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No Value in Any Influenza Vaccine: Cochrane Collaboration Study
A remarkable study published in the Cochrane Library found no evidence of benefit for influenza vaccinations and also noted that the vast majority of trials were inadequate. The authors stated that the only ones showing benefit were industry-funded. They also pointed out that the industry-funded studies were more likely to be published in the most prestigious journals…and one more thing: They found cases of severe harm caused by the vaccines, in spite of inadequate reporting of adverse effects.
The study, “Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults”, is damning of the entire pharmaceutical industry and its minions, the drug testing industry and the medical system that relies on them.
In the usual manner of understatement, the authors concluded:
The results of this review seem to discourage the utilisation of vaccination against influenza in healthy adults as a routine public health measure. As healthy adults have a low risk of complications due to respiratory disease, the use of the vaccine may be only advised as an individual protection measure against symptoms in specific cases.
The Study
The authors attempted to find and investigate every study that has evaluated the effects of flu vaccines in healthy adults aged 18-65. To this end, they “searched Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library, 2010, issue 2), MEDLINE (January 1966 to June 2010) and EMBASE (1990 to June 2010).” They included 50 reports. Forty of them were clinical trials adding up to over 70,000 people. Two reported only on harmful effects and were not included in this study.
Studies of all types of influenza vaccines were included: live, attenuated, and killed – or fractions of killed – vaccines.
The primary outcomes they looked for were numbers and seriousness of influenza and influenza-like illnesses. They also looked at the number and seriousness of harms from the vaccines. The authors attempted to collect missing data by writing to the authors. They describe the response as “disappointing”. In the end, they included 50 studies and refused to use 92, mostly because of highly significant flaws, such as using inappropriate controls, not being randomly controlled trials, inconsistencies in data presented, lack of study design, unclear definitions, poor reporting, lack of crude data, and lack of placebo.
The authors found that vaccines administered parenterally, that is, outside the digestive tract, usually meaning by injection. reduced influenza-like symptoms by 4%. They found no evidence that vaccination prevents viral transmission! (There goes the whole herd immunity argument!) They also found no evidence that they prevent complications, either.
They attempted to ascertain the degree of complications, and though they did report on some, most of the studies simply did not address the issue or did so inadequately.
Conclusions
The Cochrane study found very little evidence to support even a small improvement in time off work. Even that finding needs to be put into the context of industry influence. The authors wrote:
This review includes 15 out of 36 trials funded by industry (four had no funding declaration). An earlier systematic review of 274 influenza vaccine studies published up to 2007 found industry funded studies were published in more prestigious journals and cited more than other studies independently from methodological quality and size. Studies funded from public sources were significantly less likely to report conclusions favorable to the vaccines. The review showed that reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin but there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the studies. The content and conclusions of this review should be interpreted in light of this finding.
“…industry funded studies were published in more prestigious journals and cited more than other studies…”
“…reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin…”
“…there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions…”
Most assuredly, the “content and conclusions of this review should be interpreted in light of this finding”!
Even without taking into account the shoddiness of the studies in general, the authors were still hard put to find any benefit of any sort for influenza vaccinations in healthy people. At best, they found a small decrease in number of days off work. They did not find that the vaccinations had any benefit whatsoever in complications or mortality.
In spite of the limited reporting on adverse effects, the authors did find some, including 1.6 Guillain-Barré cases per million.
The question that must be asked is: How can influenza vaccinations be justified when there is virtually no benefit—not even the oft-cited dubious herd-immunity—and cases of severe harm are documented, in spite of disgustingly limited reporting of adverse effects?
It is long past time to end the travesty of jabbing adults and children without a shred of evidence showing real benefit in spite of trying to find it, and with evidence of crippling harm, in spite of trying to mask it.
Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20614424
http://www.gaia-health.com/
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No surprises here. So much of what we hear from Pharma is nothing but marketing, much of what we believe about our health is so much propaganda!
The fact that you cite the PubMed abstract as a *source* is a weakness in your argument. Cite the full data, rather than adding your own interpretation as to why studies were excluded. The authors had 250 words to sum up their study…explaining why studies were excluded was less important than reporting their results. Your manipulation of their results is more misleading than that which you claim they show.
I grew up with alternative medicine and still rely on it mostly. Last year and this year were the first times I got flu shots – last year for H1N1 because I was pregnant, and this year because my baby is so young (recognizing that there are both “high risk” categories, and this article is about vaccination for the general population).
That said, I find the article flawed because it emphasizes that vaccines do not prevent transmission and don’t reduce symptoms. Vaccines are intended to prevent infection of the vaccinated individual, not treat infections or stop an already infected individual from transmitting the virus, yes? It doesn’t speak to whether or not vaccination protects high risk groups from infection via healthy adults who can make it through the flu relatively unharmed, yet still spread the virus.
The physicians are not educated about the vaccine ingredients nor the statistical side-effect outcomes. They do not realize these untested vaccines are not safe. They have been taught that vaccines reduce the incidence of contagious disease, without any self investigation.
Logic tells us that injecting carcinogenic or neurotoxins will result in harmful long-term outcomes. Think people, think about what is happening to the human race by taking annual injections, boosters and a newly developed vaccine for every disease.
Build up your immunity with an improved lifestyle, sunshine, nutritious healthy diet, exercise, rest and de-stress as much as possible.
Learn your Health Care Rights
I’ve never had a flu shot and have only had the flu once as a teenager. Everyone I know who’s had the shot gets the flu afterward. Coincidence? Add to that the fact it’s dangerous due to the chemical content, I don’t understand why people still get them. Especially children. Parents have a responsibility to do research for their children’s health and their not. I feel for the children and the elderly, as they are powerless to stop this practice.
“They found no evidence that vaccination prevents viral transmission!”
We now have reliable evidence that allows us to present a model of the complete “Seasonal Flu Life Cycle”. IMO the current common knowledge “Seasonal Flu Life Cycle” is incorrect and thus all the “seasonal flu prevention” the CDC et al are pushing is WRONG and will NOT prevent seasonal, or more importantly ANY viral flu. 86% of the flu like illness we experience during “Flu Season” is NOT influenza A or B but one of many innumerable viruses that are resident within your body year around.
IMO Common Influenza may well be only an expression of Low body Vitamin D Levels
“Our review found no human experimental studies published in the English-language literature delineating person-to-person transmission of influenza.” CDC
“Studies have found the influenza virus is present in the population year-around; why is it a wintertime illness? Even the common cold got its name because it is common in cold weather and rare in the summer. Vitamin D blood levels are at their highest in the summer but reach their lowest levels during the flu and cold season. Could such a simple explanation explain these mysteries?” Doctor John Cannell Vitamin D Council
“Some of us presented extensive epidemiological evidence that the seasonality of vitamin D deficiency may explain the seasonality of influenza epidemics. We concluded that physiological doses of vitamin D would reduce the incidence of influenza, but theorized as well — on the basis of vitamin D’s mechanism of action — that pharmacological doses might effectively treat cases of influenza.” Cod Liver Oil, Vitamin A Toxicity, Frequent Respiratory
“Vitamin D deficiency predisposes children to respiratory infections.” Cod Liver Oil, Vitamin A Toxicity, Frequent Respiratory
The “seasonal flu virus” is one of the fastest changing viruses. Your body will often transform the strain you receive into an new strain when you pass it on. If a “vaccine” worked on the strain you received it will probably NOT work on the strain you pass on.
It is all a deadly fraud folks
“The Hong Kong virus arrived in Britain in August 1968 but despite being a new antigenic variant in a non-immune population did not cause significant illness until winter that year. It had spread widely during the summer without causing epidemic illness, only to emerge when winter came and vitamin D levels in the population dropped. In fact the largest epidemic of Hong Kong flu did not occur until the following winter of 1969. Flu epidemics invariably occur in winter whether in the northern or southern hemisphere. A major factor in these winter epidemics of flu, and colds, is almost certainly low vitamin D levels in the population.” Good Vitamin D Treatise
Most of us carry the “seasonal flu virus” year around. In the northern hemisphere we usually contract the new years virus strains in or about July. Why don’t we get the flu in July? Because we have adequate levels of vitamin D to contain the virus.
You almost never DEFEAT a virus you CONTAIN a virus. You currently have MANY strains of viruses in your body. When your vitamin D levels fall low enough these viruses replicate rapidly and you get sick. This usually occurs during “Flu Season” in late winter at EXACTLY the point your sun produced vitamin D is at its yearly lowest.
Note this is the typical annual flu cycle for the average person. It need not happen to you if you take vitamin D3 at the daily rate of about 1000 IU/20 pounds of body weight. You are then likely to NEVER get a serious case of the “Flu”. Remember 86% of the time you get “The Flu” during “Flu Season” it is not “The Seasonal Flu” but some other virus. Vitamin D3 will protect you from ALL viruses including the deadly H5N1 virus they are trying to get into your body.
If you were pregnant and got the flu shot, you did not read the included pamphlet. It has not been TESTED on pregnant women.. EVER – ergo saftey is questionable
But go ahead take all the shots you want, like some people volunteered for the public showers 70 years ago..sheeple !
If you grew up on alternative you stayed awfully ignornat of the immune system and how to make it strong.
and even more ignorant of the aborted fetal tissue, squalene and mercury and aluminum that is in MOST vaccines.
Wow, vaccines don’t treat symptoms or keep you from passing on the virus to non-vaccinated people? It’s almost like they were never meant to do that in the first place! WEIIIIRD.
[...] health researchers have warned us about these practices. They’ve exposed the dangers and ineffectiveness of vaccines as well as the pharmaceutical giants’ pursuit of profit over safety as they [...]
In Norway the same few people have close contact with the vaccine industry, are responsible for choosing and buying vaccines, for advising and informing about them to the public, have almost monopoly for information in the media, are responsible for registering side effects and for handling statistics regarding side effects. Some call this corruption.