October 20, 2011. Every year citizens within the United States face the dilemma of whether or not to get vaccinated for the strain of influenza virus that is anticipated to be infecting the population through the fall-spring. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate an average of 32,000 people die each year from the flu or complications leading to pneumonia or worsening a chronic health issue such as congestive heart failure. Those most at risk for having complications from the flu according to the CDC are young children, pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions and people 65 and older.
However, there are tradeoffs. Pregnant women are more at risk for having an autistic child if they are immunized during pregancy. Children are more likely to develop autism if immunized for the flu before the age of 6, and the elderly are at increased risk for actually contracting the flu or having an adverse reaction to a vaccine and are also at increased risk of developing neuro-degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease). This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. We recommend you consult with a health care professional knowledgeable about the pros and cons of vaccines to make an informed choice based upon your health issues.
There are natural alternative approaches to supporting the body and immune system to support the body's immune system to enable the immune system to fight off infection and reduce severity of symptoms. There are now anti-viral prescription drugs that your physician can prescribe if you do develop symptoms of the flu. Autism Coach suplements that my family has successfully used to fight of colds and the flu are Olive Leaf Extract and Immunocillin.
Many versions of the standard flu vaccine still contain mercury in a preservative often called thimerisol. Children who receive mercury vaccines after they have been diagnosed within the autism spectrum often regress further after receiving additional doses of mercury. The current flu vaccine does not protect against the Bird Flu. If you are going to get a flu vaccine, ask for one that is mercury free. Less of this type has been made because thimerisol has been made partly because the manufacturing process currently takes longer and partly because mercury-free vaccines cost approximately twice as much to manufacture.
Then there is also the issue of the OTHER preservatives in the vaccines - primarily formaldehyde (used to embalm corpses) and aluminum. Aluminum is found in higher concentration in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and in the breasts of breast cancer patients.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration web site, "Vaccines with trace amounts of thimerosal can contain 1 microgram or less of mercury per dose." Vaccines with 1 microgram or less of mercury per dose are considered to be "thimerisol free." This web site also provides a table of vaccines and preservatives currently being used in them. In spite of the FDA's denial of a correlation between autism and vaccines containing mercury, it quietly began removing thimerisol from the majority of its vaccines.
However, there are OTHER preservatives in vaccines that may also be problematic. Formaldehyde and aluminum are still used as preservatives in virtually all vaccines. It is also uncertain whether or not immunizing for multiple diseases at one time (such as the DPT and MMR vaccines) may overtax a young child's immune system and lead to immune system dysfunction. Dr. Boyd Haley, head of the chemistry department for Kentucky University, has shown in experiments with nerve cells that mercury in combination with other contaminants such as aluminum are synergistically more toxic to nerve cells than mercury alone.
According to the CDC web site, "The majority of influenza vaccines distributed in the United States currently contain thimerosal as a preservative. However, some contain only trace amounts of thimerosal and are considered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be preservative-free. Manufacturers of preservative-free flu vaccine use thimerosal early in the manufacturing process. The thimerosal gets diluted as the vaccine goes through the steps in processing. By the end of the manufacturing process there is not enough thimerosal left in the vaccine to act as a preservative and the vaccine is labeled 'preservative-free'.
In my opinion, a pharmaceutical company's or medical practitioner's bottom line should not be the primary determinant of what quantity of safe vaccines are made available to the public or in allowing unsafe vaccines to continue to be made. The willingness of big business, big medicine and big government to allow the general population to be continued to be subjected to additives they know are harmful is criminal. The efforts of special interest groups to fund biased studies with skewed or falsified data which is then parroted by the mainstream media as "proving there is no link between immunizations and autism" is nothing more than a reflection of the insecurity of these major institutions. They are not only liable for causing this epidemic through over-vaccination with unsafe vaccines for profit, but are further compounding their crimes by continuing to allow children and adults to be harmed. During the 2004 election, President Bush made a campaign promise to remove the mercury from vaccines which he never carried out. If the government admits there is a link, they run the risk of being sued on behalf of the millions of children who are now autistic and families whose dreams have been shattered and lives have been blighted. For the majority of parents with children in the autism spectrum, who watched their childrens' normal development go off-course after receiving an immunization, there is no doubt that immunizations played a significant part in triggering their child's autism.
According to Hugh Fudenberg, MD, one of the world's leading immunogeneticists and 13th most quoted biologist of our times (nearly 850 papers in peer review journals), if an individual has 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 one, two or no shots. I asked Dr. Fudenberg why this was so and he said it was due to the mercury and aluminum that is in every flu shot (and most childhood shots). The gradual mercury and aluminum buildup in the brain causes cognitive dysfunction. Is that why Alzheimer's is expected to quadruple? Notes: Recorded from Dr. Fudenberg's speech at the NVIC International Vaccine Conference, Arlington, VA September, 1997. Quoted with permission. Alzheimer's to quadruple statement is from John's Hopkins Newsletter Nov 1998."
Five population studies now link Alzheimer's disease to aluminum in drinking water. As early as 1885, aluminum was shown to be toxic to the nervous tissues of animals. Aluminum can also produce a degeneration of the nervous tissues in cats and rabbits that resembles in some ways that seen in the brains of human patients with Alzheimer's disease. Patients with diseased kidneys accumulate large amounts of aluminum in their bodies from medications and from kidney-machine solutions that have been used until recently. This accumulation results in a severe mental deterioration. For more information on aluminum toxicity, please click here.
Here is information from the CDC on how flu is spread and when it is contagious.