By Daisy Luther
We can all breathe a sigh of relief. The FDA has announced that the flu vaccine for the 2014-2015 flu season is ready.
This means you can drive down nearly any city street and see at least one flag or spinner, manically suggesting that you “Get your flu shot here!”
This means you can now saunter into your local pharmacy and be injected at low cost by a person with no real medical training, without a prescription.
It means you could take a break from grocery shopping, get jabbed and receive 10% off your bill at check out.
If you’re super-duper lucky, you won’t even have to go anywhere – your school or workplace will hold a “clinic” to make it more convenient for you. (And it’ll help you keep from being fired if your workplace is one of the one that issues ultimatums like “flu shot or fired“.)
The CDC has already posted its annual ominous warnings that the best way to prevent this year’s flu is to receive your flu shot. Of course, they posted that last year and the year before also. Nothing helps drum up business for Big Pharma like scaring people into rolling up their sleeves.
CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine for everyone 6 months of age and older as the first and most important step in protecting against this serious disease. While there are many different flu viruses, the seasonal flu vaccine is designed to protect against the top three or four flu viruses that research indicates will cause the most illness during the flu season. People should begin getting vaccinated soon after flu vaccine becomes available, ideally by October, to ensure that as many people as possible are protected before flu season begins. (source)
Despite the recommendations of the CDC, the FDA, Flu.gov, and the WHO, my family and I will not be getting a flu shot this year (or any other year). (You can check out 5 Reasons Why I’ll Never Get a Flu Shot, for more details on each of these reasons.)
- It doesn’t work.
- There are horrible toxic ingredients in the vaccine.
- There is a risk of mild to horrific side effects.
- I don’t trust the FDA, the CDC, or the AMA – they work for the benefit of the government and Big Business – not for the benefit of the public.
- If the mainstream media is constantly endorsing it, I refuse to participate because they are known propagandists and mouthpieces for advertisers and political agendas.
Just like with any other sales pitch, the more insistent the salesman and the less information they want to give you about the product, the faster you should run the other direction.
So how do you reduce your risk of catching the flu this year?
Here’s a hint:
Reducing your risk has absolutely nothing to do with being injected with foreign substances that have not been proven to be effective and that have mild to severe side effects. This is despite the fact that you’ll hear about 10,971 variations that “The best way to prevent catching the flu is to receive your annual flu shot.” Just because the media and the government mouthpieces repeats it verbatim every single day doesn’t make it true.
Reducing your risk of catching the flu has nothing to do with the flu shot and everything to do with personal hygiene, leading a healthy lifestyle, and boosting your body’s immune system. Every year, I write about this topic, and every year, people respond by telling me that these ideas are fine for me but if you don’t pick-an-excuse then you just have to go and get the flu shot. I realize that all of these suggestions are not applicable to every family’s situation, but if one doesn’t work, there are still 29 more that might.
The absolute, number one way to avoid catching the flu is through the exercise of good personal hygiene.
- Wash your hands frequently when you are out.
- In public restrooms, use a paper towel to open bathroom doors and turn on taps.
- Although I’m normally not a big fan of hand sanitizer
, I always carry it with me in my purse during flu season. I use it generously when I’m out, before and after touching things that everyone else has been touching, like the handle of the shopping cart, door knobs, and debit machines. - Use sanitizing wipes or at least baby wipes) to wash your hands and wipe the steering wheel when you get back into your vehicle.
- Avoid touching your face – this welcomes germs that are on your hands into your body.
- During the height of flu season, consider taking a quick shower and changing clothes when you return home, particularly if you have been in a germ-ridden place like a doctor’s office or pharmacy. Or Wal-Mart – every time I go there, I see loads of sick people sneezing and coughing into their hands, then touching items on the shelves.
- Make sure the kids change clothes and thoroughly wash their hands when they return home from school.
- I shouldn’t really have to say this, but….remember to wash your hands after using the bathroom and before preparing or eating food.
, I always carry it with me in my purse during flu season. I use it generously when I’m out, before and after touching things that everyone else has been touching, like the handle of the shopping cart, door knobs, and debit machines.If your local area is being hit hard by the flu, practice avoidance to keep your family healthy.
9. Stay home as much as possible. (Obviously, if you have work and school outside the home, this become more difficult, but you can still avoid malls, movie theaters, and sporting events for the duration of the epidemic.)
10. Stay away from sick people if you can.
11. Avoid eating at restaurants – you don’t know the health or hygiene habits of the kitchen staff.
If someone in your family gets sick, take steps to minimize the spread of the illness.
12. If you or a family member become sick, stay home from work or school to prevent passing it on to others.
13. If a family member is sick, keep them isolated from the rest of the family.
14. Use disinfecting wipes 
to clean surfaces that the sick person touches – doorknobs, TV remotes, keyboards, toilet handles, and phones.
15. Immediately place dishes and flatware used by the sick person into hot, soapy dishwater with a drop of bleach in it.
16. Teach children to cough into the crook of their arm instead of covering their mouth with their hands. This prevents their hands from being germ catchalls that transfer contagious matter to everything they touch.
17. Have the sick person wash their hands frequently with soap and water to help prevent spreading germs through physical contact. If soap and water are unavailable, have them use hand sanitizer.
Some other ways to stay healthy are to use natural strategies to maximize your immune system.
18. Drink lots of water to keep your system hydrated and efficient.
19. Take a high quality, organic multi-vitamin. (I like this one
)
20. Take at least 3000-5000 IUs of Vitamin D3 daily – research has shown a link between a Vitamin D deficit and susceptibility to the flu. (This one has 5000 IUs
)
21. Other important immune-boosting vitamins are Vitamin C and Zinc. Most vitamin C is genetically modified, so be especially carefully to find a non-GMO vitamin C
. These Zinc Lozenges 
are good tasting and high quality.
21. Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables (preferably organic and pesticide free).
22. Get 7-9 hours of sleep per day – a tired body has a weaker immunity against viruses.
23. Don’t smoke – this weakens your resistance against respiratory illnesses and worsens the effect on your body if you do become ill.
24. Avoid or limit alcoholic beverages.
25. Avoid or limit processed foods. Your body doesn’t recognize these as food and they do nothing to nourish you.
26. Get fresh air and sunshine as often as possible – your body absorbs Vitamin D from the sun’s rays.
27. Get at least 20 minutes of exercise a day. You don’t have to be training for a marathon – simply take the dog for a quick walk and you’ll improve your cardiac function, your circulation, and your respiratory function.
28. Choose personal care and cleaning products that don’t contain harmful chemicals. When you inhale the toxins into your lungs or absorb them through your skin, they can break down mucosal surfaces, making you more susceptible to germs and viruses.
29. Maintain a healthy body weight.
30. Try to reduce the stress in your life. When we are highly stressed,we’re far more likely to succumb to illness. This is because adrenaline and cortisol, in the long term, can drain your immune system, making it unable to fight off a cold or flu efficiently. Check out this natural product to help with stress and anxiety
.
What if you still get sick?
The worst case scenario is that you do, indeed, contract the flu. Despite the hullabaloo, you are probably not going to die, be hospitalized, or suffer horrific permanent damage from a bout of the flu. People get sick, but death from the seasonal flu is rare. This manufactured panic over flu prevention is agenda-based. Big Pharma wants money and Big Government wants control. Last year, Jon Rappoport wrote:
It’s always interesting when official agencies’ statistics come back to bite them. Hard.
In December of 2005, the British Medical Journal (BMJ online) published a shocking report by Peter Dosh, which created tremors through the halls of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), where “the experts” used to tell the press that 36,000 people in the US die every year from the flu.
Here is a quote from Doshi’s report:
“[According to CDC statistics], ‘influenza and pneumonia’ took 62,034 lives in 2001—61,777 of which were attributable to pneumonia and 257 to flu, and in only 18 cases was the flu virus positively identified.”
You might want to chew on that sentence for a while.
You see, the CDC has created one overall category that combines both flu and pneumonia deaths. Why do they do this? Because they disingenuously assume that the pneumonia deaths are complications stemming from the flu.
This is an absurd assumption. Pneumonia has a number of causes.
But even worse, in all the 2001 flu and pneumonia deaths, only 18 revealed the presence of an influenza virus. (source)
18 deaths in a year. Does such a low risk truly warrant the much higher risk of having mercury, ammonia,aluminum, MSG, and formaldehyde jabbed into your body?
I don’t believe that all health care professionals and flu-shot advocates have ill-intent. I think that many of them have just sipped the mainstream media Kool-aid – the tale-spinners of Big Pharma have slipped in just enough truth to make their theories believable. Most people are deep-down decent and have difficulty believing that such a perverse money/power agenda could exist.
I’ll take the risk of illness that my healthy immune system can fight off over the risk of being forcibly inoculated with whatever toxins the creators of these vaccines choose to include. I’ll use my little arsenal of home remedies like elderberry extract
, and come through it without the risk of long-term side effects that have yet to be discovered (or at least, have yet to be made public).
Resources:
Sambucol Original Liquid Black Elderberry 7.8 fl.oz
Organic Multi Vitamin 60 Tablets
Basic Organics Zinc Lozenges Cherry – 100 Tablets
PURELL Sanitizing Hand Wipes Individually Wrapped 100-ct. Box
Lysol Disinfecting Wipes Value Pack, Lemon and Lime Blossom, 240 Count
Natural Alternative to Vaccination (Natural Health Guide) (Alive Natural Health Guides)
Vaccination Voodoo: What YOU Don’t Know About Vaccines
Our youngest son was a premie…and the first 6 years of his life was spent in and out of hospital…at least 2 visits a year. (he has asthma and low blood sugar so any flu bug usually ended in a visit) I got him and his siblings and myself the flu shot. Hubby got 1 because he works in a hospital. I discovered the 2nd shot…I was allergic to it. When he was 8, I didn’t get any of the kids shots, either. That year was the first flu season that nobody got sick…not even an ear infection!! A few years later, hubby took him to the Dr. because of a sprain (playing football!) Dr. said get a flu shot and hubby did. That winter, the poor kid was sick. Had the flu twice and I don’t remember just how many ear infections, etc… The rest of the kids were as healthy as ever!!
Flu season usually means staying at home for me. Can’t and don’t take the flu shot. Most of the time, my husband doesn’t either because I’m worried about him “shedding” and transferring it to me.
So, I prep ahead of time, and plan to stay home.
If I do go out – I wash my hands before and after using the restroom in a public place. We also avoid restaurants, especially buffets. I keep hand sanitizer in my purse and have been known to lightly swipe it over the mail when my husband brings it home from the post office.
I guess some people think I’m a bit over the top with this, but flu can make me very, very sick.
About a year ago, I nearly died from a UTI because any type of infection overwhelms my system fast.
You mentioned how people touch everything in a store. I was in a grocery produce section last week and there was a young woman wandering around there going from bin to bin touching the food, but she never bought anything. This is another way people can get germs without out thinking about it.
That is one reason to take more control of your own food supply if possible, I have seen people picking through produce too many times, and it is troublesome to say the least, just imagine your veggies you buy at a big chain supermarket, harvested by ILLEGAL ALIEN day laborers, transported in non refrigerated trucks to a packing shed, handled again by ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS then shipped off to a wholesaler where it is AGAIN handled by who knows who, then to the supermarket where it is finally put on a shelf,,, think your healthfood store is any better? good luck with that,
its scarry, is also amazing more people dont get sick,
Re: scare tactics and the statistics cited…
(Note: the following is excerpted from “Display of Statistical Data”, at http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/stats/display.html)
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. – Twain attributed this to B. Disraeli
(Sideliner1950’s note: I would add that “there are, therefore, liars, damned liars, and statisticians.”)
It has long recognized by public men of all kinds … that statistics come under the head of lying, and that no lie is so false or inconclusive as that which is based on statistics. – H. Belloc
“Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.” – Samuel Clemens (alias Mark Twain)
“If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment” – Ernest Rutherford
This is the best of times and the worst of times: both the power and corruption of statistics are daily on display. This is not new: Darrell Huff’s book How to Lie with Statistics (Norton, 1954) attempted to expose the tricks of the statistical spin-doctors for the “self-defense” of “honest men”. In 1883 (Life on the Mississippi p.120), with tongue firmly in cheek, Mark Twain wrote:
“There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact”
(Sideliner1950’s note: As a first line of defense, we must be vigilant and pass information through the fine net of reason.)
I guess that I have had the exact opposite experience as you. I resisted getting a flu shot for years and every year I caught the flu. Every time I get the flu, I end up with pneumonia by the end of it and have a terrible time getting over that, often ending up hospitalized (not to mention missing weeks of work). My children sometimes caught the flu at school and brought it home, most years they flew right through without a sniffle. When I broke down and started vaccinating our household for the flu a few years ago, I have gotten the flu once and again it went into pneumonia as it always had in the past. Vaccinations do work. The flu shot however; is not perfect and sometimes it doesn’t contain the right strain(s) for total protection. I also think it’s sad that we must ask for the mercury-free version when mercury has been removed from all other vaccines in this country except for the one that the most people get. Like you, I do not trust government or big business, but in 4 generations of my family these shots absolutely have been a benefit to several of us. Just an FYI- the flu can and does go hand in hand with pneumonia for a lot of people even though there are several other causes for pneumonia. The flu is respiratory as is pneumonia and anything that compromises the lungs can easily turn into pneumonia plus antibiotics are not working as well as they used to (from overuse), so people do die from it. I have sat with several over the years as they struggled to take their last breath after the flu had given way to pneumonia. I think this is a decision that should be made between an individual and their doctor. There are risks involved on both sides that need to be weighed. It bothers me when people throw a bunch of statistical information with some scare tactics regarding medical care out onto the internet. You used statistics to defend your stance, but then trashed all statistics? I totally support you choosing not to get vaccinated, but I find your article here to be irresponsible and selfish, not to mention it’s not in your readers’ best interest. I just hope that you didn’t just scare someone who really does benefit from the vaccine into skipping it. A person in good health can get away with skipping it and likely they’ll be just fine whether they get the flu or not, but there are so so many people who really shouldn’t take that risk especially if they’re basing that decision on the advice of a blogger who they respect. I would encourage all to do their own research and take their questions and concerns to their doctor before making a decision to get any vaccination/medication or not. Personally, I’m not willing to hide out at home for half the year to avoid getting sick. I’m going to live my life as well as I can every single day of the year by taking the precautions I feel suit my needs the best. I wish you and your followers the absolute best of health.
I understand your point. I’m sure it does help others. All I, personally, can go on is how my family reacted. I wouldn’t ever advise others to get or not to get. I agree with you about doing research. After I got an allergic reaction, I chose not to allow my children to get the shot. My husband gets a shot every year. Like I said, he has to…the hospital he works at says that he must or have to spend all winter wearing a mask. I was made to feel wrong for not getting a shot a few years ago, at the bank I used to work at. It made me so upset!! I’m now happy to no longer work there.
Last year’s shot was not perfect….. I caught a strain of something and was sick for nearly six weeks, three trips to the med center. I have been vaccinated for several years now, only getting sick in the years when vaccine was not available everyone. The husband is recommended for the vaccine, but cannot take.
There’s always a Typhoid Mary out there who doesn’t know enough to stay home. They pollute the offices they work in and send their kids to school ill.