Shannon Brownlee, an excellent medical journalist who wrote the superb book Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer by Shannon Brownlee, 2007, wrote in The Atlantic magazine with Jeanne Lenzer November 2009 issue http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/11/does-the-vaccine-matter/7723/ about whether taking flu vaccines really makes a difference. Most of the data shows that it has not been that effective against normally healthy seniors and the less healthy die whether they had the vaccine or not when they get the flu. About 36,000 seniors die each flu season. I hope the stronger dose is more effective to make up for a weak immune response for seniors.
The current vaccine has the California strain of H1N1 reflects the more than 300 mutations already occurred in the Swine/Bird flu virus. The rapid mutations of viruses does not necessarily mean that the vaccines do not work. They just don’t work as well, but they work well enough to prevent death. The bird flu in the flu last year did not contain the deadly gene in the 1918 Flu Pandemic, but the weakened mutated H1N1 virus has infected but not sickened many generations. This explains why many people did not die last year as in other pandemics.
Word to the wise. Don't bother storing TamiFlu or Relenza. They don't work anymore.
If your any of your sons and daughters or those grand kids die from the flu even the risk is at most 2 percent of the population, it will not be less painful. Already we are starting to have a whooping cough epidemic because parents refused to vaccinate their children in our scary corporate world already are fearful so they are more susceptible things they see on the Internet or hear from talking with your friends and neighbors. Whooping cough can be fatal.
President Obama along with Healthcare experts and his team at the CDC thought about this problem and decided to also have a volunteer High dose Flu and Seasonal Flu combined vaccine. The high dose Vaccine contains triple the dose of the three vaccines A H3N2, an influenza B Virus, and the California 2009 H1N1 Swine/Bird Flu vaccine for those over 65 and others with reduced immune response.
I got my High Dose Vaccine this Tuesday and the only side effect was a slight soreness the day after when I woke up but never noticed it afterwards. Influenza B is less normal so fewer may have exposure immunity to it. That is the reason the H1N1 flu virus was deadly for the younger age group, but not the older group. The reason the regular seasonal flu did not occur last year is that it was the same virus as the year before.
Better Safe than Sorry!
Jim Kawakami Nov 5, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com
PS: I normally look at the table of contents carefully, read the introduction carefully, and even the acknowledgements carefully. I then read parts of various chapters and even the notes at the end of the book to decide whether to read the book. My time is much more valuable than the cost of the book.
Although I am well aware the Professor Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., M.D. Is one of the pioneers of vitamin D research is the one who discovered the active hormone during his Ph.D. Research and he knew that vitamin D improves the health of animals such as gorillas, lizards, polar bears, and other animals at zoos who are often sheltered without exposure to the sun to get their vitamin D, many of the babies die there.
He installed lights that mimic the sun in the shelters. He also knew that people who work and play in the sun are a lot healthier than those who do not. Also with all other factors equal, those who live near the equator and at latitudes north of Los Angeles and south of Buenos Aires, Argentina are generally healthier.
In the 1930s Americans did everything possible to get more sun by buying UV lamps and going to tanning salons. Then the smart scientists doctors struck. One of the many horrible things introduced on a mass scale during the Reagan administration without any or adequate testing were High Fructose Corn Syrup by heavily subsidizing corn in 1985 to increase the profits of processed food corporations, and soft drink makers and introduced UVB sunscreens without testing for safety.
When Melanoma mushroomed in both Australia and Scandinavia, my brain antenna started wiggling fast. No one here seemed to have noticed. Without really thinking they started increasing the sunscreen PSF to block out more UVB! It just got worse! Autism doubled in California among the affluent who paid attention to the experts and put on more sunscreen at a higher SPF. If I felt any burning, I put on a shirt or stepped into the shade. Luckily I brown easily.
My good friend and neighbor Joan kept using the lower SPF sunscreen in the morning sun at the beach which was only a block or so away when Tom and Joan bought a summer home there.
I went the other way. Whether I was playing tennis outdoors or skiing in the high mountains, I refused to use sunscreens. Only when I vacationed in the Caribbean did I use it sparingly. Then I did not know about UVB producing vitamin D in my skin, but I did feel that something was wrong. Everyone at work laughed at me!
The book The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problem which he lists on the cover page.
Prevent and Treat: Osteoporosis, Heart Disease, Cancer, Autoimmune Diseases, Depression, Insomnia, Arthritis, Diabetes, Chronic Pain, Psoriasis, Fibromyalgia, Autism … as well as other diseases, chronic conditions, and mild ailments.
The Seasonal Flu and Swine/Bird Flu Vaccines
http://www.flu.gov/individualfamily/vaccination/index.html A seasonal vaccine is distributed routinely every year.
- Unlike last flu season, when you needed to get two vaccines, the 2009 H1N1 and the seasonal vaccine, this flu season you only need the seasonal vaccine.
- The 2010-2011 flu vaccine protects against an influenza A H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus and the 2009 H1N1 virus that caused so much illness last season.
- Everyone 6 months of age and older should get vaccinated against the flu as soon as the 2010-2011 seasonal vaccine is available in your area.
- Vaccination of high risk persons is especially important to decrease their risk of severe flu illness.
- Vaccination is important for health care workers, and other people who live with or care for high risk people to keep from spreading flu to high risk people.
- Children younger than 6 months are at high risk of serious flu illness, but are too young to be vaccinated. People who care for them should be vaccinated.
Key Facts about Seasonal Flu Vaccine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
| | What if I don't like shots but still want to get vaccinated from the flu? If you're worried about shots, you can take the nasal spray! This mist spray is not for pregnant women, but is fine for all other healthy people between the ages of 2 and 49. |
Vaccine: Flu Shot or Nasal Spray?
| Age and Conditions | One dose of Seasonal Vaccine | Two doses of Seasonal Vaccine | OK to Get Nasal Spray? |
| 0 – 6 months | No | No | No |
| 6 months – 9 years | One dose of seasonal flu vaccine if the child has had seasonal flu vaccination in the past.
| Two doses of seasonal flu vaccine are needed if this is the first time the child is receiving flu vaccination.
| No for children younger than two years. |
| 10 – 49 years | Yes | No | Can receive nasal spray if healthy and no underlying health conditions |
| 50 years and older | Flu Shot Only | No | No |
| Pregnant women | Flu Shot Only | No | No |
| Arthritis | Flu Shot Only | No | No |
| Asthma | Flu Shot Only | Two doses of only Flu Shot if 6 months – 9 years (if first time flu vaccination) | No |
| HIV/AIDS | Flu Shot Only | Two doses of only Flu Shot if 6 months – 9 years (if first time flu vaccination) | No |
| 5 years and younger, with a history of recurrent wheezing | Flu Shot Only | Two doses of only Flu Shot if 6 months – 5 years (if first time flu vaccination) | No |
| Children or adolescents receiving aspirin therapy | Flu Shot Only | Two doses of only Flu Shot if 6 months – 9 years (if first time flu vaccination) | No |
| People who have had Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) within 6 weeks of getting a flu vaccine | No | No | No |
| People who have a severe allergy to chicken eggs or who are allergic to any of the nasal spray vaccine components. | No | No | No |
• For decades, vaccines have been produced in chicken eggs. This process is time-consuming and for some flu seasons has resulted in flu vaccine shortages early in the flu season. Cell-based vaccine production takes less time, and has the added benefit of allowing persons who are allergic to eggs to receive the vaccine. Cell-based vaccine is not expected to become available until 2011. More information about cell-based vaccine productions.
- When a critical portion of a community is immunized against a contagious disease, most members of the community are protected against that disease because there is little opportunity for an outbreak. Even those who are not eligible for certain vaccines get some protection because the spread of contagious disease is contained. This is known as "community immunity."
top of page
Fluzone High-Dose Vaccine
Fluzone High-Dose vaccine is a flu shot, made up of the 3 flu strains most likely to cause illness for a particular flu season. Fluzone High-Dose vaccines contain 4 times the amount of antigen (the part of the vaccine that prompts the body to make antibody) contained in regular flu shots. The additional antigen is intended to create a stronger immune response (more antibody) in the person getting the vaccine.
Human immune defenses become weaker with age, which places older people at greater risk of severe illness from influenza. Also, ageing decreases the body’s ability to have a good immune response after getting influenza vaccine. A higher dose of antigen in the vaccine is supposed to give older people a better immune response and therefore better protection against flu.
Fluzone High-Dose is approved for use in people 65 years of age and older. As with all flu vaccines, Fluzone High-Dose is not recommended for people with a severe allergy to chicken eggs, or people who have had a severe reaction to a flu vaccine in the past.
Questions & Answers: Fluzone High–Dose Seasonal Influenza Vaccine
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
top of page
Pneumococcal Vaccination
Many people who experienced serious and sometimes fatal complications from H1N1 flu were also infected with streptococcus pneumoniae (a major cause of pneumonia).
| Pneumococcal vaccination and Children | Pneumococcal vaccination and Adults |
|
|
Letter to Providers Promoting PPSV for Adults
top of page
No comments:
Post a Comment