Several years ago a post from a nurse promoting the flu vaccine as a rebuttal to a wellness coach informing her followers of the vaccine’s risks went viral with some less than accurate information. Being the education focused nurse that I am, I decided to address the inaccurate statements and provide the evidence as to why these things were false and give people all the information so they could make a truly informed decision. Below you will find the nurse’s claims followed by my explanation of the actual facts, which are then evidenced at the bottom of this page in various linked sources.
The Claim: You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine. Ever. No matter what anyone’s told you. You CAN get an immune response such as low grade fever, mild inflammation, or local redness and swelling. This is GOOD. It means your body is fighting the inactivated virus it’s been exposed to and it will build immune cells specific to fighting that virus if it ever sees it again….. hence the entire premise behind getting vaccinated. It takes your body about two weeks to build fighter cells and for the vaccine to reach its maximum protectiveness. If you get sick within a week or two of receiving the vaccine, then you were exposed to influenza and hadn’t yet received protection from your vaccine. Crappy timing. Period.
FACT: “Flu-like” symptoms occur from a multitude of pathogens. Flu-like symptoms include: fever, muscle aches, fatigue, chills. Hmm, sounds just like the symptoms this nurse concedes can be caused by the flu jab. When presenting to the doctor with flu-like symptoms you may be diagnosed with the flu WITHOUT a positive test. This is common. The concern is not usually the laboratory results of the pathogen being confirmed as “influenza” as much as it is about the actual presentation of symptoms. There are many strains of influenza, of which only a few are included in each years available vaccines. So even if you believe the vaccine was protective, acknowledgement should be given to the fact that there are many strains unaccounted for in these products. And from this nurse’s perspective it is even evidenced that the vaccine can cause an immune response reflective of illness, thus making one more susceptible to other pathogens, such as the other strains of influenza not included in that year’s vaccines. Bottom line, the vaccine can cause flu-like symptoms and make one more susceptible to other illness.
Claim: The vaccine does NOT cause strokes, auto-immune diseases, or severe allergic reactions. There is a very small percentage of people who’s bodies do not react normally and therefore those people should not receive the vaccine. Let me put it this way; I swell up like Violet in the Willy Wonka factory if I eat avocado. I think we can all agree that avocados aren’t dangerous, my body is the problem, not the food. Likewise, the vaccine is safe but like all things (even avocados) it can be dangerous for certain people. I cannot stress enough how rare this is, even though literally every online guru with a degree in alternative wellness claims to know someone it’s happened to.
FACT: Vaccine Adverse Reactions are very real and include autoimmune disorders, stroke, encephalitis, Guillain Barre Syndrome, paralysis, allergies, cardiac disorders, respiratory illnesses, and DEATH, just to list a few. The body reacts poorly to being injected with poison, it’s simply a matter of whether you exhibit outward/immediate signs or not. The health of the immune system and genetic predisposition correlates to how capable the body is of handling the toxins and immune stimulation from a vaccine. And since food allergy was mentioned, let’s dig into that. If we can concede that a portion of the population suffers allergic reactions/sensitivities to food, drugs, and environmental exposures, can we not also understand that vaccines (which contain viral/bacterial components, heavy metal adjuvants, antibiotics, human and animal blood and tissue components, and various other contaminants) can also cause those sensitive to any of the ingredients to have an adverse reaction? How would this nurse feel if all the nurses who aren’t allergic to avocados insisted that despite the risks for her she should consume the avocado anyways because of it’s health benefits and the fact that only a “very small percentage of people” who have a reaction?
Claim: If you’re healthy, good for you. No, seriously, good for you. You have the luxury of deciding whether or not you want to get poked. If you get the flu, you’ll miss a couple days of school, maybe a week off of work and then you’ll return to your life. That’s not the case for many people in our community. When healthy people vaccinate, we protect the newborns and the grandparents and the chemo patients and the ones who truly cannot receive the vaccine. It’s called herd immunity, and it’s the cornerstone of a healthy society.
FACT: If you’re making choices in life to maintain health and wellness KUDOS! I applaud you for taking the initiative to be intentional with your health. Do not let anyone like this nurse demean your efforts and accomplishments by dismissing your thoughtful choices as if they are just the luck of the draw. Most of the “healthy” people I know didn’t become healthy by accident. In fact, many subscribed to the very ideas this nurse promotes at the expense of their wellness and ultimately realized they were just staying sick or getting sicker. Once they disengaged from that approach they began to find true health. Injecting pathogens, toxins, and biological components from humans and animals, will impact your body negatively regardless of whether or not you witness immediate symptoms of the damage. Herd immunity is based on NATURALLY ACQUIRED infection. Healthy people do not spread disease. In fact, vaccinated people spread far more infections due to suppression of symptoms from the vaccine. While the vaccine may make the recipient exhibit less severe symptoms of the infection, this can lead to a false sense of “wellness” and the contagious individual continues to subject others because they “feel fine” and still go on about their normal life exposing those around them. There are infinite infectious pathogens in this world, INFINITE. The susceptible population is no more at risk of contracting the flu from a healthy human than they are of contracting leprosy from them. The best thing to do to avoid falling ill is to support your immune system, avoid exposure, limit stress, get adequate rest, and proper nutritional consumption.
Claim: You did not get the “stomach flu” from the influenza vaccine. The stomach virus commonly called the “stomach flu” is not a flu at all. Stomach viruses are commonly caused by novovirus or norovirus , not influenza. If you have symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea with a fever right after receiving the flu vaccine you are the unfortunate recipient of a sad coincidence. This sad coincidence is not uncommon since peak seasons of these virus’ activity overlap. I know you don’t want that to be true, but, science. In that same vein, if you get “the stomach flu” on a year you’ve received the influenza vaccine, your vaccine did not fail. The vaccine you received does not protect against stomach virus. Stay tuned though, vaccines for these viruses are all but guaranteed to be common in the coming years!
FACT: Gastrointestinal issues are one of the most common adverse reactions to vaccines. The gut is directly linked to your immune system. GI distress is a sign that your body is trying to eliminate the toxins you’ve exposed it to. The inflammation occurs as a direct result of the vaccine. And this nurse is right, they are working on about 300+ vaccines for everything from stomach bugs to stress to acne and everything in between. Why wouldn’t they? It’s a liability free industry with next to no regulation and endless profit opportunity
Claim: The drug companies and the CDC and all doctors and all nurses and everyone ever who advocated for vaccination are all paid by and/or brainwashed by big pharma to sell these vaccines by convincing others. Yeah… just no. I’ve never received a check or any other compensation from anyone to advocate for vaccinations of any kind. I don’t know a single person in the medical field (and I know a lot) who has ever received a bribe. I’m just about the most cynical, skeptical human out there and I require a lot of research & data to formulate my opinions, again, most of my colleagues are no different. If I really wanted to look out for number 1 (me) wouldn’t I try to drum up business at my ER by convincing others NOT to get the flu shots? Wouldn’t I WANT people to become sick so that I had job security?? $$ think about it people. This rationale is just ass backwards. I advocate for vaccines because I’ve held a newborn with fever while the doctor does a lumbar puncture. Because I’ve put a grandfather on a ventilator who couldn’t breathe and because I’ve put the final drape over a mother of 3’s face after she beat breast cancer but died of the flu. I did all of this knowing full well that it was preventable. We had the ability to save those people as a society and we failed because of the Lindseys in this world that prey on people’s poor understanding and fear.
FACT: When you take a step back and look at the big picture, yes Beth, you are getting paid to promote vaccines. You are getting compensated to perpetuate the marketing slogans you’ve been taught by the industry in order to maintain/increase their profit. As Beth said, keeping people sick makes the industry more profitable. She may not see what she is doing for what it is, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Promoting liability free products that have documented health risks as if they should be blindly consumed simply because an industry tells you to is ASS BACKWARDS. Assuming you have all the information about a topic because you work in the field is ASS BACKWARDS. Dismissing the risks of medical procedures based on your own personal experience with the procedure is ASS BACKWARDS. Stop using fear and emotion to push an agenda, we’ve all had patients pass, we’ve all had difficult cases that tugged on our hearts. The bottom line is we should be encouraging HEALTHY LIFESTYLES, PROPER NUTRITION, DAILY EXERCISE, MINDSET FOCUS, VITALITY driven healthcare. Lindsey wasn’t trying to scare anyone, she was empowering them with facts so they could make a choice and feel LESS FEARFUL of naturally occurring pathogens that we live amongst all day, every day.
This nurse wanted to know who you’re going to trust, her or the “anti-vaxxers”? I’m saying, TRUST YOUR DAMN SELF! Read, research, study, and then make an informed decision on your own accord.
Sources:
Afluria vaccine insert:https://www.fda.gov/…/ApprovedProducts/UCM263239.pdf
Fluvirin vaccine insert: https://labeling.seqirus.com/…/Fluvirin-Prescribing…
Fluzone vaccine insert:https://www.fda.gov/media/99172/download
Fluarix vaccine insert:https://www.fda.gov/…/ApprovedProducts/UCM335392.pdf
FluMist vaccine insert: https://www.azpicentral.com/flumi…/flumistquadrivalent.pdf
Stroke following influenza vaccination: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3258725/ https://journals.sagepub.com/…/10.1177/201010581202100413
Autoimmunity post-influenza vaccination: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/…/0e4c485b1a80b196139c… https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22235046
Guillain-Barré syndrome after vaccinationhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19730016 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17560693
We could not correlate increasing vaccination coverage after 1980 with declining mortality rates in any age group. Because fewer than 10% of all winter deaths were attributable to influenza in any season, we conclude that observational studies substantially overestimate [flu] vaccination benefit. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15710788
MSG neurotoxicity: https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/abs/pii/S018844091400263X
Mercury (thimerosal) neurotoxicity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/12773768/https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/abs/pii/S0161813X04001147
Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury–a Known Neurotoxin–from Vaccineshttps://www.amazon.com/Thimerosal-Evidence…/dp/1634504429
NASAL DELIVERY – A Promising Route of Drug Delivery to the Brain: Scientific Considerationshttps://drug-dev.com/nasal-delivery-a-promising-route-of…/
VICP settlements: https://www.myvaccinelawyer.com/about-us/notable-settlements
VAERS Data: https://vaers.hhs.gov/data.htmlLess than 1% of vaccine adverse events are reported to VAERS: https://healthit.ahrq.gov/…/r18hs017045-lazarus-final…
Flu vaccine 20% effective: https://www.sciencedaily.com/rel…/2018/04/180419131015.htm
Flu vaccine 29% effective: https://www.webmd.com/…/last-flu-seasons-vaccine-only…
Vaccine Failure: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4962729/
Influenza virus accounts for only 7% of diagnosed “flu” cases in the US: https://web.archive.org/…/clini…/x/mce/file/05-10-09.pdf
PNAS study finds that people who receive flu shots emit 630% more flu virus particles into the air, compared to non-vaccinated individuals:http://www.pnas.org/content/115/5/1081
Increased risk of noninfluenza respiratory virus infections associated with receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22423139/…
Vaccine market is projected to be $59 Billion by the year 2020:https://www.statista.com/…/revenues-in-the-global…/
Industry & CDC corruption and fraud: https://www.facebook.com/100000349373954/posts/2459727907382164?sfns=mo
CDC Members own more than 50 vaccine patents: https://www.lawfirms.com/…/cdc-members-own-more-50…
CDC Patent on Flu vaccine: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6169175
CDC Vaccine Price List: https://www.cdc.gov/…/vaccine…/price-list/index.html
CDC twists the statistics about flu deaths to scare people into getting vaccinated: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/…/death-by-influenza_b…
CDC invites media to use fear tactics to increase flu vaccine uptake: https://bit.ly/2MCcmfVPay for performance program for providers: http://www.chcs.org/media/BGILBERT.pdf
2017 Blue Cross Blue Shield Performance Recognition Program (page 6): https://thephysicianalliance.org/…/2017_BCN_BCBSM…
Oh, and since the industry has decided to start recommending unproven medical interventions for pregnant women, here is a study indicating the increased risk of miscarriage associated with influenza vaccination:https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/pii/S0264410X17308666
