Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Should You get the Swine Flu Vaccination?

I have been a patient at McLeod Eastpointe Chiropractic for seven years now. Most of my family and some of my friends are regulars as well. When I first started there I had been diagnosed with endometriosis. This is not a fun disease. There is a lot of pain involved, and I really had no quality of life to speak of. I was miserable.

It wasn't long after I started there that my symptoms started to ease up. I started feeling better, and I wasn't so miserable. I could make plans, and I was even becoming a nicer person. Being in pain and spending so much time in bed didn't do much for my personality.

I've learned a lot over the years because of my involvement with McLeod Eastpointe Chiropractic. Spinal health is no longer a mystery to me. I understand it's importance in our overall health and immune system function. It has become so valuable to me that I don't mind the out of pocket expense each year. It is just part of our budget now. Trust me, it can be a sacrifice sometimes as we do not have health insurance. Fortunately, their rates are affordable enough for us to have all of our children attending regularly as well. I even worry about moving. Where would I get such good care? I cannot imagine life without my chiropractor.

Anyway, they have a monthly newsletter that you can subscribe to, and I receive it personally. I don't always read everything in it, but sometimes something catches my eye. As some of you likely know I am very leery of vaccinations. I especially find the flu vaccine an eyebrow raiser. Not to mention some of the things that have come up under our new administration. I'm just not a trusting soul.

If you have any reservations, or even if you don't, this article shared in their newsletter is a worthwhile read:

Swine Flu Vaccine Should Not Be Given to Children in Schools

The above is the headline from a July 22, 2009 release from the National Vaccine Information Center, (NVIC). Along with this article is a video by Barbra Loe Fisher, founder and president of the non-profit NVIC, an organization designed to provide information of vaccinations to the general public.

The video and accompanying article question the safety of the vaccination based upon very limited testing. Ms. Loe Fisher also notes that since a national public health emergency was declared by officials in the U.S. Departments of Health and Homeland Security, back in April, "..drug companies, health officials and anyone who gives experimental vaccines to Americans during a declared public health emergency, (are) protected from liability if people get hurt."

In the video, Ms. Loe Fisher calls for more proof, "The National Vaccine Information Center has been a vaccine safety watchdog since 1982. We are questioning the need to turn schools into medical clinics this fall where swine flu vaccines being rushed to market will be given to children first. We are calling on the Obama Administration and state Governors to provide solid evidence to parents that it is necessary to give children experimental swine flu vaccines in schools." The original NVIC article and video can be seen at the NVIC website.



In an additional article in the August 7, 2009 Examiner, author Bill Underwood asks the question with his headline, "Is Baxter International's swine flu vaccine a godsend, a scam, or something worse?". In his article, Underwood presents the case that the vaccine company may have actually created the problems for which they have created the vaccine. He makes his case by noting, "According to reports in the mainstream media, this strain of influenza contains viral code fragments from: Human influenza, Bird Flu from North America, Swine flu from Europe, and Swine flu from Asia. For this to have been a natural combination of viral fragments, it means an infected bird from North America would have had to infect pigs in Europe, then be re-infected by those some pigs with an unlikely cross-species mutation that allowed the bird to carry it again, then that bird would have had to fly to Asia and infected pigs there, and those Asian pigs then mutated the virus once again (while preserving the European swine and bird elements) to become human transmittable, and then a human would have had to catch that virus from the Asian pigs — in Mexico!"

Other articles also quote experts who question the panic and rush surrounding the swine flu issue. British epidemiologist, Dr. Tom Jefferson, was quoted in the August 2, 2009 Pittsburgh Conservative Examiner as questioning the continual over reaction to various flu scares, "There are some people who make predictions year after year, and they get worse and worse. None of them so far have come about, and these people are still there making these predictions. For example, what happened with the bird flu, which was supposed to kill us all? Nothing. But that doesn't stop these people from always making their predictions."


I am a big proponent of educating oneself on vaccinations and at least making an informed decision. I so wish I had been better educated when my children were younger. Here are a few resources for further investigation:

National Vaccine Information Center

Michigan Opposing Mandatory Vaccines

Vaccination Exemption Form

State of Michigan Immunization Waiver Form

World Association for Vaccine Information

It is my prayer that you will find this information beneficial and thought provoking. With something like this that has such potential to alter our life it is definitely beneficial and imperative to be educated. Knowledge truly is power.

4 comments:

Jan from BetterSpines said...

We totally agree with you, and have written several articles on our site. You will also find good information from Dr Mercola. Be informed and don't believe everything the popular press is bleating about. And the amount of hype generated is amazing when you look at the actual death rates of "normal" (seasonal) flu compared with swine flu. Why the panic-mongering? I don't know.

Tina @ The Zoo Crew said...

Jan - Bleating is right! Anything for ratings and mass hysteria. Go figure...

Melissa said...

This is a tough one for me. I think this particular strain of swine flu is probably especially virulent, which is why we have seen so many young people get it. That means it is very strong, and dangerous. However, the vaccine is so new, and with very little testing I am skeptical at best. My mom got the swine flu vaccine, back in 76, and she was sicker than she can ever remember, and thinks it may be the cause of her fibromyalgia. For me personally, I will have to wait and see how prevalent the disease becomes, and how serious.

Tina @ The Zoo Crew said...

Melissa - I am skeptical of all vaccines. My in-laws always get the flu shot, and they always get sick. Hello! I think that they are all scary, and we can just never know what is in them. I prefer to take care of my immune system and trust that God gave my body the proper things to train and fight on its own.

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