vaccines
In order to identify possible ingredients that you may be allergic to or that you try to avoid, check the list of ingredients in the various flu vaccines prior to vaccination to determine if there are some vaccines that you don't want to consider.
“In addition to weakened or killed disease antigens (viruses or bacteria), vaccines contain very small amounts of other ingredients – excipients [preservatives, stabilizers, adjuvants, trace materials, etc.].” Examples of excipients are: Thimerosal [almost 50% ethylmercury], aluminum, formaldehyde, MSG, egg protein, and WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts.
(additional sources: Thiomersal. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2020 from the Scribus Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal and Thimerosal and Vaccines. (2020, Jun 9). Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/safety-availability-biologics/thimerosal-and-vaccines)
CDC Excipient List for Current Flu Vaccines
Excipients/adjuvants are often blamed for affecting vaccine safety. For the current Vaccine Excipient List, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/appendix/appdx-b.html.
Polysorbate 80 is an emulsifier that can cause severe anaphylactic shock (Coors et al., 2005) and breaches the blood-brain barrier (BBB), enabling drugs to reach the brain. As an excipient in vaccines that also contain Thimerosal, this may enable ethylmercury and/or other vaccine ingredients to reach the brain.
(source: Polysorbate 80. (2008). Delivery to the Brain. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/polysorbate-80)
Found in ice cream and salad dressings, polysorbate 80 may cause inflammation. “In her latest study, Viennois wanted to connect the dots to focus on whether emulsifiers affected cancer risk: specifically colon cancer. After three months of feeding some animals two common ones—polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose—in their water, she found that animals who consumed emulsifiers showed changes in their gut microbes that were consistent with promoting tumor growth. Using a theoretical model for conditions that promote colon cancer, she found that the higher levels of inflammation created by the microbial changes form the perfect cancer friendly environment.”
“Formaldehyde...is a naturally occurring organic compound...In 2011, the US National Toxicology Program described formaldehyde as ‘known to be a human carcinogen’...The safety of formaldehyde is very complicated. It occurs naturally and is ‘an essential intermediate in cellular metabolism in mammals and humans.’ It is not acutely toxic as ingestion of many milliliters is tolerated.”
(source: Formaldehyde. (n.d.). Retrieved May 26, 2020 from the Scribus Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formaldehyde)
Formaldehyde is an inactivating ingredient in vaccines that is used to inactivate toxins or to kill viruses. When injected directly into the bloodstream in a vaccine, it bypasses portals of immune defense in the body.
“The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is part of the World Health Organization (WHO). Its major goal is to identify causes of cancer. IARC has concluded that formaldehyde is ‘carcinogenic to humans’ based on higher risks of nasopharyngeal cancer and leukemia.” For more information about the possible links between formaldehyde and various types of cancer, including leukemia, visit the source: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/formaldehyde.html.
Triton X-100 is a detergent and was listed in the Journal of Reproduction and Fertility (1977) in the Most Potent Spermicides Table, as a substance which is 100% effective in destroying male sperm.
Neomycin - is an antibiotic that could cause an allergic reaction and is used “to prevent contamination by bacteria during the vaccine manufacturing process.”
Hydrolyzed Porcine Gelatin - From pigs. “All gelatin contained in vaccines is porcine in origin...Although the incidence of anaphylaxis to gelatin is extremely low (about 1 case per 2 million doses), gelatin is the most common identifiable cause of severe allergic reactions to vaccines.”
(source: https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-ingredients/gelatin)
Ovalbumin - From eggs. “...people with egg allergies no longer need to be observed for an allergic reaction for 30 minutes after receiving a flu vaccine...Those who have a history of severe allergic reaction to egg (i.e., any symptom other than hives) should be vaccinated in an inpatient or outpatient medical setting...under the supervision of a health care provider who is able to recognize and manage severe allergic conditions.”
Madin Darby Canine Kidney - “The MDCK cell line was established from the kidney of a healthy cocker spaniel dog in 1958 and has a long history in the studies of influenza viruses.”
“Squalene, an [adjuvant] ingredient in several COVID-19 vaccine candidates, is made in a shark’s liver. It’s sometimes used to increase the effectiveness of a vaccine by creating a stronger immune response and has been incorporated in some current flu vaccines...”
“...There’s a ‘close match between the squalene-induced diseases in animals and those observed in humans injected with this oil: rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus.’
Other autoimmune diseases are also linked to humans injected with squalene. ‘There are now data in more than two dozen peer-reviewed scientific papers, from ten different laboratories in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia, documenting that squalene-based adjuvants can induce autoimmune diseases in animals…observed in mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits. Sweden’s Karolinska Institute has demonstrated that squalene alone can induce the animal version of rheumatoid arthritis. The Polish Academy of Sciences has shown that in animals, squalene alone can produce catastrophic injury to the nervous system and the brain. The University of Florida Medical School has shown that in animals, squalene alone can induce production of antibodies specifically associated with systemic lupus erythematosus.’”
(source: https://www.globalresearch.ca/readying-americans-for-dangerous-mandatory-vaccinations/13925)
“As any immunologist will tell you, the way an antigen encounters the immune system makes all the difference. You can eat squalene - no problem as it is an oil the body can easily digest. But studies in animals and humans show that injecting squalene will ‘galvanize the immune system into attacking it, which can produce a self-destructive cross reaction against the same molecule in the places where it occurs naturally in the body - and where it is critical to the health of the nervous system.’”
Image by Angelo Esslinger from Pixabay
3. Read the Product Insert
Vaccine manufacturers offer product information to both the doctor and the patient. Prior to your vaccination, you will often receive the patient insert. There is usually much more in-depth and helpful information in the physicians’ insert, including previous studies and possible adverse reactions.
• Afluria
• Fluad - for persons over 65
• Fluarix
• Flublok
• Flulaval
• Fluzone
• Fluzone (high dose) - for persons over 65
• FluMist (intranasal with live attenuated influenza virus) - for persons 2 - 49 years old
Note: “A quadrivalent influenza (flu) vaccine is designed to protect against four different flu viruses, including two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses.”
Fluzone is the top-selling influenza vaccine. The likelihood of an adverse reaction is listed in the high-dose product insert for people over 65.
• Study 1 “Within 6 months post-vaccination, 156 (6.1%) Fluzone High-Dose recipients and 93 (7.4%) Fluzone recipients experienced a serious adverse event (SAE). No deaths were reported within 28 days post-vaccination. A total of 23 deaths were reported during Days 29 - 180 post-vaccination: 16 (0.6%) among Fluzone High-Dose recipients and 7 (0.6%) among Fluzone recipients. The majority of these participants had a medical history of cardiac, hepatic, neoplastic, renal, and/or respiratory diseases. These data do not provide evidence for a causal relationship between deaths and vaccination with Fluzone High-Dose.
• Study 2 (NCT01427309, see http://clinicaltrials.gov) was a multi-center, double-blind postlicensure efficacy trial conducted in the US and Canada over two influenza seasons. In this study, adults 65 years of age and older were randomized to receive either Fluzone High-Dose or Fluzone (2011-2012 and 2012-2013 formulations). The study compared the efficacy and safety of Fluzone High-Dose to those of Fluzone. The safety analysis set included 15,992 Fluzone High-Dose recipients and 15,991 Fluzone recipients.
Within the study surveillance period (approximately 6 to 8 months post-vaccination), 1323 (8.3%) Fluzone High-Dose recipients and 1442 (9.0%) Fluzone recipients experienced an SAE [serious adverse event]. Within 30 days post-vaccination, 204 (1.3%) Fluzone High-Dose recipients and 200 (1.3%) Fluzone recipients experienced an SAE. The majority of these participants had one or more chronic comorbid illnesses. A total of 167 deaths were reported within 6 to 8 months post-vaccination: 83 (0.5%) among Fluzone High-Dose recipients and 84 (0.5%) among Fluzone recipients. A total of 6 deaths were reported within 30 days post-vaccination: 6 (0.04%) among Fluzone High-Dose recipients and 0 (0 %) among Fluzone recipients. These data do not provide evidence for a causal relationship between deaths and vaccination with Fluzone High-Dose.”
The Fluzone product insert uses a different surveillance period for the same 65 years of age and older group. “Participants were monitored for unsolicited adverse events and SAEs during the 21 days following vaccination.” As such, people should read the Fluzone High-Dose product insert for a better understanding of some of the possible serious adverse effects with the non-high-dose Fluzone in the 65 and older age group.
4. Research Adverse Reactions in the Government's Database
If you want to research reported adverse reactions for a vaccine, you can search for some of the events that have been reported to the government.
“Established in 1990, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a national early warning system to detect possible safety problems in U.S.-licensed vaccines. VAERS is co-managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). VAERS accepts and analyzes reports of adverse events (possible side effects) after a person has received a vaccination. Anyone can report an adverse event to VAERS. Healthcare professionals are required to report certain adverse events and vaccine manufacturers are required to report all adverse events that come to their attention.”
(source: Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. (2020, May 22). Retrieved from https://vaers.hhs.gov/about.html)
To research reported side effects and deaths attributed to specific vaccines, the government’s database is: https://wonder.cdc.gov/vaers.html. (Directions on how to search the database are found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOH7cFWS7o4&t=460s.)
According to MedAlerts, as of July 2020, there have been 1,748 related deaths from influenza vaccines reported to VAERS.
Image by Denis Hiza from Pixabay
5. National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986
Vaccine manufacturers don't need to worry too much about vaccine safety. Unlike other industries in the U.S., these companies incur no costs for problems with their products. Anyone harmed by a vaccine must sue for damages from the government in the “Vaccine Court.”
The NCVIA “was signed into law…on November 14, 1986. NCVIA's purpose was to eliminate the potential financial liability of vaccine manufacturers due to vaccine injury claims in order to ensure a stable market supply of vaccines, and to provide cost-effective arbitration for vaccine injury claims. Under the NCVIA, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP or VICP) was created to provide a federal no-fault system for compensating vaccine-related injuries or death by establishing a claim procedure involving the United States Court of Federal Claims and special masters.”
(source: National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2020 from the Scribus Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Childhood_Vaccine_Injury_Act)
6. The Published Government-Covered Adverse Reactions
The government has paid billions of dollars to vaccine-injured children and adults for many different types of adverse reactions; however, they only list a few in their published Table of covered injuries. Serious injuries that are not uncommon and may cause death, like Transverse Myelitis and Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP), don't appear. Below are the injuries listed for flu vaccines:
“If the first symptom of these injuries and/or conditions occurs within the specified time periods and the injury meets the definition included in the Table, it is presumed that the vaccine caused the injury or condition unless another cause is proven.”
In a 2017 Yale University study that found that vaccines are linked to mental disorders, “The researchers found correlations for one vaccine in particular: the influenza vaccine, which was associated with higher rates of OCD, anorexia, anxiety disorder and tic disorder.”
(source: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/02/21/vaccines-linked-to-mental-disorders-by-yale-study/)
Do We Know the Possible Adverse Reactions for Pregnant Women?
The FDA was sued in 2018 for the clinical trials that confirmed the safety of the flu vaccine for pregnant women. They were forced to admit there were no studies. The FDA has promoted the use of vaccines for pregnant women without 1 study proving that it is safe for the fetus. Futhermore, they do not recommend pregnant women avoid multi-dose vaccines that contain Thimerosal (ethylmercury).
From the court's decision, “WHEREAS, plaintiff Informed Consent Action Network (‘ICAN’) requested the following records from defendant United States Food & Drug Administration (‘FDA’) pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (‘FOIA’): ‘A copy of the report for each clinical trial relied upon by the FDA when approving for use by pregnant women any influenza vaccine currently approved by the FDA.’
WHEREAS, after ICAN appealed, the FDA responded, in relevant part, as follows:
These requests sought the clinical trials relied upon by the FDA prior to approving any currently licensed influenza or Tdap vaccine for use in pregnant women as an indicated use. … We have no records responsive to your requests.”
Caution: Never take the flu vaccine with any other vaccine. If you happen to have an adverse reaction, it may be nearly impossible to determine which vaccine caused the problem. Since flu vaccines are recommended every year, being able to identify if the adverse event was caused by this vaccine is important.
7. Vaccine Injury Damages Are Paid by the Government
In the U.S., most serious vaccine injuries and deaths are from influenza vaccines. In 2013, the government paid out more in damages for the flu vaccine than the compensation paid for 11 other vaccines.
(source: http://archive.is/1Jmle)
From the 2011 Supreme Court ruling in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, Congress' classification of vaccines as “unavoidably unsafe” and the vaccine manufacturers' lack of liability was confirmed.
As of 2020, $4,300,000,000 in compensation (including some attorneys’ fees and costs) has been awarded to people injured by vaccines.
(source: Vaccine Injury Compensation Data. (2020, May 22). Retrieved from https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data/index.html)
Some Flu Vaccine Injuries and Vaccine Court Settlement Times
“Guillain-Barre (gee-YAH-buh-RAY) syndrome (GBS) is a rare disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves. Weakness and tingling in your extremities are usually the first symptoms. These sensations can quickly spread, eventually paralyzing your whole body. In its most severe form Guillain-Barre syndrome is a medical emergency. Most people with the condition must be hospitalized to receive treatment…
There's no known cure for Guillain-Barre syndrome, but several treatments can ease symptoms and reduce the duration of the illness. Although most people recover from Guillain-Barre syndrome, the mortality rate is 4% to 7%. Between 60-80% of people are able to walk at six months. Patients may experience lingering effects from it, such as weakness, numbness or fatigue.”
(source: Guillain–Barre syndrome. (2020, May 26). Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/guillain-barre-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20362793)
From the CDC's website, “In very rare cases, people have died of GBS, usually from difficulty breathing. In the United States, an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people develop GBS each year...On very rare occasions, they may develop GBS in the days or weeks after getting a vaccination...Anyone can develop GBS; however, it is more common among older adults. The incidence of GBS increases with age, and people older than 50 years are at greatest risk for developing GBS.”
For actual settlements in GBS vaccine court cases, visit: https://www.mctlaw.com/vaccine-injury/guillain-barre-syndrome/.
8. How Effective Are Flu Vaccines?
The effectiveness of flu vaccines varies each year due how to well the FDA is able to accurately predict which viruses, that are constantly changing, to include in the vaccine for the flu season at the end of the year.
“In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) makes the final decision about vaccine viruses for influenza vaccines to be sold in the U.S. Information about circulation of influenza viruses and available vaccine viruses is summarized and presented to an advisory committee of the FDA in February each year for the U.S. decision about which viruses to include in the upcoming season’s vaccine.”
Furthermore, according to Cochrane*, “Over 200 viruses cause ILI [influenza-like illness], which produces the same symptoms (fever, headache, aches, pains, cough, and runny nose) as influenza. Without laboratory tests, doctors cannot distinguish between ILI and influenza because both last for days and rarely cause serious illness or death.
...Injected influenza vaccines probably have a small protective effect against influenza and ILI (moderate-certainty evidence), as 71 people would need to be vaccinated to avoid one influenza case, and 29 would need to be vaccinated to avoid one case of ILI. Vaccination may have little or no appreciable effect on hospitalisations (low-certainty evidence) or number of working days lost.”
(source: Vaccines to Prevent Influenza in Healthy Adults. (2018, February 1). Retrieved from https://www.cochrane.org/CD001269/ARI_vaccines-prevent-influenza-healthy-adults)
Effectiveness By Year
2004/5 - 10%
2005/6 - 21%
2006/7 - 52%
2007/8 - 37%
2008/9 - 41%
2009/10 - 56%
2010/11 - 60%
2011/12 - 47%
2012/13 - 49%
2013/14 - 52%
2014/15 - 19%
2015/16 - 48%
2016/17 - 40%
2017/18 - 38%
2018/19 - 29%
From the CDC's website, “It’s possible to get sick with flu even if you have been vaccinated (although you won’t know for sure unless you get a flu test). This is possible for the following reasons:
You may be exposed to a flu virus shortly before getting vaccinated or during the period that it takes the body to gain protection after getting vaccinated. This exposure may result in you becoming ill with flu before the vaccine begins to protect you. (Antibodies that provide protection develop in the body about 2 weeks after vaccination.)
You may be exposed to a flu virus that is not included in the seasonal flu vaccine. There are many different flu viruses that circulate every year. A flu vaccine is made to protect against the three or four flu viruses that research suggests will be most common [that year].
Unfortunately, some people can become infected with a flu virus a flu vaccine is designed to protect against, despite getting vaccinated. Protection provided by flu vaccination can vary widely, based in part on health and age factors of the person getting vaccinated. In general, a flu vaccine works best among healthy younger adults and older children. Some older people and people with certain chronic illnesses may develop less immunity after vaccination. Flu vaccination is not a perfect tool, but it is the best way to protect against flu infection.”
“...live vaccines showed an efficacy of 79% and an effectiveness of 33% in children older than two years compared with placebo or no intervention. Inactivated vaccines had a lower efficacy of 59% than live vaccines but similar effectiveness: 36%. In children under two, the efficacy of inactivated vaccine was similar to placebo...
Influenza vaccines are efficacious in children older than two years but little evidence is available for children under two. There was a marked difference between vaccine efficacy and effectiveness...It was surprising to find only one study of inactivated vaccine in children under two years, given recent recommendations to vaccinate healthy children from six months old in the USA and Canada...”
From The Cochrane Collaboration, “We included 50 reports. Forty (59 sub‐studies) were clinical trials of over 70,000 people…In the relatively uncommon circumstance of vaccine matching the viral circulating strain and high circulation [during a year with high flu vaccine effectiveness], 4% of unvaccinated people versus 1% of vaccinated people developed influenza symptoms. The corresponding figures for poor vaccine matching were 2% and 1%. These differences were not likely to be due to chance. Vaccination had a modest effect on time off work and had no effect on hospital admissions or complication rates. Inactivated vaccines caused local harms and an estimated 1.6 additional cases of Guillain‐Barré Syndrome per million vaccinations. The harms evidence base is limited.
Influenza vaccines have a modest effect in reducing influenza symptoms and working days lost. There is no evidence that they affect complications, such as pneumonia, or transmission.”
*Note: “Cochrane contributors work together to produce credible, accessible health information that is free from commercial sponsorship and other conflicts of interest. This is vital for us to generate authoritative and reliable information, working freely, unconstrained by commercial and financial interests. We gather and analyze the best available evidence to help people make informed decisions about health and health care. These are called systematic reviews. Our work is recognized as representing an international gold standard for high quality, trusted information. ”
9. How are Yearly Flu Deaths Calculated?
According to the CDC, “Each year CDC estimates the burden of influenza in the U.S. CDC uses modeling to estimate the number of influenza illnesses, medical visits, flu-associated hospitalizations, and flu-associated deaths that occur in the U.S. in a given season.”
“Furthermore, influenza vaccine effectiveness has been vastly overstated, predictive models of pandemic influenza are demonstrably flawed, and officials conflate true influenza with influenza-like illness (ILl), an often overlooked but critical distinction which allows officials to mislead the public into holding false assumptions about the potential benefits of influenza vaccine.”
According to Cochrane, “...there is no reliable system to monitor and quantify the epidemiology and impact of ILI [influenza-like illness], the syndrome that presents clinically. Few states produce reliable data on the number of physician contacts or hospitalised cases due to ILI, and none tie these data to the proportion of ILI caused by influenza. We do not know for certain what the impact of ILI is, nor the impact of the proportion of ILI caused by influenza. Prospective studies apportioning positivity to the scores of viruses probably causing ILI are rare, as interest is focused on influenza.
The standard quoted figure of 36,000 yearly deaths in the US is based on the ‘respiratory and circulatory deaths’ category including all types of pneumonia, including secondary to meconium ingestion or bacterial causes. More recently, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have proposed estimates of impact ranging between 3,000 and 49,000 yearly deaths. When actual death certificates are tallied, influenza deaths on average are little more than 1,000 yearly.”
Actual Influenza Deaths (ICD J09-J11)
(source: https://wonder.cdc.gov/ucd-icd10.html)
Pandemic Modeling Mistakes
2010 Swine Flu “Pandemic”
“To put the key question most crudely: was the world wrongly persuaded to believe it was in the grip of a ghastly and severe pandemic by decision-making bodies unduly influenced by pharmaceutical companies hoping to sell billions of dollars worth of vaccines and anti-viral drugs?
...A report just out from the Council of Europe has come to some devastating conclusions. The declaration of a pandemic lead to a ‘waste of huge sums of public money’, a ‘distortion of priorities’ in public health services, the ‘provocation of unjustified fear’ and the ‘creation of health risks through vaccines and medications’ that may not have been sufficiently tested.”
“At one time, there was a very smart and brave man working at the FDA. His name is J. Anthony Morris, Ph.D. Morris was the Head of the Bureau of Biologics, the department where vaccines are developed.
In 1976 he went on the Phil Donahue Show (remember Phil Donahue?!) and told the public that the Swine Flu vaccine was dangerous, didn’t work, and people shouldn’t take it.
So the FDA did what they do in these situations. They fired him.
Happily retired and now 94 years old, when asked what he would most like to tell the American people, Morris said: ‘Tell them I do not take the flu shot.’”
Image by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay
10. Does a Flu Shot Increase the Chances of Respiratory Illness?
Several studies have shown that a flu vaccine may increase the risk of getting coronavirus and other respiratory illnesses.
In a Pentagon study earlier this year, people vaccinated with a flu shot showed a 36% increased risk of contracting the coronavirus. “The laboratory data in our study showed increased odds of coronavirus and human metapneumovirus in individuals receiving influenza vaccination…In our disease specific investigation, virus interference trends were noticed for coronavirus and human metapneumovirus…Examining non-influenza viruses specifically, the odds of both coronavirus and human metapneumovirus in vaccinated individuals were significantly higher when compared to unvaccinated individuals (OR = 1.36 and 1.51, respectively).”
(source: Wolff, G.G. (2020, January 10). Influenza vaccination and respiratory virus interference among Department of Defense personnel during the 2017–2018 influenza season. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X19313647)
In another study, “We randomized 115 children to trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) or placebo. Over the following 9 months, TIV recipients had an increased risk of virologically-confirmed non-influenza infections (relative risk: 4.40; 95% confidence interval: 1.31-14.8). Being protected against influenza, TIV recipients may lack temporary non-specific immunity that protected against other respiratory viruses.” The vaccinated group had a 4.4x greater chance of getting a non-influenza viral infection than the group given the placebo.
(source: Cowling, B.J., Fang, V. J., and 7 others. (2012, March 15). Increased risk of noninfluenza respiratory virus infections associated with receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22423139/)
From the British Medical Journal, “...A recent study of influenza vaccines over 14 seasons found that they were associated with mortality increases in the elderly (Anderson et al, Ann Intern Med, 3 March 2020), and there is a strong geographic correlation between influenza vaccine uptake in the elderly and country-wide Covid-19 death rates...”
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