The Flu Shot Scam- Now They Tell Us!

First, let's get one thing perfectly straight, we are talking about big bucks here! In 2012 the CDC estimated that 46% of the population got a flu shot, that's about 145 million people who received a injection costing around $32. This means that Americans spent about 4.6 billion dollars in their attempt to escape the yearly flu epidemic in 2012. The question, of course, is just how effective are these expensive and painful shots in the arm. I maintain that no one has the slightest idea, none at all. At the beginning of this past flu season the CDC predicted that the flu shots would be 67% effective in preventing the flu in high risk segments of the population like the elderly. These wizards of smart now tell us that the vaccine they were peddling was only 9% effective in persons over the age of 65. The truth is that they haven't the faintest idea how effect their vaccine was because their flawed statistics were based on a sampling of fewer than 300 people scattered among five states. To determine the effectiveness of something like a flu vaccine they would have had to performed a double blind randomized study of thousands of people, half of which got the vaccine and half of which got an injection of saline. These guinea pigs would have had to been followed for at least six months before the effectiveness of the vaccine could have been determined. I have no idea why statistical studies like this are not carried out by the CDC, or some other independent medical institution, but the fact is, they are not. I have always been extremely skeptical about the effectiveness of flu vaccines. During my medical career I always got my yearly flu shot and always got the flu, sometimes several times a year. The same was true for my wife who was a nurse. I stopped getting flu shots when I retired 13 years ago. Yep, you guessed it, haven't developed the flu since I stopped getting those vaccinations, no not once! Now, anecdotal observations like this are meaningless from a statistical point of view; nonetheless, there are many good reasons to question the validity of the flu vaccine program. First, and most importantly, we are not dealing with a virus like the ones that cause polio or smallpox. These viruses have remained genetically stable for many years. Rather we are dealing with many strains of the influenza virus which periodically raises their ugly heads to ravish mankind throughout the world. To make matters even worse, the influenza viruses are prone to mutations from year to year that render them immune to vaccines that were developed to destroy them in prior years. For these reasons the researchers who develop each year's flu vaccine are literally working in the dark as the concoct their chicken egg vaccines against the influenza viruses. First, they must guess which strain, or strains of the influenza virus they will be dealing with in the coming year and, even if they guess right, they will have to hope against hope that the viruses selected will not have mutated and become immune to the vaccines that they produce in the chicken eggs. Finally, the manufactures of the influenza vaccines and those who push the use of these anti-viral agents down play the side effects of their vaccines. Your local pharmacy, who is making a bundle on these vaccines, does not inform you that there were over 84,000 hospitalizations related to the influenza vaccine last year in the United States alone, over 1000 of which ended in death. An additional 1600 developed the disabling neurological condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Five children died in Korea alone after receiving a flu shot. So, recognizing the magnitude of the problems inherent in the development of influenza vaccines; the dismal records of past efforts to control influenza outbreaks with vaccines; and the serious side effects associated with influenza shots, why is our government encouraging us to take these potentially dangerous injections? As with many things in life all will become clear if you follow the money trail. For myself, I'm going to pass on my next flu shot and use the $32 bucks to buy a nice bottle of California wine.