Difficult Decision - Difficult Choice

Every year my mother gets the flu vaccine, and every year she gets sick. She doesn't get the flu, mind you, because that would mean admitting that her vaccine had failed to protect her against the flu. Instead, she gets the "crud."

I haven't been willing to post anything yet about the flu vaccine, or the swine flu vaccine, since to take a position against them is seen as almost adversarial, certainly "selfish," and most definitely "stupid." So I haven't taken a public position... not even when a friend dutifully went to get her vaccine, then promptly reported on FB that she had the flu within three days... not when another friend posted on FB about her newly heightened fear of H1N1, prompted by having watched the 60 Minutes special in which a young boy nearly died... not when yet another friend posted on FB that her cousin had died of H1N1, but further inquiry revealed that she actually had had West Nile Virus... not when a friend revealed that the lupus he has suffered crippling debilitation from for many decades presented itself after a swine flu vaccination thirty years ago...

It is a serious topic, and those of us who question the conventional medical "wisdom" of vaccines are slow to make that position known to the masses. Most folks just aren't ready to question everything they've ever heard about inoculation and how beneficial it is... how necessary... how important...

Just know the following facts* before you stand in line for your arm prick: in the areas of the world that have just completed their flu season, H1N1 had proven to be a mild flu that is of little danger to all but the most severely immunocompromised; that 99% of deaths reported as "flu deaths" are actually a result of secondary infections like bacterial pneumonia, which you are more likely to acquire when you submit to the vaccine, as it causes suppressed immune function for several days after administration; that recent studies indicate that those who have had the seasonal flu vaccine (this year, or in years past) are more likely to catch swine flu than those who haven't; that they stopped actually testing for flu strain two months ago, and are simply assuming and announcing that anyone with "flu-like symptoms" has H1N1; and that both the seasonal flu vaccine and the swine flu vaccine contain thimerosol, a mercury preservative.

(If you're contemplating the flue vaccine decision, read this and this, even if you don't watch the videos that start automatically when you click the links.)

*Links to studies and information which substantiate the above statistical claims can be found on this website. I don't want to take time to go back and find them all right now. This post has already been a "saved draft" for over a week now, waiting for me to find time to re-do this research. It isn't happening... you can take the time yourself if it is important to you.

I did find this funny look at this serious issue, however, and I share it here just for fun. It made me laugh.