Analogy of a Flu Shot

The Anatomy of a Flu Shot

With signs on every corner encouraging you to get THIS season’s flu shot, combined with the media bombardment to try and shame or scare us into getting one for the “herd” immunity, I thought now might be a good time to cover “The Flu Shot”.

I’m NOT here to tell you whether to get “the shot” or not, but what I believe every person needs is valid and truthful information with which they can make an informed decision.

Let’s start with the herd immunity concept.  There are 320 million Americans, just 172 million flu shot doses with a hoped for rate of at least 80% inoculation.  80% of 172 million is 138 million, at an “efficacy” rate (which I’ll explain later) of their typical 60%-70%, giving them the benefit of the doubt, brings our herd immunity down to 97 million with any level of immunity from this season’s flu strains.  That means that just 1/3 of the people around you will have any level of immunization from the guessed at strains of this season’s flu.  Leaving over 200 million of us “susceptible” to this season’s flu. Wow! Even according to “their” own formula, it is short 9 million people to qualify for herd immunity if this season’s flu is at the bottom of the contagious scale.

Next we’ll look at the “ingredients” of a flu shot.  It will of course contain a number of H3N2 Influenza strains and H1N1 Swine strains typically identified by “A” or “B” types and regions or states previously found predominant in.  These can be a “portion” of the virus such as the Hemagglutinin (the “H” part of the virus), an inactivated virus that is somehow kept from replicating, and the “dead” virus which is interesting because viruses aren’t actually “alive” to begin with.  They are more akin to a seed than a living organism.

Other ingredients are the “preservatives”.  These vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.  Many still use the known neuro-toxin mercury or some derivative of it like Thymerasol.  Others use another known neuro-toxin such as aluminum and throw in formaldehyde just for good measure.  While they might be great to “preserve” the vaccine, they are NOT so great when injected into the Human body in almost any amount.

When you put these foreign materials into the body, your immune system will have to work to remove them, and hopefully it will be strong enough to do so.  Here’s where the irony comes in.  Who do the “authorities” say should get the flu shot?  Those with a weakened immune system right? Oops!  Good luck getting rid of these neuro-toxins and foreign materials.

And finally, the last ingredient is what’s known as an “adjuvant”.  This is the ingredient specifically designed to suppress your immune system further than it apparently already is.  The reason for an adjuvant is because without it, an immune system with any kind of strength will attack and expel the virus so quickly that the system hasn’t had the time to identify it, catalog it, and create the antibodies to eradicate it through the secondary response part of your immune system and be prepared for future infections.  The biggest problem with artificially suppressing your immune system to keep the first line of immune response from working so quickly is that no one knows how far back it will rebound.  If it NEVER returns to its previous strength similar to a dropped ball that never returns to its original height, with shot after shot after shot, some 46 vaccinations before age 6, 70 by age 18, could this be the reason why we are seeing an increase in “autoimmune” diseases such as Crohn’s, Lupus, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and Acute/Chronic/Rheumatoid Arthritis just to name a few?

The other problem with artificially suppressing your immune system is that it opens you up for a period of time to other germs, bacteria, pollutants, and anything else that can make you sick.  As an example, the “Whooping cough” vaccine is pushed to make sure Grandma doesn’t infect her precious grandchild.  While its a great idea to make sure that infants don’t get whooping cough, is it really a good idea to suppress Grandma’s immune system to create immunity against the pertussis virus (whooping cough) when we’re coming into flu season??? Especially if we know we could cure whooping cough in just one hour?

Speaking of “antibodies”, this is where the term “efficacy” comes in.  Pharmaceutical companies do a limited scientific study of the numbers of people who get their vaccine to see at what level their body creates antibodies against that season’s specific flu strains.  Typically we hear that it is at the rate of 60%-70%, What that means is that of the people tested, 60%-70% created what they believe to be sufficient numbers of antibodies to ward off the flu should they get infected.  It DOES NOT mean how “effective” it is.  These two words sound similar and so they are used with the very idea that when we hear “efficacy” we will translate it to mean “effectiveness”.  In the Pharmaceutical company’s own documentation, they state that “…there have been no controlled trials adequately demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with…” their vaccine (italics and bold mine).  In other words, we really don’t know how effective it will be, so you’re on your own.

The GREAT news is that there are 2 or 3 things you can do to supercharge your Immune system so that you don’t need the flu shot and all the downside side effects it may cause.

First, your white blood cells, which are your front line soldiers, need to have plenty of ammunition to fight off any foreign invader.  Most people’s white blood cells are seriously under supplied with the proper amounts of ammunition.  That ammunition is Dehydrolized Ascorbic Acid, or in common folk terms, Vitamin C.  The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of 90 mg for adult men, 75 mg for adult women, is just enough to keep you from bleeding to death.

Drs. Klenner, Pauling, and Cathcart did significant research and found the amount of Sodium Ascorbate (buffered Vitamin C) we actually need to optimize our Immune system is in the 5,000 – 6,000 mg range per day taken in 2,000 mg doses over several times throughout the day orally for adults, less for children under 10 years of age.  This gives your soldiers more than adequate supplies of ammunition to fight pretty much any viral or bacterial infection with an initial immune response so powerful you typically won’t even know you were infected.  Dr. Thomas Levy MD JD, Dr. Andrew Saul PhD and Dr. Linus Pauling PhD have written in depth about the power of Vitamin C and its almost miraculous ability to help the body fight infections.

Next, every household and every company should stock Sambucol.  This is the enzyme L-Sambucus nigra which is found in Black Elderberries.  This little enzyme will make the Hemagglutinin spikes on most viruses impotent and unable to attach to a cell where it could then start the replication process furthering its infection.  In clinical studies done by the Medical School of Oslo Norway, they found in a double blind study that it decreases the symptoms of a 7 day flu down to just 3.1 days on average.  Comparative studies of Tamiflu® showed a decrease down to just 5.9-6.1 days.  That makes Sambucol 5 times more effective, way cheaper, no doctor’s visit, no prescription, and with none of the side effects.

And finally, studies have shown that when we get into fall and winter months, because we spend less time in the sunshine, our Vitamin D levels drop.  There is a direct correlation to susceptibility to colds and flus when Vitamin D levels are low.  This is easy to correct by simply increasing your Vitamin D3 intake.  Most people are so low already that taking 5,000 IU isn’t a problem, many could take 3 times that amount without any aversion.  If concerned, get a blood test reading of your Vitamin D levels, it should fall in the 70-90 range, my last reading was just 34 so I’ve increased mine to 15,000 IU per day.

In conclusion, if someone were to recommend NOT getting the flu shot or any vaccination without giving you proven alternatives to staying healthy, that would be nothing short of criminal.
If the ONLY thing we could do to ward off viral infections was through vaccinations, then I’d probably lean toward taking the risk and getting them, however, armed with the right knowledge, I now know that I have several options I can do as an alternative to strengthen my immune system and don’t really need to rely just on a vaccine, and now so do you.

The future is Now!
Nicholas St Jon N.a.MD

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