Influenza, H1N1 vaccines no sure thing

Influenza, H1N1 vaccines no sure thing
By Greg Scott


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Share this article Published: Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2009



Greg Scott
We’ve all experienced it personally or know someone who has. You go to get your flu vaccine so you don’t get sick during the flu season, but then you get sick with a influenza-like illness days later.

As you are lying in bed, too sick to go to class or work, you wonder if the vaccine is the cause of your illness. You think to yourself, “maybe I shouldn’t have gotten that shot.”
Many of us who have experienced this have decided to never get another flu shot, but then came along the H1N1 strain. There is much hype surrounding H1N1, and we all have a personal responsibility and obligation to decide whether we should get the vaccine this fall.
Since I have worked in the animal health industry making viral vaccines for three years prior to coming to K-State, let me give you an inside glance into some of the components of this vaccine.

First there is a chemical called squalene, which is added to increase the effectiveness of the vaccine. In a 2003 study, the researcher R.T. Kenney evaluated the safety of squalene and found out that “all rats injected with squalene (oil) adjuvants developed a disease that left them crippled, dragging their paralyzed hindquarters across their cages.”
Another component in question is a chemical called thimerosal, which is a mercury-based preservative. Mercury has been known to be toxic for many centuries, causing muscle tremors, chest pain and difficulty breathing.

What do the vaccine manufacturers say about these compounds? Nothing specifically, but if you do an online search for “flu vaccine insert,” you will see that the vaccine company Novartis admits the vaccine can cause a disease called Guillian-Barré’s syndrome.
GBS is a disease where muscle weakness occurs, followed by paralysis and sometimes death. Sounds an awful lot like the rats described in the previously mentioned study. In 1976, there was a similar outbreak of a swine flu, and the response of the government was to get everyone vaccinated.

When all was said and done, more people died from GBS than the swine flu virus. The insert also admits that no proper studies have been performed to test the safety of the vaccine, and that pregnant women and children should not get the vaccine. This is the exact opposite from what the talking heads on FOX News and CNN tell us.

While it is a fact that vaccines have helped eradicate smallpox and virtually eliminate diseases like polio from the first and second worlds, we must still question what we choose to put into our bodies. We must look at the possible consequences of our actions and ask ourselves whether the benefits outweigh the potential side effects.

This is especially the case with this H1N1 strain, where we see that it is no more dangerous than the seasonal flu, causing mild symptoms or in some cases, no symptoms at all. So instead of getting a risky injection this fall, we could instead choose to take good care of our bodies.

We could get an adequate amount of sleep each night, take vitamin supplements (especially Vitamins D and E) and take immune system boosters like elderberry if we start to get sick (it has been shown to prevent the flu virus from infecting cells).

And for those of you who disagree with me, or simply still decide to get vaccinated, please understand the consequences first and don’t take the shot because your government told you to do so.



-Greg Scott is a graduate student in biology. His research is in the field of virology. Please send comments to opinion@spub.ksu.edu.

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