Archive for October, 2010

Todd and I dread flu season, not so much because we are scared of flu, but because doctors we’ve had has been very pushy about flu vaccines. Usually, we say “We’ll Think about it” and then not go back to get them — but pediatricians often nearly succeeds in making me feel guilty for not ‘sparing our kids from flu’. Anyhow, the pediatric office we’ve been going to is much slower paced than one in Virginia so when our doctor tried to convince all four (…or 5, depending on how you count!) of us to get flu shots, we asked him a whole bunch of questions. Not surprisingly though, we didn’t really get any useful answers out of him. He basically repeated over and over that “1) People do die from flu, 2) No one has EVER died from flu vaccine, 3) Complications are rare 4) There’s no preservatives in the shot Ashland will be getting”.

We aren’t anti-vaccine really. All of us get vaccinated for all the big ones most people get thinking that vaccines’ benefits do out weigh the risks. But with flu vaccines, it seems ineffective for most part (I have a suspicion that doctors forecasting which flu strain will be ‘in season’ is about as reliable as weather forecast), and you have to get one EVERY YEAR — and I have some concerns about long term and cumulative effects of various stuff in the vaccine.

Anyhow, the doctor probably got fed up with us and eventually gave us the information insert for the flu vaccine! So whatever my opinions are regarding this issue, the fact is that it contains Formaldehyde, and Octylphenol Ethoxylate. Many people have many opinions about effects of these substances but in short, they are toxic. The doctor was right about pediatric version of the vaccine not containing any preservative, but the one Todd and I were offered does list 25 mcg of mercury as a preservative.

Other serious concerns I had with the information sheet is where it says that it is “not known whether _vaccine brand name_ can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity” and also that if you are nursing “It is not known whether ___ is excreted in human milk.” This is when all pregnant woman who are in second/third trimester during flu season is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to get vaccinated (and in fact both our pediatrician and my OB offered me one). And then even if you aren’t pregnant, it admits that “___ have not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility.” As to why it hasn’t been evaluated, I have no idea considering one of their ingredient is a known carcinogenic substance.

I’m reasonably sure that, as long as this batch of vaccine wasn’t somehow faulty and we aren’t allergic to any of the ingredients, we’d probably be just fine getting one dose. But when I think about the consequence of taking this into our bodies every year for the rest of our lives…well, I’m not sure if I want to do that (for what seems to me a very marginal benefit). Besides, none of us have gotten flu for as long as we can remember without getting the flu vaccine, and even if we get the vaccine, the doctor admits we might still catch a different flu. I’m not telling you that you should or shouldn’t get one (I can easily see if I were a daycare center staff, or work in a hospital, I might choose differently) but we decided to opt out of flu vaccine and instead try to lead a healthy lifestyle that incorporates immune system boosting diet. And if we do catch a flu, we’ll be sure to get necessary medical attention at that point.

…And when I poked around online for a bit regarding this matter, I found that it is true that people do die from flu but it’s not statistically so common (…and I mean you can also die from A LOT of other things.) and that it might not necessarily be the case that no one has died from flu vaccine — I’m leaving out sources here on purpose — but just that some of these suspecting cases were left “inconclusive”.

Such a lot of words and and no picture would be sad so here’s an unrelated picture. We found this creepy-cute doll while thrifting. Todd took the photo (and no, we didn’t buy it!), and I’ve taken the liberty to edit it since I like it