Will you have the flu vaccine?
Author: Professor Joyce Harper
My twins had a flu vaccine at school this week. For children, they use a nasal spray and for adults they use an injection. In the UK, adults at risk are given the flu jab for free, including those over age 65 years, pregnant women, those with certain medical conditions or those who are very overweight. In the USA the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older get the annual flu vaccine,” says Joseph Bresee, MD, chief of the Epidemiology Prevention Branch at the CDC’s Influenza Division.
In most people flu will only result in mild side effects such as soreness at the injection site or a mild fever but in vulnerable people it can cause severe illness such as bronchitis and pneumonia and even death. Rarely someone can get an allergic reaction. You do not get flu from the flu vaccine as the viruses that are used to make the vaccine are dead.
Millions of people worldwide will have the flu vaccine. A new flu vaccine is made each year as the flu virus is constantly changing. “Since the flu virus frequently drifts in its genetic composition, you have to reformate the vaccine, and this is one of the reason that people have to [get a flu shot] on an annual basis,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a preventive medicine and infectious disease expert at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
But there is a lot of controversy around the flu vaccine.
The main issue is that many feel that it has very little benefit, mainly due to the complex and evolving nature of the flu virus. Apparently last years vaccine was only 18% effective in the USA and 3% effective in the UK.
If we continuously vaccinate ourselves, we may be preventing our body from learning how to naturally fight off viruses and bacteria.
We do not know the long term effects of any type of vaccination. I personally would be against vaccinating a pregnant woman as we have no idea what effect this would have on the baby.
There are rumours that flu vaccines contain mercury-containing (Thimerosal) preservatives, and other bioactive and potentially toxic ingredients that have not been fully evaluated.
How do you feel about the flu vaccine? Will you have it?
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Image credit – NHS
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