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Flu vaccines, also known as Influenza vaccines, flu jabs, or flu shots, are vaccines that protect individuals against being diseased by the influenza virus. Every year, there are two versions of the vaccine that are developed since the virus changes rapidly. Whereas the effectiveness of the vaccines changes from one year to another, most offer modest to excellent protection against flu. They reduce the number of days that an individual does not work because of the infection of the virus by an average of half a day. A child being vaccinated is also a way of protecting those around them. However, the verdict on flu vaccines is out. Several experts in the field of medicine now agree that it is more significant for individuals to protect themselves and their families from the influenza vaccines than the influenza virus itself. Therefore, people should not get vaccinated against the influenza virus because of the reasons explained in this paper.
The Vaccine Contains Harmful Substances
Most influenza vaccines have mercury that is a neurotoxic element. The only vaccine that does not contain this chemical is the FluMist spray vaccine, but it also has its different concerns since it contains a virus that has been created in the laboratory. The medical experts, the mainstream media, and the pharmaceutical industry are candid in informing the community that the vaccines contain strains of the Influenza virus. What these agencies are less probable to disclose though is the unending list of other components that accompany the vaccine (VanMeter & Hubert, 2015). There have been guarantees from health authorities that the degree of mercury-based antibacterial thimerosal in the influenza virus vaccine is not dangerous. However, it has never been proven that there is a safe amount of this poisonous substance for consumption in human beings. Morally speaking, it is beyond understanding how any health authority would back the medical experts in the use of this toxic substance. The toxicity of mercury can lead to memory loss, depression, respiratory issues, cardiovascular conditions, digestive imbalances, oral health issues, ADD and other severe issues of health.
Vaccines convey either living or dead virus directly into the body tissue of an individual. This causes short-circuiting in the person’s usual front-line system of defence in his or her passageways of respiration and linings of the mucous membrane. If the immune system of an individual is out of balance or weak he or she could experience severe consequences of health when given the vaccination. Health journals have published several articles enlightening that getting the flu vaccines can cause severe health conditions that include adverse immunological reactions and many other infections (Scheurer, 2013). It further augments the susceptibility of the body to diseases that the vaccine was intended to offer protection. In children, within days or some weeks of vaccination, they develop pneumonia, runny noses, bronchiolitis, and ear infections. It is because the influenza virus introduced into their bodies creates the symptoms. The vaccine also lowers the immunity of the children since the vaccines do not protect but sensitize the body against the influenza virus.
The Vaccine can lead to Other Diseases
The flu shot can lead to narcolepsy. Recent studies from Europe, particularly Finland, directly implicate the influenza vaccination in several people, including 800 children, acquiring narcolepsy. The usefulness in children under the age of two years and adults over 65 years old is not known because of the low quality of the study. The HINI flu pandemic of 2009 left a worrying legacy in Europe. A very big number of individuals who were vaccinated to avert the flu were left infected with narcolepsy that is a debilitating and incurable condition. It leads to overpowering sleepiness during the day, at times comes along with a sudden weakness of the muscles in reaction to strong emotions like anger and laughter. Narcolepsy is a covert disorder that affects an estimated one person in 3000 individuals in Europe, and it appears mostly in adolescence or childhood stages of development. People who have been infected with this malady lose certain cells of the brain in the hypothalamus, resulting in a shortage of hypocretin that is a molecule that enables the regulation of the sleep-wake process (Laine & Goldmann, 2009). Scholars are uncertain that an autoimmune response is to be accountable for several individuals who get narcolepsy. Additionally, they suspect that any person with the vaccine-related form has a particular variation in a gene in the HLA clan that aids the body differentiate its proteins from those developed by microbial intruders. The manufacturer of the vaccine acknowledged the relationship of the disease to the vaccine and some of the patients and families that were affected were compensated. However, how the vaccine triggered the disease has not yet been clarified (Minai & Bar-Yam, 2007).
Lack of Sufficient Knowledge of the Vaccine by the Medical Experts
People should not get the flu vaccine because it may not be appropriate for the type of flu in that year. Each year the medical experts, the mainstream media, and the pharmaceutical industry work tirelessly to convince individuals that it is essential that they get the flu shots. Nevertheless, they do not tell the people the whole story in the cases concerning the hostile reactions or regarding the poisonous chemicals being injected into them (Gallup & Newport, 2010). A fresh batch of Influenza vaccine is developed each year. Nevertheless, the organizations that develop it have to make guesses of the strain of flu that will be infecting individuals that year, and they base the manufacture of the vaccine on the speculation. If there is a different strain of Influenza in circulation, the vaccine will be ineffective and may also be toxic (Conte, 2002). A vaccine is examined based on its efficacy that is the degree to which it minimizes peril of illness under conditions that are controlled. It is also contemplated by its effectiveness that is the observed minimization in risk after the vaccine is used. In the case of flu, efficiency is anticipated to be lower than the efficacy since it is quantified employing the levels of illnesses that look like flu that does not necessarily result from influenza. Studies concerning the effectiveness of flu shots in the real society are problematic since the vaccines may be wrongly matched because of the wide variation of virus prevalence between years, as well as flu is regularly confused with other diseases that have similar symptoms.
Therefore, people should not be given flu vaccine because of the several reasons that have been explained in this discussion. The fact that the vaccine can lead to more severe conditions instead of protecting the patient from the Influenza virus should be considered and the flu vaccination banned by the medical authorities. Enhanced studies regarding the influenza virus should be conducted to ensure safe vaccines that the medical experts are sure of are used on individuals to avoid negative consequences.
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- Gallup, A. M., & Newport, F. (Eds.). (2010). The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 2009. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
- Laine, C., & Goldmann, D. R. (2009). In the Clinic: Practical Information about Common Health Problems. ACP Press.
- Minai, A. A., & Bar-Yam, Y. (Eds.). (2007). Unifying Themes in Complex Systems: Volume IIIA: Overview. Springer Science & Business Media.
- Scheurer, D. (2013). Volume 2, Issue 2, An issue of Hospital Medicine Clinics-E-Book (Vol. 2, No. 2). Elsevier Health Sciences.
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