Swine flu vaccine: do you really want it?

The European drugs regulator has given the go-ahead for one of the UK’s two swine flu vaccines – Pandemrix, made by GlaxoSmithKline – for use in adults and children over six months and pregnant women, and the Department of Health plans to start vaccination in October.

The GSK vaccine is made in eggs, so is not suitable for anyone with an allergy to egg, but the second vaccine – to be available soon and made by Baxter – is not manufactured using eggs so can be used in people with an egg allergy. More…

Flu vaccines also typically contain one or more of the following toxic/hazardous ingredients: thimerosal (mercury, which causes nerve cell damage), aluminum (a neurotoxin that has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease and may be involved in Multiple Sclerosis), squalene (an adjuvant which generates concentrated, unremitting immune responses over long periods of time), Triton X-100 (a detergent), phenol (carbolic acid), ethylene glycol (antifreeze), betapropiolactone (a disinfectant), nonoxynol (used on condoms to kill or stop growth of STDs) and octoxinol 9 (a vaginal spermicide).

Although, according to reports, the GSK Pandemrix vaccine ‘appears safe’, nearly 50% of people in one of the key studies experienced local discomfort or systemic symptoms – i.e. headaches – and it is unlikely that the long-term effects of this vaccine have been determined in the couple of months that evaluation has been carried out.

The vaccine used during the swine flu outbreak in 1976 increased the risk of developing Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) by eight times and led to 500 people succumbing to this syndrome, 25 of whom died before the immunisation programme was halted.

No-one has ever figured out why the 1976 vaccine caused this disease – in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the nerves – and doctors have again been advised to watch for Guillain-Barré syndrome during the current swine flu vaccination programme.

According to a study released by the British Medical Journal, more than half of Hong Kong’s healthcare workers have said they would refuse the swine flu vaccine because of side effects and doubt about its safety and effectiveness. The study suggested that health workers worldwide were likely to repeat this trend.

As an alternative to a vaccine, a daily dose of 800-2000 IU of vitamin D has been shown to more or less eliminate flu symptoms. Vitamin C is also a surprisingly effective prophylactic against viral infections such as swine flu and, if delivered intravenously, will safely and effectively treat the illness, if contracted.

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