“The influenza vaccine and most hepatitis B vaccines are multi-dose vaccines, which contain thimerosal as a preservative” ~ Public Health Agency of Canada - http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/q_a_thimerosal-eng.php

“The majority of influenza vaccines distributed in the United States currently contain thimerosal as a preservative.” ~ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - http://www.cdc.gov/FLU/ABOUT/QA/thimerosal.htm

A cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington recommends avoiding the flu shot and taking vitamin D instead. Donald Miller, MD, says “Seventy percent of doctors do not get a flu shot.”

Health officials say that every winter 5–20 percent of the population catches the flu, 200,000 people are hospitalized, and 36,000 people will die from it. The National Vital Statistics Reports compiled by the CDC show that only 1,138 deaths a year occur due to influenza alone, and more than 34,000 of the “36,000″ flu deaths are what officials estimate are “influenza-associated” pneumonic and cardiovascular deaths.

There is also a lack of evidence that young children benefit from flu shots. A systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;1:CD004879).

A randomized trial found that the incidence of influenza in infants whose mothers had a flu shot during their pregnancy was 4%. The incidence of flu in infants whose mothers did not have a flu shot was 10%. (NEJM 2008;359:) In the study, flu shots reduced the relative risk of influenza illness in infants by a seemingly impressive 63%, yet only 6 out of 100 infants actually benefited from the shot. The other 94 received no benefit – 4 got influenza anyway – and all are at risk from being harmed by the vaccine, particularly from the mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde in it. - Donald Miller, MD

Dr. Miller’s stance on Vitamin D and health:

The U.S. government and its citizens currently spend $2,000 billion dollars ($2 trillion) on “health care,” i.e., sickness care, each year. The cost of taking a 5,000 IU supplement of vitamin D every day for a year is $22.00. The cost for 300 million Americans taking this supplement would be $6.6 billion dollars. The number and variety of diseases that vitamin D at this dose could prevent, starting with a 50 percent reduction in cancer, is mind-boggling. If everyone took 5,000 IU/day of vitamin D, the U.S. “health care” industry would shrink. It would no longer account for 16 percent of the gross domestic product.

The increased number of deaths that occur in winter, largely from pneumonia and cardiovascular diseases, are much more likely due to vitamin D deficiency than to an increased prevalence of serologically-positive influenza virus (which also results from vitamin D deficiency).

Read the full flu vaccine article at LewRockwell.com

Full Story - http://effectsoftheflushot.com/stories/mia/

Every fall, health care workers across Canada distribute 10 million influenza vaccinations, and for the vast majority of people, the flu shot causes no major problems.

Within two weeks of getting his annual flu shot in 2007, however, Richard Ryan, 44, went from being happy and healthy to being in excruciating pain.

At first, Ryan thought he had injured his back, and he checked into the local hospital emergency room, he told CBC News on Wednesday.

But Ryan was also suffering some numbness, and when a neurologist tested his reflexes, he found Ryan had none, he said.

“The doctor asked me what was going on in my life. And as soon as I said I was feeling ill after getting a flu shot, he said, ‘Stop right there, I know what you have,’” Ryan said.

The neurologist diagnosed Ryan with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease that attacks the nervous system.

According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, the chance of developing that particular disease from a flu shot is one in a million.

But as Ryan learned the consequences can be severe. By the time the emergency room exam was over, he was too paralyzed too get up. He spent the next 10 weeks recovering in hospital, including three weeks in intensive care, barely able to breath or eat for himself.

“My face was paralyzed. I had no feeling inside my mouth. I couldn’t feel my tongue. My left eye wouldn’t close so it had to be taped shut to sleep,” he said.

The illness progressed into a lifelong condition known as Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), and a year later he remains heavily medicated, unable to work, and has memory problems.

Although the disease is in remission, he is not expected to make a full recovery, and the chronic condition could return at any point in the future.

Now Ryan say he is concerned that public health officials are promoting the flu vaccine while most people are not fully aware of the risks.

However, Dr. Danuta Skowronski, an epidemiologist at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, says the benefits of the flu vaccine still outweigh the risks for the vast majority of people.

“Nothing is completely risk-free,” she told CBC News. “It is always a matter of weighing the benefits and the risks.”

Medical information provided with flu shots does mention the one-in-a-million chance of getting Guillain-Barré syndrome.

But it is especially important for people with heart and lung problems, the elderly and the chronically ill, to get the influenza vaccine because it could save their lives, Skowronski said.

“Influenza itself can be life threatening, and it’s those groups that we want to make sure are not put off from receiving influenza vaccine unnecessarily,” said Skowronski.

There are more than 2000 flu-related deaths in Canada every year. Seniors, people with weak immune systems and some children are at highest risk.

More common possible side-effects of vaccinations can include fever, muscle pain and weakness.

For his part, Ryan maintains that he’s a good example of the fact that the benefits of the vaccination don’t always outweigh the risks.

“I think if people knew how serious the illness is, they would think twice about the flu shot,” he said.

www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/10/22/bc-fku-shot-paralysis.html

Three influenza vaccines are licensed for use in Canada, two produced by Aventis Pasteur (Fluzone® and Vaxigrip®) and one by *ID Biomedical (Fluviral S/F®). All three are sterile suspensions prepared from influenza viruses propagated in chicken embryos. The virus is inactivated, purified and treated with an organic solvent to remove surface glycoproteins, producing a “split-virus” preparation that is intended to reduce vaccine reactogenicity. One dose (0.5 mL) of vaccine contains 15 µg of hemaglutinin of each of three antigens. The antigens are selected from two strains of influenza A and one strain of influenza B. The virus strains chosen for inclusion in influenza vaccine are reviewed annually to ensure that they include antigens that are expected to provide the best protection during the following winter. All three licensed vaccines use thimerosal (0.01%) as a preservative. Gelatin (0.05%) is used as a stabilizer in Fluzone®. Vaxigrip® may contain undetectable traces of neomycin, used during production.

Ingredients list from Influenza Vaccine Product Monographs

VAXIGRIP (r)

Influenza Virus Vaccine Trivalent Types A and B (Split Virion) 2002-2003 Formula - For 6 Months and Older For Active Immunization Against Influenza

DESCRIPTION

VAXIGRIP (r) [Inactivated Influenza Vaccine Trivalent Types A and B (Split Virion)], for intramuscular use, is a sterile suspension prepared from influenza viruses propagated in chicken embryos. The virus-containing fluids are harvested and the virus inactivated with formaldehyde and purified by zonal centrifugation. The virus is then chemically disrupted using Polyethylene Glycol p-isooctylphenyl Ether (Triton (r) X-100) producing a “split-antigen”. The split antigen is suspended in sodium phosphate-buffered, isotonic sodium chloride solution. The type and amount of viral antigens contained in VAXIGRIP (r) conform to the current requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO).1

For the 2002-2003 season, each dose (0.5 mL) contains the following:

- A/Panama/2007/99 (H3N2) (A/Moscow/10/99-like strain) 15 µg HA
- A/New Caledonia/20/99 (H1N1) 15 µg HA
- B/Shangdong/7/97 (B/Hong Kong/330/2001-like strain) 15 µg HA Thimerosal 2 µg Sodium Phosphate-Buffered, Isotonic Sodium Chloride Solution up to 0.5 mL
- Formaldehyde £30 µg
- VAXIGRIP (r) also contains Triton (r) X-100 and trace amounts of sucrose and neomycin.

http://www.vran.org/vaccines/flu/flu-ingredients.htm