Monday, October 3, 2016 at 10:08PM

I’ll admit it, the whole idea of getting a flu shot deeply concerns me and I’m saddened by the number of people who are being required, in order to hold onto their jobs, to get one every year. Then there are the millions of people who think they’re protected when they take the shot, when actually the effectiveness is only up to 70%, if the vaccine manufacturers guess correctly about which strains of the virus will be prevalent. The effectiveness then decreases with age, 30 - 40% being the average after age 65. Many ingredients of the flu vaccines have never been clinically tested by the FDA for safety (as is the case with all other vaccines, by the way). No one knows what will happen to us in the long run when we are given a flu shot every year for an illness that is relatively benign for most people. And now pregnant women are being given the flu shot! What does that do to the developing fetus? How will that affect our childrens' immune systems? Not to mention the myriad other vaccines children are expected (and now mandated in California) to get! There are no double blind, placebo-controlled studies of the long term, and often combined, use of vaccines on infants, children, adults, or the elderly. The public health implications of that are far more worrying to me than a few thousand children a year getting the flu or childhood illnesses like the measles or chicken pox.

Another issue I’m concerned about is the ingredients of flu vaccines. They vary from year to year in terms of which viruses they include, but the growth mediums and stabilizers are present in varying amounts. Here is a list of ingredients present in the various 2016 flu vaccines:

VACCINE BRAND INGREDIENT LIST

Influenza (Afluria)Beta-propiolactone, thimerosol (multi-dose vials only), monobasic sodium phosphate, dibasic sodium phosphate, monobasic potassium phosphate, potassium chloride, calcium chloride, sodium taurodeoxycholate, neomycin sulfate, polymyxin B, egg protein, sucrose.

Influenza (Agriflu)Egg proteins, formaldehyde, polysorbate 80, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, neomycin sulfate, kanamycin, barium.

Influenza (Fluarix) Trivalent and QuadrivalentOctoxynol-10 (Triton X- Į-tocopheryl hydrogen succinate, polysorbate 80 (Tween 80), hydrocortisone, gentamicin sulfate, ovalbumin, formaldehyde, sodium deoxycholate, sucrose, phosphate buffer.

Influenza (Flublok)Monobasic sodium phosphate, dibasic sodium phosphate, polysorbate 20, baculovirus and host cell proteins, baculovirus and cellular DNA, Triton X-100, lipids, vitamins, amino acids, mineral salts.

Influenza (Flucelvax)Madin Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cell protein, MDCK cell DNA, ȕ-propiolactone, phosphate buffer, polysorbate 80, FHWOWULPHWKODPPRQLXP EURPLGH ȕ-propiolactone, phosphate buffer.

Influenza (Flulaval) Trivalent and QuadrivalentThimerosal, formaldehyde, sodium deoxycholate, egg proteins, phosphate buffer.

Influenza (FluMist) QuadrivalentEthylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed porcine gelatin, arginine, sucrose, dibasic potassium phosphate, monobasic potassium phosphate, gentamicin sulfate, egg protein.

Influenza (Fluvirin)Nonylphenol ethoxylate, thimerosal (multidose vial–trace only in .refilled syringe), polymyxin, neomycin, beta-propiolactone, egg proteins, phosphate buffer.

Influenza (Fluzone: Standard (Trivalent and Quadrivalent), High-Dose, & Intradermal)Formaldehyde, octylphenol ethoxylate (Triton X-100), gelatin (standard trivalent formulation only), thimerosal (multi-dose vial only) , egg protein, phosphate buffers, sucrose.

Do you really want this toxic soup injected directly into your bloodstream? Additionally, are you vegetarian or vegan? Muslim? Allergic to eggs? Chicken egg and pork gelatin are in many vaccines. Canine kidney cells are the new growth medium in some vaccines because so many people are allergic to eggs (what??). Then we have thimerasol (aka Mercury), still present in the multi-dose vials. And also aluminum, which is a proven toxin and neurotoxin. Many of the ingredients have never been clinically approved by the FDA.

From the National Vaccine Information Center:

What are contraindications to the flu vaccine?

Among high risk factors listed by the CDC and the vaccine manufacturers are anyone who:

(1) is sick with a fever;
(2) has an egg allergy;
(3) has a mercury allergy;
(4) has a history of Guillain-Barre syndrome.

If immunosuppressed individuals receive the flu vaccine they may not get an adequate protective antibody response.

(So the people who are most at risk for complications of the flu (the elderly and immunosuppressed individuals), are the least likely to have an adequate antibody response from taking the shot!)

Is Flu Vaccine Recommended for Children?

One consideration with the mass use of flu vaccine in healthy children is the removal of natural antibodies to flu which are obtained from natural infection. The question of whether it is better for healthy children, who rarely suffer complications from flu, to get the flu and develop permanent immunity to that flu strain or it is better for children to get vaccinated every year to try to suppress all flu infection in early childhood is a question that has yet to be adequately answered by medical science.

Adult influenza vaccine injury claims are now the leading claim submitted to the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

So...if you aren't convinced by all this, please read and share Laura Hayes’ article, Vaccines – Elimination Mandatory, published on the Age of Autism website recently, in which she puts forth a very strong, and in my opinion, accurate assessment of the issue. Here’s an excerpt:

“For those people who say they just want “choice”…for those people who think it’s okay to have to formally exempt out of vaccination versus simply saying, “No thank you”, and who are willing to beg, plead, and pay in an attempt to avoid or refuse vaccination via exemption…for those people who just want “greener” vaccines, as though it’s ever a healthful or wise idea to purposefully invade, tamper with, and taint our God-given immune systems…for those who just want the mercury removed, as though it is the only problematic ingredient…for those who say we just need genetic pre-screening beforehand, as though any human is designed to have their inner systems and brain assaulted in such a way by so many toxic, neurotoxic, and foreign substances…and for those people who say we just need more “informed consent”, which is not even possible given the unscientific vaccine studies rife with fraud and deception…I contend that those stances are not sufficient or ethical.”