According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); 75% of children who died from flu related symptoms last year, had not received the flu vaccine. While 75% of children may have not received the Flu Vaccine, that still means 25% of the children who died had actually been vaccinated against the flu.
The CDC claims that the vaccine in essential in helping to prevent children from getting the flu in a statement made to ABC News:
“The influenza vaccine prevents the flu,” said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the CDC. “And if someone does come down with the flu, the vaccine can help avoid serious complications.”
While we cannot discount that the flu vaccine does indeed help prevent children from getting sick with the disease; we find it important to realize that just because one is vaccinated, that does not mean that you still cannot get sick or die from influenza. Quite the opposite is true when you look at the otherwise healthy people that have died from the flu who did receive the vaccine. When 25% of deaths still received an injection to prevent the disease, this should cause concern to doctors and the agencies that are pushing for everyone to get vaccinated.
The pharmaceutical industry as well as the CDC pushes their campaign earlier every year in an attempt to get everyone vaccinates against an ever changing and ever evolving disease. There are several types and multiple strains of each type of influenza, which makes it difficult to create a singular vaccine. Each year presents a new challenge to those creating the vaccine to try and adjust for the evolution in current strains. All of the work they do often comes with results that may help many people, but also lets some slip through the cracks.
We also have to remember that the flu vaccine does contain the three major strands of influenza. While most people do not get the flu after being vaccinated, there are several cases each year where people end up getting sick after receiving the vaccine. The CDC claims that individuals cannot get sick from receiving the vaccine as the strands of influenza are ‘inactive,’ however unlikely that may be, it still does happen. Anytime you inject a virus into someone’s body, there is always the small chance they that can acquire the disease. Would you want the CDC to create an HIV vaccine that contained HIV? Imagine what would happen in the cases where individuals still might get sick. While influenza is nothing like HIV, it’s still a disease that can pose a serious threat to those who are susceptible to getting extremely sick from the virus.
We’re not here to discourage anyone from getting the influenza vaccine. We simply want people to realize that not everything is as simple as the CDC and other agencies make it out to be. While agencies and doctors push people to get vaccinated, it’s been reported that up to 60% of doctors and nurses do not get vaccinated from influenza. So on one hand you have the flu shot being thrown in your face, and on the other doctors are not taking their own advice. If the majority of health care workers are not getting vaccinated this should be a concern to the public on many different fronts. The main one being to ask why they aren’t getting vaccinated, the other being are you safe around your doctor who is not vaccinated? These questions are important and while the media will point them out from time to time, even they go on an annual campaign to push everyone to get vaccinated early.
We recommend anyone that has underlying health conditions to get vaccinated as the vaccine has proven to help people that cannot afford to get sick. On the other hand, we leave it up to personal preference or choice if you are a healthy individual who otherwise has no health complications. In a world where we push vaccines on the healthiest of people, it needs to be a conscious decision between you and your doctor on whether or not you receive the flu vaccine. Do a little research and see if it’s right for you. Don’t just run to your neighborhood drug store pharmacy to get a shot without knowing all of the facts first. Knowledge is key in an ever changing health care industry.