Get a Flu Shot or Else!

 
 
I can always tell we are entering flu season because we are bombarded with flu vaccine commercials. Actors posing as healthcare professionals reminding us that we can stop in our local drugstore and within minutes be protected by this seasons flu. But wait…not so fast. How do these “experts” know exactly which flu strain they are protecting us from? Since 2009, the H1N1 vaccine has been in all the vaccines. Remember when the media was alerting the public that H1N1 virus could turn into a major pandemic? The Pharmaceutical company rolled out that vaccine pretty quick and convinced our so-called representatives to give them immunity to any lawsuits that may arise from serious side effects. How convenient is that? Let’s see….make a pandemic vaccine that hasn’t been tested longterm and make sure that no matter what, they don’t get sued. That sounds like some good lobbying to me.
 
 
There was a recent story in the news that a healthcare provider threatened to fire employees that refused to get a flu shot. Wait. What? What happened to a person’s right to privacy, especially when it comes to their body? Forced vaccinations? This can’t be legal or can it? It seems that those of us who live in states with “at will” employment can be fired for almost any reason and refusing to get a flu shot can be one of them. It really isn’t forced because the employee has the option to work somewhere else. There are some exceptions though like religious reasons, or allergies to eggs, but what if that person just doesn’t want one?
 
California Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) introduced SB 1318, requiring all hospitals and clinics in California beginning in 2015 to adopt a mandatory vaccination policy for any facility that fails to achieve a 90 percent vaccination rate or better. It will be voted on November 20th.
 
 
Ok, I get it…healthcare professionals are around sick people all day long and the last thing these patients need is some sick nurse coughing all over them, but how effective is the flu shot really? How do vaccine makers know which strain will be the one to make us sick? Germs mutate all the time, and remember the swine flu scare (all those poor piggies were slaughtered because some health Czar thought they would destroy mankind) And don’t forget the “Bird Flu”. There were endless media reports of people getting sick. But seriously…a pandemic? Hardly. A money maker for the Pharmaceutical companies? Probably. Lets be honest here, Big Pharma spends millions every year lobbying our Representatives and they are very good at Fear Mongering.
 
 
I decided to do some digging to see if I could find out who is really behind this mandatory flu vaccine idea, in other words…”follow the money”. First, I wanted to find out how many people died last year in the United States from influenza and according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC)…they don’t know. Huh? Isn’t it their job to know? Well, it seems it isn’ that simple. This is their official statement on their website:
 
 
” First, states are not required to report individual seasonal flu cases or deaths of people older than 18 years of age to CDC. Second, seasonal influenza is infrequently listed on death certificates of people who die from flu-related complications. Third, many seasonal flu-related deaths occur one or two weeks after a person’s initial infection, either because the person may develop a secondary bacterial co-infection (such as bacterial pneumonia) or because seasonal influenza can aggravate an existing chronic illness (such as congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Also, most people who die from seasonal flu-related complications are not tested for flu, or they seek medical care later in their illness when seasonal influenza can no longer be detected from respiratory samples.”
 
 
So the CDC only gives estimates and not yearly ones because the flu is unpredictable. Some years there are more deaths and some years alot less, depending on the strain. They came up with their estimate by monitoring weekly influenza virus information, to estimate how many flu-related deaths occurred among people whose underlying cause of death was listed as respiratory or circulatory disease on their death certificate. Then they took an average over a 23 year period and came up with 36,000 a year. That sounds a bit high to me.
 
 
So who decides what flu strain will be the big one? Who sits on the Flu Vaccine Committee? The World Health Organization (WHO) decides what vaccines get approved and once again there seems to be a conflict of interest between big business and our government. The former CDC Director, Julie Gerberding is now President of Merck. Gerberding left a trail of controversy behind her when she left the CDC. An article written in 2009 named her as part of a “misinformation” campaign about the looming H1N1 flu pandemic and the urgent need to get everyone vaccinated, even though it was untested.
 
In 2010 Professor Ulrich Keil, director of WHO’s Collaborating Centre for Epidemiology testified at The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He claimed that the swine flu pandemic was part of an overblown “angst campaign”, created by major drug companies to boost profits.
 
 
Nurses in Virginia recently won an arbitration decision against  Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC)  requiring mandatory flu vaccinations.  The arbitrator’s decision found that the employer violated the terms of the collective bargaining agreement by implementing this policy.
 
 
A recent study done by The Cochrane Collaboration, a group of internationally recognised volunteers known for giving high quality information about the effectiveness of health care, found that Influenza vaccines produce no benefit and may actually cause serious harm. The report included 40 clinical trial studies of more than 70,000 people. Four percent who weren’t vaccinated got the flu. One percent of vaccinated people got it. That’s a difference of only 3 percent. The authors stated that the only ones showing any benefit were also industry-funded. So if the only ones who think vaccines are great are the ones who make them then why is there legislation in the works to make healthcare employees get flu vaccinations? Sounds very 1984 to me!
 
I have never received a flu shot and have no intention of getting one…ever. I don’t work in the healthcare industry but whose to say this mandatory vaccination won’t catch on to include any jobs that have public contact? We have a healthcare mandate that could open the doors to future mandates that concern public health. This last election got enough votes to require those who work in the porn industry within Los Angeles county to wear condoms. Do people really think only those who work in the sex industry are at a higher risk of getting AIDS than the general public? That’s pretty naive.
 
 
I believe strongly in the right to privacy and the right to decide for myself what I injest in my body, not what someone in Sacramento or Washington D.C. thinks is best for me, especially when big business is helping them write the rules.
 
 
 


About Inge

Cancer survivor. Healthy organic food coach. Public speaker. If you have a story you want told, contact me at iscott.orangejuiceblog@gmail.com/