The Truth About Flu Shots

By Dr. Mercola

Flu season is rapidly approaching and, with it, constant reminders to get vaccinated. This despite the fact that mounting research suggests this approach to flu prevention may be ill advised for long-term health, and doesn’t actually work in the first place.

In January 2015, U.S. government officials admitted that, in most years, flu shots are, at best, 50 to 60 percent effective at preventing lab confirmed influenza requiring medical care.¹

Then, in December 2015, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analysis² of flu vaccine effectiveness revealed that, between 2005 and 2015, the influenza vaccine was less than 50 percent effective more than half of the time.

If you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine reaction, injury, or death, please talk about it. If we don’t share information and experiences with one another, everybody feels alone and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local newspaper. Make a call in to a radio talk show that is only presenting one side of the vaccine story.

I must be frank with you; you have to be brave because you might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the “other side” of the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the courage to not back down. Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be true about vaccination, will the public conversation about vaccination open up so people are not afraid to talk about it.

We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade associations funded by drug companies or public health officials promoting forced use of a growing list of vaccines to dominate the conversation about vaccination.

The vaccine injured cannot be swept under the carpet and treated like nothing more than “statistically acceptable collateral damage” of national one-size-fits-all mandatory vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury and death. We shouldn’t be treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings.

Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More

I encourage you to visit the website of the non-profit charity, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), at www.NVIC.org:

• NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries, and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
• If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions: Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.
• Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment and sanctions by doctors, employers, and school and health officials for making independent vaccine choices.
• Vaccine Failure Wall: View or post descriptions about vaccines that have failed to work and protect the vaccinated from disease.

Connect With Your Doctor or Find a New One That Will Listen and Care

If your pediatrician or doctor refuses to provide medical care to you or your child unless you agree to get vaccines you don’t want, I strongly encourage you tohave the courage to find another doctor. Harassment, intimidation, and refusal of medical care is becoming the modus operandi of the medical establishment in an effort to stop the change in attitude of many parents about vaccinations after they become truly educated about health and vaccination. However, there is hope.

At least 15 percent of young doctors recently polled admit that they’re starting to adopt a more individualized approach to vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns of parents.

It is good news that there is a growing number of smart young doctors, who prefer to work as partners with parents in making personalized vaccine decisions for children, including delaying vaccinations or giving children fewer vaccines on the same day or continuing to provide medical care for those families, who decline use of one or more vaccines.

So take the time to locate a doctor, who treats you with compassion and respect, and is willing to work with you to do what is right for your child.

Sources and References

• ¹ MMWR January 16, 2015; 64(01): 10-15
• ² CDC, December 21, 2015 Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness: How Well Does the Flu Vaccine Work?
• ³ CDC, December 18, 2015 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness 2005-2015
• ⁴ N Engl J Med. 2014 Aug 14;371(7):635-45.
• ⁵ NPR September 17, 2015
• ^6, 21 The Washington Post September 29, 2016
• ⁷ Vaccine December 1998;16(20):1929-32
• ^8, 22 STAT News November 11, 2015
• ⁹ Clinical Infectious Diseases 2014; 59 (10): 1375-1385
• ¹⁰ CIDRAP April 6, 2010
• ¹¹ Science Daily May 20, 2009
• ¹² STAT News October 29, 2015
• ^13, 24 STAT News September 28, 2016
• ¹⁴ Journal of Infectious Disease October 28, 2015
• ¹⁵ The Cochrane Library July 7, 2010
• ¹⁶ Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012; Issue 8
• ¹⁷ FDA. 94th Meeting of Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Transcript. Feb. 20, 2003
• ¹⁸ CDC Seasonal Influenza Q&A. Aug. 15, 2014
• ¹⁹ CDC 2014-2015 Influenza Season Week 51 Ending December 20, 2014
• ²⁰ JAMA Intern Med 2013; 173(11): 1014-1016
• ²³ WebMD September 22, 2014
• ²⁵ NVIC. The Emerging Risks of Live Virus and Virus Vectored Vaccines: Vaccine Strain Virus Infection, Shedding and Transmission. November 2014
• ²⁶ MMWR January 24, 2003; 52(ss01): 1-24
• ²⁷ Health Impact News March 6, 2014
• ²⁸ Annals of Medicine 2007, 39(5):392-9

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