The flu vaccine: Should you get it?
Every year you hear about flu vaccine shortages, and people standing in long lines, hoping to get their shot before they run out. Well, that probably won't be a problem this year.
This year there will be more than 100 million doses of flu vaccine available to U.S. consumers-more than ever before. And the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta expects to administer at least 75 million doses just by the end of this month.
Maybe they were anticipating a run on the stuff because of bird flu paranoia. Maybe they were just trying to not run out. Maybe it's all about profit-who knows?
But what I do know is this: You may not even need to stick that needle in your arm.
Every year like clockwork, doctors, the media, and the government issue strong reminders about the importance of getting your flu shots. And, every year, scientists reformulate the vaccine to fight off the most common flu strains-including the latest mutations. But to be honest, this vaccine, like most medicines, works better for some people than others.
It appears to help reduce illness and death in people with lung disease. And it may prevent death in elderly people who get pneumonia. On the other hand, only about 40 to 50 percent of elderly patients who get the vaccine develop the antibody response in their immune systems that is necessary to ward off the flu. That leaves the other 50 to 60 percent still at risk.
As for those rumors that the flu vaccine can actually cause the flu, that's true. I often see patients-- most of them elderly--who seem to get a mild to moderate case of the flu after receiving the vaccine.
Additionally, the vaccine contains mercury. And this brings up another unknown: We still don't know what effects this may have years from now, especially in susceptible individuals whose detoxification systems may not work as well as most people's. We just don't know.
What we do know is that about 200,000 people get the flu every year and about 36,000 of those people die from it. Personally, I suspect that the vaccine does save some lives. But meanwhile it makes many more people at least mildly ill, maybe even causing a very small number of deaths. But this is virtually impossible to prove.
The vaccine is usually recommended for people over 65 and anyone with a chronic degenerative disease like heart disease or diabetes. But a normally healthy person is probably better off just taking better care of themselves with proper nutrition, taking a multi-vitamin, avoiding sugar and stress--both of which can both hurt your immune system-and using common-sense measures like regular hand washing and avoiding sick people. If everyone would follow these rules it would probably save many more lives than a vaccine ever could.
You might also want to try taking Echinacea or olive leaf extract every day during the winter as an added immune booster. I've had good results with it and so have my patients. Nature's Way has high-quality versions of both herbs. (Just follow the dosage instructions printed on the labels.)
Because Echinacea stimulates the immune system, you might want to take a break from it every sixth week and give your immune system a rest before starting back up. If your doctor says recent studies "proved" that Echinacea doesn't work, you may point out that those studies were done with susprisingly, low doses in teenagers, and that you'll be correctly using higher doses, which are perfectly safe, and that you're not a teenager. Also, the formula I'm recommending is a well studied German pharmaceutical product that has plenty of research behind it from Europe.
I do recommend that you take the time to discuss with your doctor whether or not you need the flu vaccine. Whatever the decision - and I've agreed to administer plenty of flu vaccines myself - it should be a joint one based on your individual situation.
