Avoid the flu without a flu shot

Trying to Reason With Flu Season

At first, I thought it was a joke.

Two articles recently arrived in my e-mail inbox, sent to me by Michele Cagan, who writes the HSI On the Spot blog that appears on our web site at hsionline.com.

The first article was titled “Another Flu Season, Another Failure.” And as you can imagine, it focused on this year’s flu shot, which has turned out to be very ineffective and a huge disappointment to the mainstream medical establishment.

The title of the second article: “Panel Recommends All Kids Get Flu Shots.”

If you’ve read Michele’s blog, you know she’s got a sharp sense of humor. So I had to wonder – was she pulling my leg?

She wasn’t.

Moving the chains

Late last month, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (which offers vaccine guidelines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommended that all children up to age 18 should get a yearly flu shot. Currently the recommendation is only for children under the age of five.

The Associated Press article included this revealing note: “Some public health professionals pushed them to make the clearest endorsement possible of the flu vaccine, concerned that the public is losing faith in flu shots because this year’s vaccine was not well matched to circulating viruses.”

So let me make sure I follow this correctly. This year’s flu shot is a failure. As a result, the public is losing faith in the flu shot. Therefore, “the clearest endorsement possible of the flu vaccine” needs to be made?

If your primary objective is to prevent the flu, that makes no sense. But it’s actually quite logical if your primary objective is to sell as many vaccines as possible.

Meanwhile, in an HSI On the Spot posting, Michele reveals something the CDC would rather you didn’t know: The flu shot is actually dangerous.

Michele searched the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System and came up with these surprising numbers linked to the flu vaccine:

• 203 deaths
• 797 life-threatening events
• 260 permanent disabilities
• 2,980 hospitalizations
• 405 prolonged hospitalizations

But here’s the surprising part: Those are not the totals for all the years the flu shot has been given, those are for just one year – 2007.

Immunity idol

If you’re thinking there’s got to be a better way, there is.

Your flu defense is only as strong as your immune system, so you’ve got to start with the three basic habits for good health: 1) include plenty of fresh whole foods in your diet, 2) exercise regularly, and 3) get a proper amount of sleep. It’s a no-brainer – if you’re fatigued and eat junk, you’ll be at a stark disadvantage when a flu bug crosses your path.

Next: Give your immune system some extra support with a few proven immune system enhancers, such as Echinacea, and vitamins C, E, and beta carotene – all of which have been shown to help fight colds and flu. Selenium is also an effective flu fighter, as is zinc and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) – an amino acid that stimulates your body to produce the powerful antioxidant enzyme glutathione.

And now that you’ve got the basics, you can go one better and supercharge your immune system.

In the September 2003 HSI Members Alert, contributing writer Jennifer Arnold discussed a variety of natural products that have been shown to boost the immune system:

• ProBoost and T-Cellerate – two products that deliver a thymus gland protein that stimulates the t-cells responsible for immune response
• ImmPower-AHCC – a t-cell booster that also increases natural killer cell activity, which helps eliminate tumor cells and cells infected with viruses
• ImmunoCare – an Ayurvedic herbal blend that prompts production of a specific type of infection-fighting white blood cell
• Transfer Factor – isolated sets of molecules from colostrum (breast secretions produced by mothers just after childbirth) that protect against parasites and viral infections

HSI members can access Jennifer’s article – “Don’t inject yourself with mercury and anti-freezeFour easy ways to beat the flu this year” – in the Members Alert archives at this link: http://www.hsionline.com/articles/hsi_2003vas/hsi_200309.html

The HSI Members Alert is an excellent resource for cutting edge information about alternative healthcare. Learn how you can be among the first to find out about the latest groundbreaking advances that the mainstream media routinely ignores.

Sources:
“Another Flu Season, Another Failure” Robert Bazell, MSNBC, 2/26/08, msnbc.msn.com
“Panel Recommends All Kids Get Flu Shots” Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press, 2/27/08, ap.org