The Truth About Flu Shots
I could pretty much sum up everything about flu shots by pointing out one thing: they’re free.
Nothing in life is free! There is always a cost, or a price. The cost to fast food is the bloating in your stomach, or your diabetes or high blood pressure. The price of innovation is oversupply or pollution or consumerism (or millennials who don’t have a cause or purpose). The cost of love is…you have to be a trustworthy, lovable person who cares about others.
The cost of a flu shot may be anything from increased risk of respiratory infections to Guillain-Barre Syndrome–but it doesn’t come without a price.
It may not reduce your chance of getting the flu, or being hospitalized. It may not stop community spread. I mean, how long has widespread flu vaccine recommendations been in effect, and why does it seem like we hear about more influenza cases–as opposed to less? Flu shots were once the bread and butter of the vaccine industry, recently upstaged by the COVID-19 vaccines.
Here’s a rundown of what you absolutely need to know about flu shots:
1. The Flu Shot Is Notoriously Not Effective
Because flu vaccines are made every year, they’re often a mismatch to the flu viruses that are widely circulating. We know from our coronavirus friend, that RNA viruses tend to mutate and as a result are more difficult to make vaccines for. The difference between a RNA virus and a DNA virus is that the RNA lacks the ability to correct its errors when it replicates.
According to Harvard:
“Like all living things, influenza makes small errors—mutations—when it copies its genetic code during reproduction. But influenza lacks the ability to repair those errors, because it is an RNA virus; RNA, unlike DNA, lacks a self-correcting mechanism. As a result, influenza is not genetically stable.”
This is one reason why the flu vaccine often ranks low in effectiveness. Once you figure in some of the side effects and unintended consequences, it may not be worth it.
2. Increased Risk of Coronavirus
A January 2020 study on flu vaccination and respiratory viruses among Department of Defense personnel found that:
Examining virus interference by specific respiratory viruses showed mixed results. Vaccine derived virus interference was significantly associated with coronavirus and human metapneumovirus.
The study found a 36% increased risk of coronavirus infections in flu-vaccinated people. It also found a 51% increase risk for Human Metapneumovirus. Read the full text of the study here.
3. Flu-Vaccinated Children More Likely To Have Influenza-Related Hospitalization
According to a 2012 study “Effectiveness of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in influenza-related hospitalization in children: a case-control study“:
There was an overall trend toward higher rates of hospitalization in subjects who got the trivalent inactivated flu vaccine (TIV) when compared with the ones who did not get the TIV (odds ratio [OR], 3.67; CI, 1.6, 8.4). Using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test for asthma status stratification, there was a significant association between hospitalization in asthmatic subjects and TIV (p = 0.001). TIV did not provide any protection against hospitalization in pediatric subjects, especially children with asthma. On the contrary, we found a threefold increased risk of hospitalization in subjects who did get the TIV vaccine. This may be a reflection not only of vaccine effectiveness but also the population of children who are more likely to get the vaccine.
Please read the study here.
4. Increased Risk of Non-Influenza Viruses
The 2012 study “Increased Risk of Noninfluenza Respiratory Virus Infections Associated With Receipt of Inactivated Influenza Vaccine” found children who received the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine were 4.4 times more likely have a virologically-confirmed non-influenza infection:
“We randomized 115 children to trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) or placebo. Over the following 9 months, TIV recipients had an increased risk of virologically-confirmed non-influenza infections (relative risk: 4.40; 95% confidence interval: 1.31-14.8). Being protected against influenza, TIV recipients may lack temporary non-specific immunity that protected against other respiratory viruses.
We found a statistically significant increased risk of noninfluenza respiratory virus infection among TIV recipients (Table 3), including significant increases in the risk of rhinovirus and coxsackie/echovirus infection, which were most frequently detected in March 2009, immediately after the peak in seasonal influenza activity in February 2009.”
Read the study here.
5. Flu Shot Increases Miscarriage Risk
A 2017 study “Association of spontaneous abortion with receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine containing H1N1pdm09 in 2010-11 and 2011-12” found that when looking at flu vaccine receipt by trimester and also by whether the women had a flu shot the previous season, that some women were much more likely to have a miscarriage. The study concluded:
“SAB [spontaneous abortion] was associated with influenza vaccination in the preceding 28days. The association was significant only among women vaccinated in the previous influenza season with pH1N1-containing vaccine. This study does not and cannot establish a causal relationship between repeated influenza vaccination and SAB, but further research is warranted.”
The study results are somewhat alarming (anything over “1” means there is an association. Anything under “1” means there is a negative association):
“The overall adjusted odds ratio (aOR) was 2.0 (95% CI, 1.1-3.6) for vaccine receipt in the 28-day exposure window; there was no association in other exposure windows. In season-specific analyses, the aOR in the 1-28days was 3.7 (95% CI 1.4-9.4) in 2010-11 and 1.4 (95% CI 0.6-3.3) in 2011-12. The association was modified by influenza vaccination in the prior season (post hoc analysis). Among women who received pH1N1-containing vaccine in the previous influenza season, the aOR in the 1-28days was 7.7 (95% CI 2.2-27.3); the aOR was 1.3 (95% CI 0.7-2.7) among women not vaccinated in the previous season.”
Read the study here.
6. Under 10% of US Population Gets the Flu Each Year (So 90% Don’t)
According to a 2018 study “Seasonal Incidence of Symptomatic Influenza in the United States” each person has a roughly 10% chance of catching the flu. Many people have immunity from prior infection, and so the pool of possible people to catch a virus tends to be small.
This is why natural immunity is so important to preserve. Masks, vaccines, hand sanitizer prevent our body from building up what is actually most protective to the person and to the community: a natural immunity.
7. More Influenza Cases Are Subclinical and Asymptomatic
What we don’t appreciate about influenza infection may actually be that the majority of infections are asymptomatic and subclinical. If 10 percent get a symptomatic infection, another 20-30% of people have an asymptomatic infection, according to a few studies:
According to Viral Shedding and Clinical Illness in Naturally Acquired Influenza Virus Infections:
“Mathematical models typically assume that 33% to 50% of infections are asymptomatic or subclinical, and these individuals are around half as infectious as symptomatic cases.”
These “silent spreaders” may be lucky enough to not have full-blown infection, and their ability to transmit infection is reduced by half.
According to this 2014 study, Comparative community burden and severity of seasonal and pandemic influenza: results of the Flu Watch cohort study:
“On average influenza infected 18% of unvaccinated people each winter (based on four-fold titre rises in strain-specific serology). Up to three-quarters of infections were asymptomatic and about a quarter of infections had PCR-confirmed disease. 17% of people with PCR-confirmed disease had medically attended illness.”
So, 75% of people who had a 4-fold titre increase in Influenza had NO SYMPTOMS.
8. Flu Vaccines Are Highest Settled Vaccine in Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
To date there has been over $4.5 billion given to victims of vaccine injuries since 1988 when the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was formed. The flu vaccine was added to the VICP’s covered list of vaccines in 2003, but it is currently the most compensated of the vaccines. For example, out of 7,611 compensated claims, influenza vaccines accounted for 3,774 of them, according to this report.
9. Flu Vaccinated Students Spread More Virus Than Unvaccinated Students
According to this 2018 study “Infectious virus in exhaled breath of symptomatic seasonal influenza cases from a college community” found that students who had repeated flu vaccination, when or if they caught influenza, these students had a higher load of viral aerosolization than students who had not had the flu vaccine.
“Self-reported vaccination for the current season was associated with a trend (P < 0.10) toward higher viral shedding in fine-aerosol samples; vaccination with both the current and previous year’s seasonal vaccines, however, was significantly associated with greater fine-aerosol shedding in unadjusted and adjusted models (P < 0.01). In adjusted models, we observed 6.3 (95% CI 1.9–21.5) times more aerosol shedding among cases with vaccination in the current and previous season compared with having no vaccination in those two seasons.”
Our observation of an association between repeated vaccination and increased viral aerosol generation demonstrated the power of our method, but needs confirmation.”
Read the study here.
10. Flu Mortality Is Increasing As Vaccination Rates Increase
As vaccination rates for “Influenza” increase, so too does the mortality for this infection. Influenza and pneumonia are grouped together for mortality for adults, however there are many more pneumonia deaths than influenza.
There are many causes of pneumonia. According to a CDC report, researchers looked at 2,000 cases of radiographically confirmed pneumonia, and found viruses in 27 percent of patients and bacteria in 14 percent of patients. Human rhinovirus (HRV) was the most commonly detected virus among pneumonia patients. The other 59% of patients had pneumonia from a cause other than viruses and bacteria.
For a longer article at how the CDC calculates flu and pneumonia mortality, click here. But one alarming thing is that influenza deaths are increasing despite wider and wider vaccination rates. Now, why would that be?
11. Alternatives To the Flu Shot
It doesn’t pack the bank accounts of Big Pharma, but if health is what you are after, than have no fear…Mother Nature has you covered.
“Vitamin D for influenza”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890/
“The effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing and relieving the symptoms of virus-induced respiratory infections.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10543583
“Randomized study of the efficacy and safety of oral elderberry extract in the treatment of influenza A and B virus infections.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15080016
“Inhibition of several strains of influenza virus in vitro and reduction of symptoms by an elderberry extract (Sambucus nigra L.) during an outbreak of influenza B Panama.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9395631
“Preventing the common cold with a garlic supplement: a double-blind, placebo-controlled survey.”
