The Flu Shot: Useless

Here's an interesting tidbit: the flu shot this year does not actually protect against the flu.

As I explained earlier, because the flu is a virus that changes and mutates, a new vaccine must be put out each year to be effective against the current flu. Well, when the next year's flu shot is being developed, it's more or less educated guesswork. This year's flu shot was guessed wrong. It does not protect against the current strain at all. It stops a very rare form of the flu that is barely prevalent and not a concern.

If you've had the shot this year, don't panic, it's not harming you; it just isn't helping you. So the moral of the story is, wash your hands and drink your orange juice!

More general info on this vaccine: http://www.medicalconsumers.org/pages/FluVaccineisRarelyEffective.html

Superflu

Everyone is home sick lately. There have been so many people missing from my classes it's astounding. There is definitely something going around, something very flu-like. And a lot of people have mentioned in conversation how bad the flu is this year.

And in light of the flu shot, they're surprised. Well, I'm not.

The flu is a virus. Viruses change and mutate to overcome resistance. That's why you have to get the flu shot every year; because after a year, the strain has changed so much that your immune system no longer recognizes it as the flu it was vaccinated against. It's not like most other vaccines, where it's one shot, maybe a booster, and you're covered.

So when you think about it, we are really creating a superflu. To overcome the vaccination, the virus gets worse and worse, and it hits those who are not vaccinated incredibly hard.

Which raises the question; is this morally sound? Or safe? What happens when someone brings our superflu overseas to some place where they aren't vaccinated and exposes them to the virus? Scary stuff to think about.