Flu Outbreak

Hello NYC and the World,
This is going to be an informational blog post.  We're putting a couple of links and copying a couple of articles about the FLU that we think is important for you to read.  We take our health seriously and want you to.  

Article 1.
Influenza Deaths: The Hype vs. The Evidence

Posted: 10/3/2012 12:16:17 AM | with 36 comments

By Barbara Loe Fisher

It's that time of the year again when drug companies, doctors, government officials and media conduct a national advertising campaign to sell flu shots to every American.^1, 2, 3 You can't pass by a pharmacy,⁴enter a supermarket,⁵ shop in a "big box" store⁶ or catch a plane⁷ without seeing the "flu shots for sale" signs trolling for customers.
The pharmaceutical industry is cutting out the M.D. middleman and going straight for the gold in places where we shop for toothpaste, clothes and food.⁸ Even on the evening news, flu shot commercials are becoming as frequent as political campaign ads.
Up until the year 2000, flu shots were not recommended for everyone. Back in the 1990's, doctors were telling seniors over age 65 and younger people with chronic illness to get vaccinated. ⁹

No Flu Shot? No Job or Daycare!

Now, doctors at the CDC tell every man, woman and child over six months old they need an annual flu shot¹⁰ and it is OK for health care workers to be fired if they don't get vaccinated every year.^{11, 12, 13, 14}
In the states of Connecticut and New Jersey, mandates are already in place that force parents to give their six-month old babies a flu vaccine or be banned from daycare.¹⁵ This, as state health department officials join with medical trade association lobbyists in many states to severely restrict or eliminate medical, religious and conscientious belief vaccine exemptions for all children.^16, 17
The vaccine liability shield that Congress gave doctors and drug companies in 1986¹⁸ and the public-private business partnership between government and the pharmaceutical industry that Congress created after Sept. 11, 2001,^19, 20 is paying big dividends for liability free drug companies and liability free doctors selling flu shots to more than 300 million Americans.
It doesn't matter if 80 percent of all flu-like illness is really caused by other viruses and bacteria and not influenza,^21, 22 or that flu vaccine efficacy is estimated at 60 percent to 80 percent, depending upon age and what kind of vaccine is given.²³

Selling Big Mortality Numbers to Sell Flu Vaccine

The selling of influenza vaccine has a lot to do with selling big morbidity and mortality numbers. So how bad were those numbers in the late 20th century to justify government taking a "no exceptions" cradle to the grave approach to flu shots for every American in the 21st century? Let's take a quick look at the hype versus the evidence.
The first experimental influenza vaccines were given to soldiers in World War II. It wasn't until the 1957-58 and 1968-69 influenza pandemics that the vaccine was marketed to civilians.²⁴ Between 1970 and 2000, the trivalent influenza vaccine containing two strains of type A influenza and one strain of type B influenza was primarily recommended for the elderly. That is because respiratory infections, especially with pneumonia complications, have always been a leading cause of death for people at the end of their life span.²⁵
There was only one deadly influenza pandemic in the last 100 years that killed the young and healthy in great numbers and that was the 1918 Spanish Flu. It turns out that bacterial pneumonia is what killed most people, young or old, in the 1918 pandemic. Today, antibiotics would have prevented most of those deaths.²⁶
But just how bad is seasonal influenza today?

Is It 200,000 Influenza Hospitalizations or 37,000?

The CDC has been telling the public for nearly a decade that there are more than 200,000 estimated hospitalizations and 36,000 estimated deaths from influenza in the U.S. every year.²⁷
But are those figures accurate? Well, it all depends upon use of the word "estimate." The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported that, in 2004, there were about 37,000 Americans hospitalized for either influenza or another illness in addition to influenza, and patients over age 85 were twice as likely to die.²⁸
Now, 37,000 influenza hospitalizations is five times less than the 200,000 hospitalization figure the CDC uses. That is because what CDC employees did to come up with their influenza hospitalization "estimate" was to count a lot of people hospitalized between 1979 and 2001 – not just with influenza but also with pneumonia, respiratory and circulatory illnesses – which they counted as probably associated with influenza.^29, 30
And they got away with it.

Counting Influenza Deaths & A Whole Lot More

In 2003, CDC employees also used a convoluted statistical modeling scheme to "estimate" that 36,000 people die from influenza in the U.S. every year. Again, they counted not just influenza death cases but also threw in other respiratory, circulatory, cardiac and pulmonary deaths they thought might have been associated with influenza.³¹
And they got away with it.
In 2005, a young PhD candidate at MIT published an article in the British Medical Journal and asked the question: "Are U.S. Flu Death Figures More PR Than Science?"³² He analyzed the U.S. Vital Statistics Mortality Data, which has been carefully recorded for more than a century by the National Center for Health Statistics. I recently looked at that Vital Statistics data, too, and created a chart of influenza and pneumonia deaths recorded between 1940 and 2010.³³

Recorded Influenza Deaths Dropping in 21st Century

Here is what I found: Since 1940, the highest number of influenza deaths recorded in a single year was 21,047 deaths in 1941. In fact, the mortality rate from influenza was NOT rising in the late 20th century – as the CDC employees have alleged – it was dropping.
There were only between 600 and 750 influenza deaths recorded annually between 1995 and 1997.³⁴The most influenza deaths recorded in a single year since 1979 was about 2,900 deaths and that was in 2009, the H1N1 swine flu pandemic year! (see table here)

CDC Expanding the Flu Vaccine Market Between 2000-2010

But that didn't stop CDC policymakers, along with drug company and medical trade association lobbyists ever present at the policymaking table, from using inflated influenza hospitalization and mortality estimates to justify expanding the influenza vaccine market:

• In 2000, CDC policymakers voted to expand flu shot recommendations to all healthy Americans over age 50.³⁵ Out of a population of 300 million, there were 1,765 recorded influenza deaths that year.
• In 2002, CDC voted to add all healthy babies from six to 23 months.³⁶ There were 727 recorded influenza deaths that year.
• In 2006, CDC voted to recommend flu shots for all healthy children up to five years old as well as all healthy pregnant women in any trimester.³⁷ There were 849 recorded influenza deaths that year.
• In 2007, CDC voted to add all healthy children up to eight years old.³⁸ There were 411 recorded influenza deaths that year.
• In 2008, CDC voted to recommend annual flu shots for all healthy children up to age 18 years.³⁹There were 1,722 recorded influenza deaths that year.
• In 2009, the Secretaries of Health and Homeland Security declared a national emergency because they said pandemic H1N1 swine flu was sweeping the country and tens of thousands of people could die. Liability free drug companies were told to rush an experimental swine flu vaccine to the market.⁴⁰
• In 2010, a year when there were 494 recorded influenza deaths, the CDC officials finally reached the ultimate goal of their long game: they told doctors to give annual flu shots to every American, healthy or not, from the year of birth to the year of death.⁴¹

And they got away with it.

CDC Does Not Require States to Report All Influenza Cases or Deaths

They got away with it because the CDC does not require states to "report individual seasonal flu cases or deaths of people older than 18 years of age."⁴² That's right – the CDC is not actually asking for the information they need to accurately assess influenza morbidity and mortality in the U.S. It would be funny if people weren't actually losing their jobs or being denied daycare or becoming paralyzed^43, 44 by this "no exceptions" flu shot policy.

Global Flu Vaccine Market: U.S. Biggest Customer

Today, the global market for seasonal influenza vaccine is $3.6 billion and forecasters have recently reported that the U.S. is the single biggest and most profitable market in the world.⁴⁵ They say the huge U.S. market is "driven by price increases" and high vaccine coverage rates generated by the 2009 influenza pandemic and the government's "universal" flu shot recommendation in 2010. They add that "campaigning by U.S. authorities" will continue to drive up flu shot sales.

CDC: We Don't Know How Many Influenza Deaths There Are

Meanwhile, doctors at the CDC now quietly admit on their website that the "CDC does not know exactly how many people die from seasonal flu each year."⁴⁶ Having gotten that cradle to the grave flu shot recommendation firmly in place, they are backing away from the 36,000 influenza death figure. CDC now says that "only 8.5 percent of all pneumonia and influenza deaths and only 2.1 percent of all respiratory and circulatory deaths" are influenza related.
You can almost hear those liability free drug companies and doctors laughing all the way to the bank.

WEBSITE FOR ARTICLE- WWW.NVIC.ORG all references are on the website (46 of them)


Article 2.

Flu Shot Fallacies

By www.100yearlifestyle.com

-Fallacy: Flu Medicines Are Safe With No Side Effects
-Fallacy: Flu Vaccinations Are Safe With No Side Effects 
-Fallacy: Flu Shots Work
-Fallacy: Vaccines Build Your Immune System
-Natural Immunity

Flu Shot marketing is in full swing. Before you blindly allow yourself or a loved one to be injected, it is important to do your homework. You will learn why 60% of MDs avoid the vaccine and why it can be more dangerous than the flu itself. 
Here are some Flu Shot Fallacies: 

Fallacy: Flu medicines are safe with no side effects
According to Drugs.com, the possible side effects of Tamiflu are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, nose bleed, eye redness, insomnia, cough or other respiratory symptoms. 
Serious side effects in children can be sudden confusion, delirium, hallucinations, unusual behavior or self injury.

Nervous system side effects such as headaches have been seen in up to 18% of the people. When you go to the Drugs.com website to explore these for yourself, don’t just read the side effects for Consumers. Continue reading what the health professionals are told to watch for. That list is much longer and more severe.

Fallacy: Flu vaccinations are safe with no side effects
According to NVIC, Gillian-Barre syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune disease, has been associated with the influenza vaccine since 1976. There is also a concern about idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP), another autoimmune disease which is a blood clotting disorder, and Bell’s Palsy facial paralysis.

Seniors are especially at risk as reported by the ACIP Provision Recommendations for the Use of Influenza Vaccines. In 2007, a study published in the Annals of Medicine concluded that abnormalities in arterial function and LDL oxidation may persist for at least two weeks after a slight inflammatory reaction. This could explain the earlier report of an increase of cardiovascular risk in the first weeks following vaccination. 

Pregnant women should be aware as the flu vaccine has been officially listed as a Category C drug which means that its safety has not been established scientifically and adverse fetal effects in animals have been detected. The FDA states that “Category C drugs are more likely to cause problems for the mother or fetus.” 

Fallacy: Flu shots work
There is no scientific evidence that supports the effectiveness of flu shots in preventing the flu. In fact, Michael Osterholm of The National Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy boldly stated that “flu shots don’t work in the elderly.”

Fallacy: Vaccines build your Immune System
Actually, the possibility of the vaccine impairing your immune system is a concern. There are components in vaccines that are neurotoxins which can depress your immune system and brain function. 
According to the CDC, the flu vaccine, FluMist, which is often given to children, contains chick kidney cells and MSG. Many other flu vaccines contain formaldehyde and mercury which are neurotoxins. Christina England, a contributor on VacTruth.com just informed readers that there has been a 4,250% increase in fetal death rates reported to VAERS after flu shots were given to pregnant women. That statistic is insane. 

Not everything that feels like the flu is actually the flu. According to the CDC, only 13% of the people with flu-like symptoms who were tested for the flu this year tested positive. 

Natural Immunity
Keep your immune system healthy naturally with good nutrition, eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats. Avoid the white devils such as white sugar, white pasta and white flour. Eat more whole grains and legumes. 

Exercise can also strengthen your immune system so follow the plan in The 100 Year Lifestyle Workout and Get Your ESS in Shape - your endurance, strength and structure. Build your endurance through cardio vascular training such a walking, riding a bike, running or fitness classes. 

Build your strength through activities such as weight training, Pilates, or yoga. And take care of your structure, spine and nervous system by developing a habit of good posture and keeping your spine and nervous system healthy with chiropractic Lifestyle Care which can keep your resistance high.

Adjust your lifestyle today and build your immune system naturally.


Sources:
http://www.drugs.com/sfx/tamiflu-side-effects.html
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/01/flu-vaccine-and-its-side-effects.aspx
www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-flu.pdf
http://vactruth.com/2012/11/23/flu-shot-spikes-fetal-death/
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly
http://suite101.com/article/60-%-of-doctors-dont-get-a-flu-shot-a136897


© 2012. TFP, Inc. and www.100yearlifestyle.com. All Rights Reserved.


3. Chiropractic and the Flu

Lastly this is from us.  This is from our in office workshop.  I'm quoting our 100 Healthy Years workshop.

“immune function is regulated in part by the sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic nerve endings densely innervate lymphoid tissue such as the spleen, lymph nodes and the thymus”

Murray DR, Irwin M, Reardon CA, et al. "Sympathetic and immune interactions during dynamic exercise. Mediation via a beta 2 - adrenergic-dependent mechanism." Circulation 1992 86(1): 203

“Dr. Pero, Ph.D and chief of cancer prevention research at NY Preventative Medicine Institute, NYU, measured the immune systems of people under chiropractic care as compared to those in the general population and those with cancer and other serious diseases. In his initial three-year study of 107 individuals who had been under chiropractic care for five years or more, the chiropractic patients were found to have a 200% greater immune competence than people who had not received chiropractic care, and 400% greater immune competence than people with cancer and other serious diseases. The immune system superiority of those under chiropractic care did not diminish with age.”

Pero R. "Medical Researcher Excited By CBSRF Project Results." The Chiropractic Journal, August 1989; 32

If you knew that the immune system was under control of the nervous system, and that you could naturally increase your immunity by getting chiropractic adjustments, wouldn't you get adjusted?  

The germ theory says that germs get us sick.  If that were true, we'd all be sick all the time.  Consider thinking about the host theory.  You, being the host, have an immune system that protects it.  If the immune system is weaker than it should be to defend you, defenders can break through to get you sick.  If your immune system is really strong, it can defend your body better than a regular immune system and much better than a weak immune system.  

So remember.... strong immune systems are a result of chiropractic adjustments which are part of your healthy lifestyle.  
We'll see you in the office soon!

Thanks for reading,

Drs. Handt