Flu Misery and Myths or Get off Your Duff and Get a Flu Shot

fumento.com ^ | 10/9/2003 | Michael Fumento

[TomB]

When is it too late in the season/not worth it to get the flu shot?

When it's over? ;-)

Seriously, October and November are the best months to get it, but since February is usually the peak month for the flu, December isn't too late.

[Mr Rogers]

OK, the flu shot doesn't make you sick. I'm in the military, and am required to get a flu shot every year. It is only coincidence that 30% of the time (including this year), I get aches, fever, etc within 48 hours of the shot. But those non-symptoms disappear after 10 days, so I've gained a lot.

[Mr Rogers]

Correlation is not causation.

No, but it is up to you to show consistent correlation is not causation. If I get sick whenever I eat at a resteraunt, I haven't proved unsanitary cooking - but I have just cause for suspicion.

I cannot prove by my experience that flu shots make some folks sick - but I have ample reason for concern.

[Agnes Heep]

So, if you get the flu, I don't feel sorry for you. Just stay in your house and don't go out until you are completely well. Act as if you had SARS.

But if I get the shot, and get the flu (which is just as likely) I can go out and about ... no problems.

[Agnes Heep]

Vaccinations don't desensitize your immune system. Just the opposite. They build up your immune system.

In the process of building up immunity to one thing, they weaken immunity against other things. It's like this: if a bear attacks you, and you throw all your resources into fighting the bear, you're not going to have much left if a lion comes along.

[Agnes Heep]

After reading this thead through a bit more I'd like to hear if you know anything about metal being in the flu shots?

That's news to me.

[citizenK]

This thread has some interesting developments since it began, with the recent bad news about the flu outbreak (and increase in deaths of children in the West).

I don't know much about the metal content in vaccines, except that some trace amounts of metals (like mercury) are found in the preservatives added to the vaccines. As someone else suggests on this thread, I would seek out some more information from the CDC, FDA, and some reliable (i.e., peer reviewed) scientific literature. Be wary of info coming from lone-wolf websites or from organizations with ulterior agendas.

Generally speaking though, the risk of a negative affect from the flu shot is much less than the risk engendered when actually contracting the flu. Getting the flu shot also means one less body the virus can live in and from which it can spread to others in the population. For most people, getting the flu shot is in their own self-interest, and the more people who do get the shot, the safer the whole population is.

I think the problem with our society with respect to infectious disease is that we have become too complacent. The raging flu epidemics of the past were really not that long ago - my grandfather was of adult age during the 1918 epidemic. Medicine has advanced to such a degree now that people don't feel susceptible to anything - the flu, polio, or other diseases which we can immunize ourselves against. In a sense we are in danger of becoming victims of our own medical successes. More people come to feel it is unnecessary or even dangerous to receive immunizations, and that's because people today have not experienced first-hand the devastation of some of these diseases.

[kdono]

This is only a theory and has not been proven because no one wants to be in the control group

Actually, the whole world is the control group because vaccince with Fujian/411/2002 has not been produced yet. It (probably will be represented by Wyoming/3/2003)will be in the vaccine for the southern hemisphere.

About 70% of those immunized with Panama/2007/99 have titers of &greater than 40 against Fujian

Panama offers some protection, but a vaccine made with Fujian-like virus would be better.

[kdono]

if you know anything about metal being in the flu shots

Alum is frequently used in immunization of experimental animals and the concentration is quite high.

I suspect it is lower in humans, but well above "trace amounts". It is used to stimulate the immune response, and it is not included as a preservative.

[DugwayDuke]

I once called in sick with the "Russian Flu", too much vodka the night before.

[R. Scott]

The flu pandemic of 1918-1919 nearly wiped out my hometown of Conneaut Lake, Pa. Before the flu it was called Evansville, but the name was changed afterwards because of the notoriety associated with the old name. The people who died of the flu were buried in emergency cemeteries in often very shallow graves – now overgrown and probably lost to the woods.

[Centurion2000]

I have the flu now ... this SUCKS.

[R. Scott]

I’m not yet into the category of high risk, so I’ll continue to take my chances. I have a deep psychological aversion to flu shots from all the experimental vaccines tested on us before my retirement.

[Boxsford]

Thanks for the link. Yeah, I've heard that it was an urban legend. Don't really know where the truth lies. My sister in law became almost obsessed with aluminum in anything. She told a cousin at a reunion about aluminum and he told her that he almost died from too much alum. in his system (not sure what he'd been doing to himself). I'll send her your link.

I don't know if alum. causes cancer or not but for years I have been using products that don't contain it. Only because I don't like the idea of wearing alum. I purposely try not to cook with it so why would I wear it.

[Desdemona]

Great for people whose immunity isn't so good, for whatever reason, but since I'm not one of them I'll opt to take my chances with the flu.

I'm with you. There's one going around in this part of the country that isn't included in the vaccine. A lot of people I know who got flu shots got it anyway. And it is NASTY. The ladies have been passing it around at work and the rest of us have been encouraging them to stay home.

We've been messing so much with our immune systems and viruses that someday, it's going to come back to haunt us.

[Boxsford]

"When men differ, both sides ought equally be heard by the public, for when truth and error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter" Benjamin Franklin

I found the site just last night. I thought it was interesting and had something to contribute to the discussion. Yeah, it does promote some radical views but it also offers another side of the whole picture of vaccinations. Nothing wrong with that. So now we have to be in total agreement with a site before we can recommend it for discussion?

[DefCon]

traditionalist
Since 2001-09-22
This account has been banned or suspended.
- - -
Another one bites the dust...

[TomB]

I found the site just last night. I thought it was interesting and had something to contribute to the discussion. Yeah, it does promote some radical views but it also offers another side of the whole picture of vaccinations. Nothing wrong with that. So now we have to be in total agreement with a site before we can recommend it for discussion?

That site is full of dangerous lies. Perhaps you should read it a little more closely before you recommend it to someone else as "the other side".

But more importantly, what is "the other side" of vaccinations?

If I were to post a thread with "the other side" of the 9-11 attacks, that being where George Bush planned and executed the attacks, how long would that last here? We have a duty to not post links to crackpot sites and pass them off as reasoned debate.

But by all means, go ahead, just be aware that there are many here who will call you on it. Credibility is a precious commodity on this site, and promoting crackpot websites does nothing to enhance that.

[Boxsford]

Bunk! Go talk to someone else.

[TomB]

Bunk! Go talk to someone else.

Huh? Scintillating comeback! What do you consider bunk?

The fact that vaccinations prevent disease?