For healthy adults, the results were similar. A total of 25 studies were reviewed that included more than 60,000 study participants. Again, The Cochrane Group found that vaccination reduced risk of influenza by a meager 6% and reduced the number of days missed from work by less than one (0.16) day. Researchers concluded, “Universal immunization of healthy adults was not supported by the results of this review.”
For the elderly population, the prime target group for flu shots, The Cochrane Group reviewed 64 studies and chided that, “The runaway 100% effectiveness that's touted by proponents [of the flu shot] was nowhere to be seen…What you see is that marketing rules the response to influenza, and scientific evidence comes fourth or fifth.”
A new study, soon to be released in the prestigious medical journal, Vaccine, resulted in the same conclusion. The study was undertaken to determine whether the incidence of influenza had decreased in Ontario, Canada following the introduction of the Universal Influenza Immunization Campaign (UIIC) in 2000. All laboratory-confirmed influenza cases—diagnosed between January 1990 and August 2005—were analyzed. It was determined that, “…despite intensified vaccination distribution and the increased financial resources used to promote vaccination,” the incidence of influenza had not been decreased by the national flu shot campaign.
Well, that’s not saying much for the flu vaccine, is it?
Alzheimer’s from Flu Vaccines?
Worse yet, according to Dr. Tenpenny, more than one prominent researcher has linked flu vaccines to Alzheimer’s disease. Hugh Fudenberg, MD, an immunogeneticist and biologist with nearly 850 papers published in peer review journals, has reported that “if an individual had five consecutive flu shots between 1970 and 1980 (the years studied), his/her chances of getting Alzheimer's Disease is ten times higher than if they had zero, one, or two shots."
Whoa! That sounds pretty serious to me.
What’s more, it turns out that Dr. Boyd Haley, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, who has done extensive research in the area of mercury toxicity and the brain, has established a likely connection between toxic mercury (such as that found in flu vaccines) and Alzheimer’s disease. In a paper published in collaboration with researchers at University of Calgary, Haley stated that “seven of the characteristic markers that we look for to distinguish Alzheimer's disease can be produced in normal brain tissues, or cultures of neurons, by the addition of extremely low levels of mercury.”
Well, that’s enough for me. I’ve never taken the flu vaccine, and I never will.
Stubborn, Yes. Stupid, No.
Now I have to admit, I’m stubborn about it. I’d rather get sick for a week to 10 days with the flu, than risk Alzheimer’s disease eight or ten years down the road from a vaccine that doesn't appear to work anyway, based upon the available data. Now I don't expect everyone else to feel thhe same way about it. It's the difference of opinion that makes horse races, as they say. And everyone has to take care of themselves the best way they know how.
And to be perfectly honest with you, I used to come down with the flu just about every year. But ever since my wife and I started taking colloidal silver some 14 years ago, we have had very few full-blown incidences of the flu. We’ve pretty much avoided it completely over the last three or four years (i.e., ever since the new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator was developed). And even before then we noticed that our bouts with the flu were far less frequent than in the past, and were of shorter duration and lower intensity than ever before.
In my most recent round of interviews with regular users of colloidal silver while updating The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual from 252-pages to over 540-pages, I continued to hear the same thing from just about everyone I interviewed.
As 90-year old Bea Riley told me, “Steve, I haven’t even had a cold since 1998 when I purchased my first colloidal silver generator and began using colloidal silver. Every time I feel one coming on, I just start taking a few ounces a day, and it never seems to get past the sniffles stage.”
Bea’s story is pretty much typical. Regular colloidal silver users report less frequent colds and flu. And when they do get sick, the duration is generally shorter than usual, and the intensity less than what they’ve experienced in the past.
Some people say it’s stupid not to take the flu vaccine. But based on my own personal experience, and what I’ve heard from over 2,000 experienced colloidal silver users over the past 14 years, I’d say it’s stupid not to use colloidal silver instead.
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CDC says 2007-2008 worst flu season in 3 years; vaccine didn't work well
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080417/D903NHD81.html
Apr 17, 12:17 PM (ET)
By MIKE STOBBE
ATLANTA (AP) - This year's flu season has shaped up to be the worst in three years, partly because the vaccine didn't work well against the viruses that made most people sick, health officials said Thursday.
The 2007-2008 season started slowly, peaked in mid-February and seems to be declining, although cases are still being reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Based on adult deaths from flu and pneumonia, this season is the worst since 2003-2004 - another time when the vaccine did not include the exact flu strain responsible for most illnesses.
Each year, health officials - making essentially an educated guess - formulate a vaccine against three viruses they think will be circulating. They guess well most of the time, and the vaccine is often between 70 and 90 percent effective.
But this year, two of the three strains were not good matches and the vaccine was only 44 percent effective, according to a study done in Marshfield, Wis.
The CDC compares flu season by looking at adult deaths from the flu or pneumonia in 122 cities. This year, those deaths peaked at 9 percent of all reported deaths in early March, and remained above an epidemic threshold for 13 consecutive weeks. In 2003-2004, they peaked at more than 10 percent of all deaths, and surpassed the epidemic threshold for nine weeks.
"Our season is not quite as high but is lasting a little longer," said Dr. Dan Jernigan, deputy director of the CDC's influenza division.
Pediatric deaths are another way flu seasons are compared. So far this year, 66 children died, including 46 who were not vaccinated. In 2003-2004, 153 children died.
This year, the CDC started working with the Marshfield Clinic in central Wisconsin to get a better gauge of vaccine effectiveness while a flu season was in progress. Almost the entire population gets health care at the clinic, which has complete vaccination and electronic medical records.
This year, a Type A H3N2 Brisbane strain not in the vaccine has been responsible for most of the illnesses. A Type B Florida strain, also absent from the vaccine, has also been causing illness. Marshfield data showed that the vaccine didn't work at all against the Type B virus, and was 58 percent effective against the Brisbane virus.
Jernigan acknowledged that some people may lose faith in the flu vaccine and skip it next year. But he noted even this year, when the vaccine was not a good match, the vaccine still offered 44 percent protection overall.
The Marshfield study and a flu season update are being published this week in a CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Colloidal Silver v/s the Flu Vaccine
