Gary Null, PhD and Nancy Ashley, VMD, MS - FLU VACCINE: THE COVER-UP – THE FRAUD
April 25, 2013 The CDC is celebrating its annual Influenza Vaccination Week which runs from December 4th through the 10th.1 There will be a media onslaught as they try to persuade us that we will be in dire straights if we don’t get the flu vaccine. All of the regulatory bodies and the opinion leaders, the CDC, the FDA, the Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, the AMA, the American Academy of Pediatrics and all the health care providers would have us believe that flu is a serious illness that can only be prevented by annual vaccination of everyone from 6 months of age on up. They try to persuade us by showing celebrities like Anderson Cooper getting a vaccine on coast-to-coast TV under the watchful gaze of Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Or they try to instill us with fear: flu is unpredictable, it can be severe, it can kill -- and there might not be enough vaccine for everyone! What if there is a pandemic? Should we be worried? Should we get the vaccine to protect our friends and loved ones? Maybe not. Let’s take a look at some of the facts the CDC would rather you didn’t know.
Is It Really Dangerous Not to Get the Flu Vaccine?
The CDC’s website used to state that 36,000 Americans die of flu each year, but this number was always seriously exaggerated. First, the CDC inflated the numbers by lumping together deaths from flu and pneumonia as though they were the same thing when actually, the annual deaths from pneumonia not caused by flu have always been far greater than those from flu. More significantly, this number was never based on recorded deaths. It came instead from a statistical model which only estimates mortality but doesn’t actually count fatalities.2 This year, however, the CDC’s website reflects the criticism they have received about this overstatement. In an impressive downward revision, the CDC now states that “over a period of 30 years, between 1976 and 2006, estimates of flu-associated deaths in the United States range from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people.”3 Quite a difference! For 2007, the CDC’s own statistics show that the number of deaths actually caused by influenza was just 411, and the death rate was therefore only 1 out of 1,000,000 people.4
But the fact that only a low level of serious illness is caused by influenza cannot stop the vaccine juggernaut. In November there was an invitation-only, off the record, no-press-allowed conference call between the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the Office of Minority Health, the CDC, and local leaders to persuade congregations and community organizations – especially minority organizations -- to “collaborate” with Walgreens to host seasonal flu vaccine clinics. According to the invitation from Health and Human Services (HHS), religious leaders play an important role in the health of their congregations, “especially during flu season,” spreading important information “as trusted messengers … about the need for vaccination.” 5 One wonders if these religious leaders understand the implication that they therefore have no value to the partnership outside of flu season? So behind closed doors, the powers that be are blatantly exploiting the authority and trust of religious leaders to shill for Walgreens and the vaccine manufacturers. It is easy to imagine that parishioners would be highly influenced to participate in a vaccine clinic taking place in their own churches. But what of this implied endorsement from a higher power? As our Constitutional rights are being eroded right before our eyes along so many fronts, it shouldn’t be surprising that the government is now forcing its way into churches to sell us vaccines. But instead of believing propaganda and placing misguided faith in our leaders, let’s look at the evidence.
The Flu Vaccine Does Not Prevent the Flu or Flu-Like Illness
Influenza and influenza-like illness are caused by over 200 different viruses which produce the same symptoms: fever, headache, aches and pains, cough, and a runny nose. In the majority of cases, these symptoms only cause mild illness which resolves on its own after a few days. Most illness identified as the flu is in fact flu-like illness caused by a virus other than influenza. We are falsely led to believe that influenza is the cause since it is all referred to as “flu.”
Out of all these possible viruses causing identical symptoms, the 2011 flu vaccine contains only 3 strains of influenza -- 2 of type A and 1 of type B – yet it is estimated that types A and B represent a mere 10% of all circulating viruses causing these symptoms6.The 2011 flu vaccine is identical to that of 2010 and contains the H1N1 swine flu as one of the type A virus strains. Although the medical establishment cannot know in advance which strains will be causing illness in a given season, they act as though they do. The World Health Organization (WHO) decides at least a year in advance which strains of virus will be in the vaccine, thus the virus types are never based on current information. The odds of any of the 3 vaccine strains being among those causing illness are small. Even if the experts have chosen correctly, many people who receive the vaccine will not be protected and will get sick anyway. While the marketing would lead one to believe that a wide immunity is conferred from the flu vaccine, the truth is in fact the opposite: vaccine-induced antibodies against one strain offer no protection against another, and won’t even protect against the original strain if it happens to mutate, which is a common occurrence. It is obvious that there is no long-lasting immunity from the fact that the flu shot is recommended every single year. And it is unlikely that we will ever see a gold standard study comparing a group of healthy adults who get the flu vaccine against a comparable group of healthy adults who do not – they might end up proving that unvaccinated adults are more likely not to get the flu! All of the flu vaccine package inserts have the following disclaimer: “there have been no controlled clinical studies demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination.”7 So by the manufacturers’ own admission, the flu vaccine is unlikely to work.
Studies have not shown the flu vaccine to be effective
Despite recent headlines and news stories claiming that the results of a meta-analysis published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases proved the flu vaccine effective, the report itself does not come to this conclusion. First, it found no adequate studies to assess efficacy in people 65 years of age and older, or between the ages of 2 and 17, and mind you, their requirement was only 3 adequate studies per age group! Second, their interpretation was decidedly unenthusiastic, stating that “influenza vaccines can provide moderate protection against virologically confirmed influenza, but such protection is greatly reduced or absent in some seasons.” 8 The Cochrane Collaboration, which is the foremost group of unbiased researchers in the world, has done a series of meta-analyses on the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine with similar results. In 2010 they found that vaccinating adults against influenza did not affect the number of people hospitalized or working days lost, yet caused one case of Guillain-Barre syndrome (a major neurological condition leading to paralysis) for every one million vaccinations.9 Further, they stated that their results might be overly optimistic due to the fact that 15 out of 36 trials were funded by the vaccine manufacturers, which tend to produce results favorable to their product.10 The Cochrane Group found that in children under the age of two, not only was the efficacy of inactivated vaccine no better than the placebo, but very little information existed on the safety of inactivated vaccines, the most commonly used vaccine in young children.11
The Side Effects of the Flu Vaccine are More Serious than the Flu
The flu vaccine has been associated with many adverse effects, including flu-like illness following vaccination that can last for days, leading many people to believe that getting the vaccine caused them to get the flu! More serious, however, are the other reported adverse effects: pain, allergic reactions, anaphylactic shock, Guillain-Barre syndrome, seizures, myelitis, Bell’s palsy, optical neuritis, brachial neuritis, syncope, thrombocytopenia, lymphadenopathy, vasculitis, dyspnea, pharyngitis, rhinitis, chest pain, and chronic fatigue.12 It has been suggested that because influenza virus is grown in chicken embryos there is an increased incidence of salmonella, which produces a powerful endotoxin. This salmonella endotoxin may increase the permeability of the blood-brain barrier, thus allowing deleterious proteins to enter the nervous system, setting the stage for a variety of neurological impairments from the vaccine.13
The CDC Recommends Vaccinating the Following High Risk Groups Despite Contraindications and Lack of Efficacy.
- · Children aged less than 5 years, but especially children aged less than 2 years.
As we have seen from the above meta-analyses, there are not enough well-designed studies to support the contention that the inactivated influenza vaccine -- the only flu vaccine approved for children under two -- is effective.14 Results of a recent study published in the Journal of Virology suggest that, on the contrary, annual flu vaccination of children may in fact interfere with their natural ability to mount an effective immune response against any virus by hampering the development of virus specific killer T cells.15 So we may be permanently damaging our children’s health by giving them the annual flu vaccine. Also, not only is there inadequate evidence that the flu vaccine is safe for children, but there is a substantial risk to their developing brains that the most commonly administered flu vaccines all contain mercury.
- · Persons with chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, asthma, and diabetes.
The package inserts all caution that the flu vaccine may not adequately protect people with a compromised immune system or those on medications.16 There is also the possibility that the chronically ill are more likely to be sickened by the vaccine.
- ·
All package inserts for the flu vaccine give the following warning: “It is not known whether the vaccine can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity. It should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed.”17 Likewise, according to the manufacturer, it is unknown whether influenza vaccine can be excreted in breast milk. If the manufacturers themselves are this reluctant to vaccinate pregnant women with the flu vaccine because they haven’t proven that it is safe, how can the CDC so completely disregard the health of expectant mothers and their babies by specifically targeting this group for vaccination? It is as if their goal is to create illness and disability instead of to protect health. When you add the 25 micrograms of mercury present in most flu vaccines -- which is especially damaging to the brain of a developing fetus -- this recommendation becomes downright criminal.
- · Adults 65 years of age and older.
The studies of people in this age group suggest that the flu vaccine is not effective at all in preventing illness or death.18
It is simply not rational to recommend that the people in these higher risk groups receive the flu vaccine. They are more vulnerable and less likely to withstand the slurry of reactive particles injected into them than healthy or non-pregnant adults. Their health could be severely compromised as a result when there is not only little evidence that the vaccine will work, but ample evidence that it will harm.
The Flu Vaccine Contains Harmful Ingredients
Influenza vaccines are full of harmful chemicals, including mercury (a neurotoxin), animal cells, egg protein, nonylphenol ethoxylate (an endocrine disruptor), formaldehyde (a neurotoxin), DNA fragments, neomycin and polymixin (antibiotics), and betapropiolactone ( a human carcinogen)19 -- all of which, singly and in combination, can weaken the immune system in addition to causing disease.
In 2003, a Congressional committee finished a three-year investigation into the medical use of mercury by concluding that mercury presents significant health risks and does not belong in vaccines.20 Even though mercury has finally, if reluctantly, been removed from other vaccines given to children, all of the flu vaccines given from a multi-dose vial still contain mercury!
The Most Common Flu Vaccines Have an Added Risk of Contamination
Most flu vaccines are given from multi-dose vials because they are cheaper for the manufacturer to produce and cheaper for the health care providers to administer, even though there are single-dose vaccine alternatives. The problem with combining many vaccines in the same large bottle is that the action of inserting needles into a rubber stopper repeatedly as each dose is drawn up leads to bacterial contamination of the vaccine, especially if the administrator is not using proper precautions. Also, if the vial is not consistently agitated before each use, the amount of vaccine can vary considerably with each dose because the ingredients do not remain in suspension.
Crime and Cover-Up
But surely the scientists and researchers who created these vaccines believed that their products were safe, that they wouldn’t cause harm now or at some point in the future? Sadly, they knew the truth of what they had imposed on the public. A recorded interview available on the internet with Dr. Maurice Hilleman,21 vaccine pioneer and creator of more than 36 vaccines, reveals just one example of the corrupt science behind the development of vaccines. Dr. Hilleman -- the most successful vaccinologist in history -- admitted in this interview that vaccines were developed in the days of very crude science, and must be considered “bargain basement technology for the 20th century.” He acknowledged that Simian Viruses from the wild monkeys used to grow polio virus, especially Simian Virus 40 (SV40), contaminated the vaccines. SV40 was known to cause cancer, but it was in the seed stock: it couldn’t be inactivated by formaldehyde so they couldn’t get rid of it short of starting over completely. Thus SV 40 contaminated all the polio vaccines. Hilleman discussed the problem with Dr. Albert Sabin, creator of one of the original polio vaccines, who coldly dismissed the problem by saying that SV 40 contamination “was just another obfuscation that’s going to upset vaccines.”22 So there was no press release announcing a problem, no recall, no warning because this was “a scientific affair within the scientific community.” In a shocking revelation, Hilleman admits that by importing African Green monkeys to make vaccines, “I didn’t know we were importing the AIDS virus at the time.”23 With callous disregard for the future health of the vaccine recipients, this polio vaccine – knowingly contaminated with a cancer causing virus and possibly even AIDS -- was given to millions of children worldwide. Did Dr. Hilleman express any regrets in this interview? Hardly. According to him, “it was good science at the time because that was what you did. You didn’t worry about these wild viruses.”24
There Are Other, Better Ways to Protect Yourself Against the Flu Than the Vaccine
According to Dr. Tom Jefferson of the Cochrane Collaboration, it makes no sense to keep vaccinating against seasonal influenza based on the evidence. 25 The 200 viruses that constitute influenza and influenza-like illnesses don’t just magically appear during fall and winter – they are always with us. Yet we become ill more often in the colder months when the hours of daylight diminish. Many recent studies have suggested that the origin of the so-called flu season may actually be the reduced amount of sunlight in the winter months, with the result that we become deprived of Vitamin D. 26 We would be doing much more to head off the flu by keeping our Vitamin D levels adequate than by getting the vaccine.
The other main issue that rarely reaches the media is the simplest: proper hygiene. We can ward off influenza by simply washing our hands and being very careful not to put our hands near our eyes, nose, or mouth unless we are certain they have been cleaned of any contamination from others. Studies on regular hand washing show that this easy and inexpensive measure can save lives.27
If we were all forced to read and sign the package insert prior to getting a flu vaccine, would we still get the shot? Informed consent would seriously affect the bottom line of the entire influenza vaccine industry. The flu vaccine is neither effective nor safe: in fact, it can cause considerable and long-lasting weakening of our immune systems making it more likely, rather than less, that we will become sick or chronically ill. Billions of dollars are generated from this vaccine every year, but at what cost to those of us who receive it? The value of this vaccine is completely overstated because of money, power, and influence. Is it worth risking our precious health to maintain the high salaries of the pharmaceutical industry and the medical establishment? So be prepared for this flu season and protect yourself the healthy way: wash your hands regularly, get adequate Vitamin D, eat properly, get plenty of exercise, enough sleep, avoid caffeine, alcohol, sugar and processed foods, and, most importantly, when they try to convince you to come into the drug store to get your flu vaccine -- keep walking!
Footnotes
1. CDC, Announcement: National Influenza Vaccination Week – December 4 – 10, 2011, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2. Are US Flu Death Figures More PR Than Science? British Medical Journal 2005; 331; 1412 (10 December).
3. CDC, Seasonal Influenza: Questions and Answers, July 6, 2011, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD, http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/disease.htm, accessed December 5, 2011.
4. FastStats, Influenza, CDC/National Center for Health Statistics, February 18, 2011, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/flu.htm, accessed December 5, 2011.
5. HHS, The Partnership Center Newsletter, November 14, 2011, http://www.hhs.gov/partnerships/resources/newsletter/111411.html, accessed December 6, 2011.
6. Osterholm MT, Efficacy and Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccines: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 26 October 2011, doi: 10, 1016/S1473-3099 (11) 70295-X.
7. Package inserts for Fluvirin, Fluzone, Fluarix, Fluvirin, Afluria, Flulaval.
8. Osterholm MT, Efficacy and Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccines: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 26 October 2011, doi: 10, 1016/S1473-3099 (11) 70295-X.
9. Jefferson T et al, Vaccines for Preventing Influenza in Healthy Adults, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD001269. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001269.pub4, June 3, 2010, http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD001269/vaccines-to-prevent-influenza-in-healthy-adults, accessed December 4, 2011
10. ibid.
11. Jefferson T et al, Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD004879. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004879, September 30, 2007, http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD004879/vaccines-for-preventing-influenza-in-healthy-children, accessed December 4, 2011.
12. VAERS, Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, http://www.vaers.hhs.gov/index, accessed October 7, 2011.
13. Geier M, Influenza vaccination and Guillain Barre syndrome, Journal of Clinical Immunology; 107 (2003) 116–121
14. Jefferson T et al, Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD004879. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004879, September 30, 2007, http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD004879/vaccines-for-preventing-influenza-in-healthy-children, accessed December 4, 2011.
15. Bodewes R et al, Annual Vaccination against Influenza Virus Hampers Development of Virus-Specific CD8+ T Cell Immunity in Children, Journal of Virology, 2011; 85 (22): 11995 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.05213-11
16. Package inserts for Fluvirin, Fluzone, Fluarix, Fluvirin, Afluria, Flulaval.
17. ibid.
18. Simonsen L et al, Influenza Vaccination and Mortality Benefits: New Insights, New Opportunities, Vaccine, 27 (2009) 6300-6304.
19. Package inserts for Fluvirin, Fluzone, Fluarix, Fluvirin, Afluria, Flulaval.
20. US House of Representatives, Mercury in Medicine – Taking Unnecessary Risks, A Report Prepared by the Staff of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness Committee on Government Reform, May 2003.
21. Adams M, Merck vaccine scientist Dr. Maurice Hilleman admitted presence of SV40, AIDS and cancer viruses in vaccines, Natural News, September 15, 2011,
http://www.naturalnews.com/033584_Dr_Maurice_Hilleman_SV40.html#ixzz1fnCRxkqd, accessed December 6, 2011.
22. ibid
23. ibid
24. ibid
25. 'A Whole Industry Is Waiting For A Pandemic’, Der Spiegel, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,637119-2,00.html, accessed December 4, 2011
26. Berry DJ et al, Vitamin D Status has a Linear Association with Seasonal Infections and Lung Function in British Adults, British Journal of Nutrition, 2011 Nov; 106(9); 1317-8.
27. 'A Whole Industry Is Waiting For A Pandemic’, Der Spiegel, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,637119-2,00.html, accessed December 4, 2011