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Serious reasons to skip the H1N1 vaccine Part II
2009-09-17 |
This summer, Americans across the country lined up in droves to become the first human guinea pigs to receive the H1N1 flu vaccine. I don‘t believe for a second that the vaccine will effectively protect you or anyone else against H1N1. On the contrary, I‘m more concerned about how much harm the vaccine may cause when millions more men, women, and children get it this fall.
As you‘ll remember from last week‘s Guide to Good Health, the last time the government hastily pushed through an untested vaccine, disaster ensued. Five hundred people came down with a paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome and 25 people died.
Government officials swear a repeat of 1976 will not happen. But they also admit they don‘t really know for sure.
In fact, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “No clinical trial in the world is going to be large enough to be able to detect an event that occurs one in every 100,000 people. The only way to pick that up is after the fact, when a lot of people get vaccinated and good surveillance picks it up."
In other words, we won‘t know if the stuff is really bad until we give it to a million people.
Well, thanks Dr. Fauci. Good to know you‘ve thought this one through a month before injecting millions of toddlers, pregnant women, and immuno-compromised adults.
Plus, there‘s something else that‘s got me worried...
Secret Ingredients
I‘ll make no bones about it: the 2009 swine vaccine is bad news, especially if it contains an ingredient called an adjuvant. An adjuvant is added to a vaccine to make it stretch. It basically supercharges the vaccine to create a stronger immunological response. So instead of each person getting one full dose of the H1N1 virus, each person might only get ¼ of a dose along with an adjuvant supercharger.
This is the government‘s secret ace in the hole. If Uncle Sam thinks he‘s running low on the vaccine, he can just add an adjuvant and make the supplies stretch much further.
But an adjuvant can cause your immune system to go haywire. Case in point: the anthrax vaccine given to Gulf War soldiers. An adjuvant called squalene was added to that vaccine to make it stretch further. But many blame squalene for causing the so-called Gulf War Syndrome (GWS).
Now, don‘t get me wrong. Squalene isn‘t always toxic. In fact, it‘s a natural substance found in most plants and animals. Your body uses it to help synthesize cholesterol as well as vitamin D. You‘ll also find squalene in personal care products as well as nutritional supplements. In those instances, squalene is not a health hazard. However, when commercial squalene is injected into the bloodstream (as with a vaccine), it appears to disrupt the body‘s immune system. The body identifies it as a threat and creates antibodies to attack it.
In fact, when scientists from Tulane University tested blood samples from vets suffering from GWS, they found that 100 percent of them contained abnormal antibodies to squalene. This backs up the theory held by many in the medical community that squalene triggered GWS in these vets.
Now, here‘s the thing...symptoms of the Gulf War Syndrome were subtle to start: headaches, fatigue, and generalized aches and pains. And they didn‘t show up immediately. It took a while for the men and women to start feeling bad. (Side note: this is what worries me about the H1N1 vaccine as well. Reactions to medicines or vaccines can take years to appear, making it difficult to connect the dots. But we‘ve only been working with the H1N1 vaccine for mere months, not years. How do we know how the H1N1 vaccine will act in the body years from now?)
As a result, it took a while for military docs to figure out that GWS was linked to a bad reaction to the anthrax vaccine. Instead, everyone in the government initially got away with labeling the vets‘ immunological problems as post-traumatic stress.
So what‘s Gulf War Syndrome got to do with the H1N1 vaccine? Well, squalene is exactly the same adjuvant at least two drug companies have been playing around with adding to the H1N1 vaccine. In fact, they‘ve already been paid millions of dollars by Uncle Sam to develop stores of the vaccine containing the adjuvant.
Keeping their options open
The Department of Health and Human Services is holding its cards close regarding the use of adjuvants in the H1N1 vaccine. Officials won‘t say for certain whether or not they plan on using them. But I can tell you one thing, they‘re keeping their options open.
Here‘s how I know...
On June 15th, Department of Health and Human Services chief Kathleen Sibelius basically issued a carte blanche to Big Pharma when it comes to the H1N1 vaccine. She‘s invoked the PREP Act of 2006 (Public Readiness and Emergency Readiness Act). This law gives the five drug manufactures complete immunity against lawsuits for their vaccines, even if the vaccine contains an adjuvant.
According to the HHC website, immunity has been granted to the manufacturers “in all stages of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine development, testing, manufacture, distribution, prescribing, administration, and use.”
In other words, no matter how bad things get, even if the vaccine contains a known hazardous ingredient, the drugmakers can‘t get in trouble!
Money, money, money
All along, I‘ve suspected this whole swine flu pandemic isn‘t about saving lives. To date, the swine flu has been linked to a little over 500 deaths in this country. Heck, the regular seasonal flu is six times more deadly than H1N1.
So what‘s all the fuss about? Money, of course!
The five drug companies handed H1N1 vaccine contracts are set to make a boatload off their largely untested products. In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services has already spent $2 billion dollars to purchase 195 million doses of the vaccine and adjuvant.
In addition Congress passed and President Obama recently signed a supplemental appropriation bill for $7.5 billion to cover the additional costs of preparing for H1N1. That figure doesn‘t even include the money spent on clinical trials or marketing of the vaccine.
All told, we could spend up to $10 billion dollars on a vaccine for something that may cause fewer deaths this year than accidental falls at home.
Protecting yourself sensibly this fall
Here‘s the bottom line about the H1N1 vaccine: You don‘t need it.
Instead, be smart. Wash your hands. Get lots of rest. Eat healthy. And take 2000 to 4000 IUs of vitamin D-3 during the winter months. That‘s the best way to fight off any virus, even the absurdly over-hyped money-sucking H1N1 virus!
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