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Prominent Physician Advises Against Flu Shots


Dr. Donald Miller, a cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington, recommends avoiding the flu shot and taking vitamin D instead. According to Dr. Miller, “Seventy percent of doctors do not get a flu shot.”

Health officials say that every winter 36,000 people will die from it. But the National Vital Statistics Reports compiled by the CDC show that only 1,138 deaths a year occur due to influenza alone -- more than 34,000 of the “36,000? flu deaths are actually pneumonic and cardiovascular deaths.

There is also a lack of evidence that young children benefit from flu shots. In fact, a systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo. But there is also a risk of harm from the flu vaccine itself, particularly from the mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde it contains.


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Dr. Mercola''s Comments Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Dr. Donald Miller, author of the very popular User Friendly Vaccination Schedule, offers superb advice when he says to “avoid the flu shot and take vitamin D instead.”

Getting appropriate amounts of sunshine (or taking a vitamin D supplement when you can’t get healthy amounts of sun exposure) is one of my KEY preventive strategies against the cold and flu, as it has such a strengthening effect on your immune system.

Less than optimal vitamin D levels will significantly impair your immune response and make you far more susceptible to contracting colds, influenza, and other respiratory infections.

Dr. John Cannell and colleagues hypothesized that influenza is merely a symptom of vitamin D deficiency about two years ago, and their theory was further proven last month in the Virology Journal. In it researchers suggested that influenza epidemics are a result of a dormant disease, which become active in response to vitamin D deficiency.

This makes perfect sense, considering that “flu season” in the United States occurs right when it is hard for most people to get adequate sunlight to produce vitamin D: the winter.

Unfortunately, rather than urging people to get adequate sun exposure or take a high-quality vitamin D supplement (which costs about $22 a year), health officials’ answer to preventing the flu is with a largely ineffective and dangerous shot.

There is a lot of deception and misinformation going around with it comes to the flu and flu shots, and I’d like to set some records straight here.

Very Few Americans Actually Die From the Flu

U.S. public health officials are moving full-speed ahead with their national campaign to promote and publicize the flu shot. They have now designated December 8-14 as “National Influenza Vaccination Week” to “foster greater use of flu vaccine through the months of November, December and beyond.”

Today, December 9, is designated as “Children’s Vaccination Day.” Thursday, December 11 will be “Seniors’ Vaccination Day” and Friday, December 12 will focus on vaccination of health care workers.

If you listen to the hype, it sounds as though every man, woman, and child should hurry out to their nearest pharmacy or health clinic and demand to be vaccinated against this “deadly” health epidemic called the flu.

But please understand that it is just that: HYPE.

The truth is, the flu CAN be deadly … but most of the time it is not.

Health officials like to alarm you by saying that 36,000 people die from the flu every year. This is simply not true.  CDC reports show that only 1,138 deaths are caused by the flu each year. The other 34,000-plus are caused by pneumonic and cardiovascular deaths.

But let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you’re thinking of getting the flu shot not so much because you’re worried about dying from the flu, but because you want to save yourself the hassle of being sick for a week or two.

Well, the flu shot probably won’t help you there either.

New Studies Show the Flu Shot Does Not Work

A recent study published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine found that vaccinating young children against the flu had no impact on flu-related hospitalizations or doctor visits during two recent flu seasons.

Another large-scale, systematic review of 51 studies, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2006, also found no evidence the flu vaccine is any more effective for children than a placebo.

Additionally, no studies have conclusively proven that flu shots prevent flu-related deaths among the elderly, even though this is one of the key groups to which they’re pushed.

Even if the flu vaccine did work, you should know that it is simply an educated guessing game as to whether or not this year’s vaccine will protect against the strains in your area. You see, because the flu virus mutates so rapidly, the vaccine must be updated every year to include the new, most common strains. Yet, sometimes scientists are way off.

There have been several examples in past years where government health officials have chosen the incorrect influenza strains for that year’s vaccine. In 2004, the National Vaccine Information Center described how CDC officials told everyone to line up for a flu shot that didn't even contain the influenza strain causing most of the flu that year.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states:

“In some years when vaccine and circulating strains were not well-matched, no vaccine effectiveness can be demonstrated in some studies, even in healthy adults. It is not possible in advance of the influenza season to predict how well the vaccine and circulating strains will be matched, and how that match may affect the degree of vaccine effectiveness.”

So let’s sum things up. When you get the flu shot, it may or may not protect you against the flu. Further, recent studies suggest the shot is largely ineffective for two of the key populations to which it’s pushed: children and the elderly.

What you CAN be sure of when you get the flu shot is that you’ll be injected with a laundry list of hazardous ingredients, which are included as additives to the vaccines.

Flu Shot Additives are Well-Known Toxins

Two-thirds of the vaccines made for the 2008–09 flu season contain full-dose thimerosal, which is 49% mercury by weight, according to Dr. Miller. Mercury is a neurotoxin, with a toxicity level 1,000 times that of lead.

Still, each flu shot contains 25 micrograms of mercury, which amounts to a mercury content of 50,000 part per billion -- 250 times more than the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety limit.

And that’s not all. Dr. Miller points out the other substances in flu shots, all of which are known to be harmful to health, especially for children:

• Formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing agent is used to inactivate the virus.
• Aluminum, added to promote an antibody response, is a neurotoxin that may play a role in Alzheimer’s disease.
• Triton X-100 (a detergent)
• Polysorbate 80

• Carbolic acid
• Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)
• Gelatin
• Various antibiotics such as neomycin, streptomycin, and gentamicin that can cause allergic reactions

Why expose yourself or your child to these toxins to take a flu shot that likely doesn’t even work? Especially when there is such a better option …

The Natural Way to Prevent, and Treat, The Flu

As I said above, one of the absolute best ways to prevent the flu is simply optimizing your vitamin D levels. Ideally you would do this by getting out in the sun, but for most of you reading this it is “vitamin D winter,” which means there simply isn’t enough sunshine to make significant amounts of vitamin D, so you will need to use a safe tanning bed or take oral supplements.

Although supplements are clearly inferior to sunlight or safe tanning beds, I am becoming more convinced of the value of vitamin D supplements as they are less potentially toxic than my initial impression, and they are certainly more convenient and less expensive than a tanning bed.

In order to prevent the flu, children need 2,000 IU a day of vitamin D, while adults need anywhere between 4,000 to 5,000 IU per day. The key is to make sure you monitor your vitamin D levels by blood testing, to make sure your levels are therapeutic and not toxic.

For more information about safe sun exposure and tanning, vitamin D testing, and the recommended forms of supplementation when sufficient sunlight is not available, please see my article Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency, which includes recent, and vital, updates.

It will be very rare for you to come down with the flu if you’re taking the vitamin D doses I recommended above, but if you do happen to get the flu, you can use vitamin D to treat it as well.

The therapeutic dose of vitamin D is 2,000 units per kilogram of body weight (one pound is 0.45 kg). The dose would be taken once a day for three days. (This could be a very large dose if you are very heavy -- as high as 200,000-300,000 units per day).

This is the dose that Dr. John Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council and the speaker in the video above, has been using very successfully for a number of years.

If you start this program early on in the illness, it should be able to completely wipe out the flu in short order.


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Comment on This Article Community Comments (44)
 
 
Posted On Nov 25, 2008
I posted the article, and it went to the front page on Digg, then got slammed with commenters telling me I was irresponsible and shouldn't give medical advice (which I didn't do...). One guy even wrote a personal blog post saying that I would be personally responsible for hundreds or even thousands of deaths...

 
naturalpapa
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 11/2008
naturalpapa  
Replied

curious7
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 3/2007
curious7  
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

NaturalPapa:

People choose to believe in run-of-the-mill medicine, because it is easy, and our Colleges and Universities, have somewhat brainwashed us this way.  But the old saying that says, "believe half of what you see."  In other words confirm what you have seen.  "Some, or none of what you hear."  Again confirm, confirm, confirm.  There is enough data available for anyone who is interested to be well informed about one's health.  And as you know, our health is too important to be left strickly in the hands of others.  Check out a book entitled "Trust Us, We're Experts" by Sheldon Rampton, and John Stauber, will shed plenty of light on this subject.  



KelleyEidem
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 11/2007
KelleyEidem  
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

But I thought I was the one who would be personally responsible for thousands of deaths. ;-) Because I've gotten the same message many times. Did they mention what you were doing was "despicable" and "disgusting"?

That means you were on the right track. Congratulations! Give us a link and we'll vote her up.

As I say in my latest blog entry, Flu shots should be renamed "poo" shots because that's what they are worth. There's a better alternative and it's evolutionary. In other words, it goes back to the near beginning of life.

itsnotjustforsex-1.blogspot.com/.../flu-shot-or-fatty-acids.html

The best to you.

Kelley Eidem

Together we can cure cancer - one person at a time!


 
 
 
Posted On Nov 24, 2008
This takes a lot of guts for a prominent doctor to finally take a stand against the status quo!  Way to go!!

 
curlilox
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 8/2007
curlilox  
Replied

Phantom O Banjo
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 9/2006
Phantom O Banjo  
 
Posted On Nov 25, 2008
Guts is when you bring up how getting the flu shot is wrong headed to a group of  elderly women.  You are very likely to get pummeled by heavy loaded purses.


curious7
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 3/2007
curious7  
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

Curlilox:

As time goes on, more of our true doctors will begin to speak out about this great health care ruse.



Reverend Alan
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 12/2007
Reverend Alan  
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

Hello Curilox, it does take a lot of guts for the doctor to tell the sane and inexpensive truth. However don't expect the "status quo" to sit around and do nothing. They can try to get his medical license revoked and find other ways to discredit him. The "status quo's" craving for money is getting so bad, the good doctor could even have an accident. It would not surprise me if the "status quo" has not already stooped to that level.

Each on of us who wants to make our own health decisions for ourselves is a direct threat to the pocket book of those who invent new poisons and try to sell them off as medicines. They are rich and powerful, we are not, they are organized to get anything they want from the politicians.

Imagine a politician having to choose between an all expense paid vacation in Hawaii for two weeks or your right to decide for yourself on matters of health care.

If you were paid $100,000.00 to change your vote in Congress, would you do it?    


 
 
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

I live at the US / Canada border so I pick up the local US stations.  I was appalled to hear a news report that some schools in the Niagara / Lake Erie region are informing parents that without a flu shot and other immunizations their children would be suspended from school.  Talk about control!  At what point then do parents get to choose the health methods they wish their children to be treated with while have them educated at the same time?  Something is grossly wrong with this system.    


 
Freevoice
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 1/2007
Freevoice  
Replied

curious7
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 3/2007
curious7  
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

Freevoice:

It is called "Totalitarianism," you know where the state makes all decisions for you, and makes it illegal to refuse.



feel_good_today
Novice User Novice User Joined On 1/2008
feel_good_today  
 
Posted On Dec 11, 2008

Perfect time to get kids out of the system

Homeschool and protect your children

it is only going to get worse


 
 
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

The earth is flat and the sun revolves around us.

Flu shots are yet one more "conventional wisdom" debate that us realists cannot win.

Once something becomes conventional wisdom, there is no way that you can convince people to quit being sheep and become rational, logical thinkers.

Low fat, processed foods, chemotherapy, statins, flu shots, Tamiflu all recent additions to the conventional wisdom catagory.

And woe be any of us that dare to speak out against it.    And, in Michigan at least, if I don't vaccinate my daughter and she contracts pneumonia and dies, I will very likely be prosecuted for murder.  That is the way it works here.

Scary days are here folks and it takes lots of moxie and resolve to buck conventional wisdom.

Lucky for me, I've been ticking people off with my non-status quo mouth for years, so I'm used to it..


 
TiaIsWorried
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 5/2008
TiaIsWorried  
Replied

Reverend Alan
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 12/2007
Reverend Alan  
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

TailsWorried wrote:  ...there is no way that you can convince people to quit being sheep and become rational, logical thinkers.

ALAN: I agree, there is no way. This is why advertising goes for your emotions and fears or your vanity.

I always amazes me when a drug commercial comes on, how no one hears all the side affects and warnings about who should not use the drug. All they remember is that they will be happy and healthy playing with the grand kids. This is what they want, this is what makes them feel good. No wonder they do not hear the part about liver damage, kidney failure, headaches, dry mouth and blurred vision. And in some cases...


 
 
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

We are given the choice to take the flu shot or not. Threatening to sue is down right stupid. I am a nurse at a hospital and they try very hard to get me to take the flu shot. I have knowledge that many don't have due to Dr. Mercola and other intellegent people. I will not take the flu shot. That is my choice.


 
Jennifer Wise
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 1/2008
Jennifer Wise  
Replied

kittycat7
Novice User Novice User Joined On 12/2008
kittycat7  
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

Jennifer, I just started working at a nursing home and they told me flu shots were required. I told them that I didn't get vaccines and it was against my religious beliefs but they said I needed a doctor's note to get out of them. I live in Ohio and it's my understanding that privately owned businesses as well as hospitals can require flu shots, but if you know anything that can help me avoid the flu shot other than getting a different job I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!



nutritionpower
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 6/2006
nutritionpower  
 
Posted On Dec 09, 2008

I have a choice also as a health care professional. It is not stupid to sue. It is a useless vaccine with chemicals.  These are two well done studies in two respectable journals.   Why shouldn't the general public have the truth? Why aren't more doctors questioning why we even give these anyway? It doesnt' appear these studies make any difference at all in the promotion of flu shots.  I think that is so sad.  Why are they making it mandatory when it doesn't work? And it is mandatory for those kids. They make it very hard to get out of taking it for the parents.


 
 
 
 
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