Flu Vaccines: Worth Our While?

Flu Season is fast approaching and, if major news networks are to be believed, an unstoppable flu pandemic is following fast on it's heels. As such, the big question becomes - will the media push be enough to scare enough of the populous into vaccinating so that the pharmaceutical companies funding it turn a profit?

Don't get me wrong. I believe that CERTAIN vaccines have a place within our society. However, for something as trivial as the flu (given you're not an elderly individual, with compromised health) why subject yourself to all of the nasty additives and preservatives commonly found in vaccines.

Sounds like propaganda doesn't it? It's not! By the Centre for Disease Control's (CDC) own admission, the most common additions to vaccinations are -

• Aluminum, which is added as an adjuvant to help the vaccine stimulate a better response.
• Antibiotics, to prevent the growth of germs during production and storage of the vaccine.
• Egg protein.
• Formaldehyde, used to inactivate bacterial products of toxoid vaccines (and to preserve dead bodies).
• MSG, which is added as a stabilizer.
• Thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative added to vaccines that contain more than one dose to prevent contamination.

Before anybody jumps to explain the difference between ethyl and methyl mercury, I'd like to point out that "it's all mercury" to me. Claims to the contrary would be the equivalent of suggesting that magnesium 'theonate' is not magnesium because it isn't in the 'citrate' form. 

In addition,it is important to note that the flu virus evolves yearly. As such, the current vaccine will immunise you from the former strain, rather than it's current form. It will take some months before an up-to-date vaccine is ready to ship and, by that time, Flu Season will be in recession. 

Naturally the choice to vaccinate is yours. But as for me, I'll be looking to natural ways of boosting my immune system in order to prevent the onset of flu symptoms rather than adding the above list to my innards.