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Avoid Flu Shots, Take Vitamin D Instead by Donald W. Miller, JR., MD
Avoid Flu Shots, Take Vitamin D Instead by Donald W. Miller, JR., MD
, MD
DIGG THIS
Another influenza
season is
beginning in the
northern
temperate zone,
and our
government’s
Center for
Disease Control
and Prevention
(CDC) will
strongly urge
Americans to get
a flu shot. Health
officials will say
that every winter
5–20 percent of
the population
catches the flu,
200,000 people
are hospitalized,
Almost all the ACIP members who make these recommendations have
financial ties to the vaccine industry. The CDC therefore must grant each
member a conflict-of-interest waiver.
The New York Times had an article in the September 2, 2008 issue titled
"Doubts Grow Over Flu Vaccine in Elderly," which says, "The influenza
vaccine, which has been strongly recommended for people over 65 for more
than four decades, is losing its reputation as an effective way to ward off the
virus in the elderly. A growing number of immunologists and
epidemiologists say the vaccine probably does not work very well for people
over 70, the group that accounts for three-fourths of all flu deaths." The
article refers to a study done by the Group Health Center for Health Studies
The National Vital Statistics Reports compiled by the CDC show that only
1,138 deaths a year occur due to influenza alone (257 in 2001, 727 in 2002,
1,792 in 2003, 1,100 in 2004, and 1,812 in 2005). Bacterial pneumonia
causes some 60,000 deaths each year, mainly in the winter, when
surveillance data show increased prevalence of the flu virus. Using a
mathematical (Poisson) regression model, officials estimate that the flu virus
triggers some of the winter-time deaths from pneumonia, along with deaths
in people with cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses. More than
34,000 of those "36,000" flu deaths are what officials estimate are "influenza-
associated" pneumonic and cardiovascular deaths.
The Group Health study reported in the New York Times and other
newspapers around the country found that flu shots do not protect elderly
people against developing pneumonia. Pneumonia occurs with equal
frequency in people over age 65 with or without a flu shot. Earlier studies,
biased by the "healthy user effect," over-estimated the vaccine’s effect on
pneumonia because they did not adjust for the presence and severity of other
diseases in unvaccinated people. As the Group Health authors point out,
"The study found that people who were healthy and conscientious about
staying well were the most likely to get an annual flu shot. Those who are
frail may have trouble bathing or dressing on their own and are less likely to
get to their doctor’s office or a clinic to receive the vaccine. They are also
more likely to be closer to death." Other investigators question that there is a
mortality benefit with influenza vaccination. Vaccination coverage among
the elderly increased from 15% in 1980 to 65% now, but there has been no
decrease in deaths from influenza and pneumonia (Am J Respir Crit Care
Med 2008;178:527–33). As one vaccine researcher puts it, "I think the
evidence base [for mortality benefits from flu shots] we have leaned on is
not valid" (Lancet Infect Dis 2007;7:658–66).
There is also a lack of evidence that young children benefit from flu shots. 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 (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;1:CD004879).
Randomized controlled trials are the most reliable way to determine the
efficacy – and safety – of a given treatment. No randomized trials show that
flu shots reduce mortality from influenza or flu-related pneumonia. Some do
After officials select the three strains of flu virus that they think are most
likely to be circulating during the next winter season (they picked the wrong
ones last year), vaccine makers grow the viruses in fertilized chicken eggs,
with 500,000 eggs per day (each examined by hand) for up to eight months.
Formaldehyde is used to inactivate the virus. It is a known cancer-causing
agent. Aluminum is added to promote an antibody response. It is a
neurotoxin that may play a role in Alzheimer’s disease. Other additives and
adjuvants in the flu vaccine include Triton X-100 (a detergent), Polysorbate
80, carbolic acid, ethylene glycol (antifreeze), gelatin, and various
antibiotics – neomycin, streptomycin, and gentamicin – that can cause
allergic reactions in some people.
Two-thirds of the vaccines made for the 2008–09 flu season, 100 million of
them, contain full-dose thimerosal, an organomercury compound, which is
49% mercury by weight. (An unidentified number of the other 50 million
vaccines contain either "no" or "trace" amounts of thimerosal.) It is used to
disinfect the vaccine. Each one of these 100 million flu shots contain 25
There is some evidence that flu shots cause Alzheimer’s disease. This most
likely is a result of combining mercury with aluminum and formaldehyde,
which renders them much more toxic together through a synergistic effect
than each would be alone. One investigator has reported that people who
received the flu vaccine each year for 3 to 5 years had a ten-fold greater
chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease than people who did not have any
flu shots (Int J Clin Invest 2005;1:1–4). (The brains of people with
Alzheimer’s disease display three pathologic hallmarks: neurofibillary
tangles, amyloid plaques, and phosphorylation of tau protein. Brain cells
grown in test tubes develop these changes when exposed to nanomolar doses
of mercury, doses similar to the amount of mercury a person gets from a flu
shot.)
Three serious, acknowledged adverse reactions to the flu vaccine are joint
inflammation and arthritis, anaphylactic shock (and other life-threatening
allergic reactions), and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Guillain-Barré syndrome
(GBS) is a paralytic autoimmune disease that fells people several weeks
after their flu shot. One woman with post-vaccination GBS writes:
Another:
"I have a friend, now in a wheelchair, who took the flu shot,
got Guillain-Barré and now cannot walk."
Another woman, diagnosed with GBS after a flu shot, spent 16 months in the
hospital paralyzed on a ventilator and life support. After several subsequent
multi-month hospitalizations she writes:
The package inserts that come with the flu vaccine note that GBS is a
potential complication. There are 1 to 2 cases of GBS per 1 million
vaccinated persons. (There were 10 times that many cases of GBS in 1976
with the flu vaccine used that year). Taking a flu shot is essentially the same
as buying a lottery ticket for acquiring Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Flu virus exists in people year-round, and new strains seed a population
during the "off-season." In the northern and southern temperate zones, flu
epidemics occur in the cold part of the year, October–March and April–
September respectively. Flu epidemics occur in the tropics during the rainy
season.
Explanations for why flu epidemics occur in the winter when it is cold –
people being indoors in close contact, drier air dehydrating mucus and
preventing the body from expelling virus particles, the virus lingering longer
on exposed surfaces, like doorknobs, with colder temperatures – do not
explain why flu epidemics occur in the tropics.
Something that can explain why flu epidemics also occur both in warm and
cold climates is this: During a flu epidemic, wherever it may be, the
atmosphere blocks ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation from the Sun. In the
temperate zones above latitude 35 degrees North and South, the sun is at a
low enough angle in the winter that the ozone layer in the atmosphere
absorbs and blocks the short-wavelength (280–315 nanometers) UVB rays.
In the tropics during the wet season, thick rain clouds block UVB rays.
make this amount). Human breast milk does not contain vitamin D, since,
from an evolutionary standpoint, our African ancestors’ infants, reared near
the equator, could readily synthesize this gene regulator from sunlight in
their skin. Food contains very little vitamin D. (The highest concentrations
are in wild salmon, mackerel, sardines, and cod liver oil.) Federal
regulations now require that some foods, like milk, be fortified with vitamin
D. But one would have to drink 200 glasses of milk to obtain the amount of
vitamin D a light-skinned person can make in 20 minutes sunbathing.
Taking vitamin D in these doses is safe, far safer than a flu shot with all the
bad chemicals it contains. Concerns about vitamin D toxicity are overblown.
One can take a 10,000 IU vitamin D supplement on a daily basis without any
adverse effects. In healthy persons, long-term consumption of more than
40,000 IU a day is necessary to cause an elevation in the blood calcium level
(hypercalcemia), the first manifestation of vitamin D toxicity (Am J Clin
Nutr 2006;84:694–97). Check your vitamin D (25-hydroxy D) blood level.
People with granulomatous diseases like sarcoidosis should also check their
blood level of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, the active form.
Can a shot (or tablets) of vitamin D prevent influenza better than a flu shot?
There is good reason to believe that it can.
Notes
October 3, 2008