Is the flu vaccine the next bad drug?
by Dr. Madeline Behrendt, D.C.
http://www.boiseweekly.com/more.php?id=4281_0_1_0_M2
Each winter the flu intrudes into our lives. But beyond fever and chills, this villain virus generates media, money and mayhem.
With flu season, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) plan “The Seven-Step Recipe for Generating Interest in
and Demand for Flu Vaccines” creates a massive pro-vaccine media campaign
each year. In a single week last September, 1,026 media messages were
broadcast or published, including “this could be the worst flu season ever,”
“the flu shot is the best way to prevent the flu” and “flu season kills
36,000 per year.” But what evidence is there to back up this scare that
produces long lines of frightened souls hoping to score dwindling doses of
vaccine? Are they effective or even safe? And, when vaccine manufacturers
routinely report seasonal revenues upward of $500 million, are there
financial incentives for product safety?
The nearly 5,000 flu vaccine-related autism injury cases currently pending
in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims suggest negative answers to these
questions. According to Barbara Loe Fisher, former consumer member of the
FDA Vaccines Advisory Committee (1999 to 2003) and cofounder of the National
Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), “Many of the world’s most highly
vaccinated children are contracting far fewer infections in childhood but
are growing up chronically ill with various kinds of brain and immune system
dysfunction.” She adds, “Government health officials and the American
Academy of Pediatrics put out an Autism Alarm to the public announcing … a
stunning 200 to 7,000 percent increase in autism in every state over the
past two decades.”
The government’s vaccine risk assessment database, the Vaccine Safety
Datalink (VSD), recently detected a statistical link between vaccines
containing the mercury-laced preservative thimerosal, a neurotoxin, and
developmental and behavior disorders, including but not limited to autism.
But this information was withheld from the public. Fisher started a petition
to allow full access to the VSD by independent researchers, and almost
10,000 people signed immediately.
Fisher also links vaccinations to 3 million learning disabled
schoolchildren; 4 million with ADHD; 9 million with asthma; 300,000 with
juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; and 1 in 400 to 500 with diabetes.
Senior citizens may also be negatively affected by flu shots. According to
immogeneticist Dr. Hugh Fudenberg, M.D., individuals who received five
consecutive flu shots between 1970 and 1980 are ten times more likely to
develop Alzheimer’s disease than those who received zero, one or two shots.
But the number of injuries may be even greater, as doctors can refuse to
report adverse effects and face no consequences. And even when a link can be
proven, vaccine manufacturers are not liable. Since the flu vaccine was
added to the federal vaccine compensation program in 1986, those injured by
vaccines now face the federal government, which is defended by the
Department of Justice.
Beyond the side effects, the question remains as to whether the flu vaccine
is actually effective enough to be worth the risks. Last season 82,000,000
people were vaccinated in the United States, but according to NVIC “only 3
to 14 percent of those who got vaccinated were protected against the flu.”
WebMD adds that in a Denver hospital, “people who got vaccinated were just
as likely to get flu-like symptoms as those who didn’t get the vaccine.” And
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly reports the vaccine had “no or low
effectiveness” against flu-like illness.
Like a muscle, immunity must be developed. Infectious agents stimulate an
inflammatory response, which signals the production of antibodies. The
antibodies then resolve the inflammation, and healing begins to take place.
But according to British Medical Journal, when vaccines artificially
manipulate immunity, the natural immune response may be compromised. For
example, Haemophilus influenzae type b infection rates are now higher than
they were before the vaccine program was introduced. The reason, according
to researchers, is that reduced exposure to the disease means antibody
levels or “natural” immunity, are no longer being boosted. When the disease
begins to rise once again, many victims are less equipped to fight the
infection.
Despite these conclusions, vaccine mandates continue to be pushed by state
legislators—but parents are pushing back by becoming educated about legal
exemptions for school admittance. The American Journal of Preventive
Medicine reports that 93 percent of physicians reported at least one
parental vaccine refusal in their practice in the past year. Typically, 80
to 90 percent of Americans don’t get the flu each year. Although flu strains
vary the body’s defense is the same: a strong immune system. Those looking
to augment immune function through non-vaccine measures may find relief
through natural (alternative) health care including homeopathic remedies or
chiropractic care.
In recent years, doctors and pharmaceutical companies have encouraged
millions of Americans to partake in the magical powers of Fen Phen, hormone
replacement therapy, Ephedrine and Vioxx, among others, only to later learn
that the miracle drugs are quite dangerous drugs with life-threatening side
effects. Beyond the hype, is the flu vaccine the next bad drug?
As we mandated more and more vaccines with
thimerosal without adding up the total mercury exposure, babies were
receiving 40 to 60 times the EPA limits for mercury. At the same time,
autism rates in the United States in one decade went from 1/10,000 to 1/166.
Autistic children often share similar traits. Interestingly, the symptoms of
mercury poisoning and autism are identical.
The rate of autism in California increased 300 percent in a decade during
the 1990s. But after voluntarily removing thimerosal from children’s
vaccines, they’ve seen three-consecutive quarters with 35 percent reductions
in the autism rate. This is the first time ever that California’s numbers
have been declining.
Califormia has now banned thimerosal in children’s vaccines, as Iowa has
also done. Yesterday, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for
Disease Control, told a congressional hearing that, at best, the
preservative may be eliminated from the vaccine by 2009.
FIVE YEARS ago the American Academy of Pediatrics and the federal health
agencies urged drug manufacturers to remove thimerosal. AND NOW, it’s still
going to another FIVE YEARS to do it?
That’s hardly oversight by the CDC. It’s more like rubber-stamping. With
over 700 waivers for conflicts of interest for people in our health
agencies, who also work for drug companies, it’s easy to see why they’re in
no hurry.
Anne McElroy Dachel
Chippewa Falls, WI
Clarification: The 5000 autism cases pending in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program are not suspected to be related to the flu vaccine but to thimerosal, a mercury based preservative used in vaccines.
The flu vaccine was only recently recommended for universal use for children and so has only been recently added to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
Kathi Williams
National Vaccine Information Center