Seasonal Flu Vaccine Makes Children Three Times More at Risk of Hospitalization

For all the press that the H1N1 virus and vaccines have received, the biggest "promise" made to calm anxieties felt throughout the nation is that this vaccine it is just as safe as the annual flu vaccine. Should this information make us feel safer? Or give us more cause for concern?

The CDC's Vaccine Safety Page says: "The 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccines are expected to have similar safety profiles as seasonal flu vaccines, which have very good safety track records. Over the years, hundreds of millions of Americans have received seasonal flu vaccines." (1)

So what exactly does that "good safety track record" look like?

“At the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society recently (story dated July 2009) held in San Diego, researchers presented a study showing that the flu vaccine – widely touted as a “must have” for children with chronic illnesses – isn’t effective in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially ones with asthma. But here’s the most damning evidence that flu shots aren’t the safe, helpful vaccine the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC) and other government agencies claim: the researchers also found that children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than their peers who do not get the vaccine.” (2)

“The results showed that youngsters who had received the flu vaccine had three times the risk of hospitalization, as compared to children who had not received the vaccine. For kids with asthma, there was even a higher risk…” (2)

So the very group that is most at risk for flu and therefore, we are told, should be vaccinated, is exactly the same group that does NOT have a good track record for vaccinations. (And perhaps not the only group.)

But will "they" (US Government, CDC, WHO, the star-crossed, ever obedient media, or anybody at all) tell you this? Don't count on it. This research was revealed in July, and the government certainly should have warned us by now, if they ever intend to warn us. Until then, consider the risk with a little more information in hand, before lining up your child for a vaccine – and not just the H1N1 vaccine.

(1) http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/vaccine_safety.htm

(2) http://blogs.healthfreedomalliance.org/blog/2009/07/14/flu-shots-put-children-in-the-hospital/

written by Heather J. Kirk of www.HeatherJKirk.com