The Healthy Parenting Blog

Flu Shot or NOT

We don’t do shots…period. And even if we did, we’d no doubt NOT get the flu shot for a number of reasons.

For one, mercury has not been removed from these shots (thimersol really, which is 50% mercury). Even a little bit of a carcinogenic toxin that is ACCUMULATIVE in the body, is too much in my eyes. And food for thought on all those other childhood vaccines that supposedly have mercury removed, most still retain “traces” of mercury. The difference in how the vaccines are labelled is probably related to whether or not thimersol is used as an “ingredient” or in the processing. Either way, a little bit is in there no matter what.

My question would be, before I inject my child, who is regulating the traces and determining how much all together my child will be storing up in his body? No one, you say? Okay, well then, thank you but I think I will wait until someone PROVES to me that any level is safe (which won’t happen because it isn’t a possibility).

Another thing that is really getting my goat is that I KNOW many people that have been told by their doctors to give the flu vaccine to their babies. Recently a friend was encouraged to give the flu shot to her 4 month old. According to the flu shot manufacturers and CDC last year, the vaccine is “safe” for children of the age of FIVE and up. But recently the CDC changed their flu shot recommendations.

Suddenly, the flu vaccine is safe for children 6 months and up. And suddenly, any child under 9 years getting the flu vaccine for the first time, now requires TWO doses.

After reviewing some of the pharmaceutical vaccine inserts, I’m baffled. Some state that no tests have been done to determine if “this shot works”. Okay, those are really my words but thats the premise of their convoluted statement.

So check out this CDC recommendation on the FluMist (LAIV) vaccine. Scroll down to “Primary Changes and Updates in the Recommendations”. This is one quoted recommendation;

ACIP reemphasizes the importance of administering 2 doses of vaccine to all children aged 6 months–8 years if they have not been vaccinated previously at any time with either LAIV (doses separated by >6 weeks) or TIV (doses separated by >4 weeks), on the basis of accumulating data indicating that 2 doses are required for protection in these children (see Vaccine Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Safety).

So basically, they are changing the safe to use age from 5 years to 6 months and two doses. Now check this page at the CDC out. Here is the quote from the CDC page on who should not use the LAIV flu vaccine.

LAIV is not currently licensed for use in the following groups, and these persons should not be vaccinated with LAIV:

• persons with a history of hypersensitivity, including anaphylaxis, to any of the components of LAIV or to eggs.
• persons aged less than 5 years or those aged 50 years and older;
• persons with any of the underlying medical conditions that serve as an indication for routine influenza vaccination, including asthma, reactive airways disease, or other chronic disorders of the pulmonary or cardiovascular systems;
• other underlying medical conditions, including such metabolic diseases as diabetes, renal dysfunction, and hemoglobinopathies; or known or suspected immunodeficiency diseases or immunosuppressed states;
• children or adolescents receiving aspirin or other salicylates (because of the association of Reye syndrome with
  wild-type influenza virus infection);
• persons with a history of GBS; or
• pregnant women

If I’m not mistaken, these two quotes conflict greatly with one another. One states that the LAIV flu vaccine is not licensed for use in children under 5 years and the other recommends its use in children from 6 months to 8 years. I just don’t get it. Why are we using our children as guinea pigs?

And in other news….just the other day, I was at the gym and reading “Health” magazine, which I consider a fairly mainstream mag. I discovered this article on the flu vax, “Read this BEFORE you get a flu shot“.

Any comments?