By Edda West

As swine flu hysteria took a firm grip of Canadians these past six months, it became glaringly evident to anyone doing a little independent research outside mainstream media, that there is a serious disconnect between the reality of “evidence based medicine” and the mythology public health officials have spun around the effectiveness of flu vaccines. Historical evidence now shows that annual flu vaccination of increasing numbers of people over nearly 4 decades, has made no difference whatsoever in protecting people from the disease or death from it. ( 1, 2)

When the World Health Organization (WHO) elevated H1N1 to level 6 pandemic status, it triggered panic around the world and set the vaccine industry into high gear with governments obediently following. Level 6 means that the 194 countries who are signatories to the WHO’s health policies are committed to following its disease control protocols. Level 6 used to mean that the new pathogen travels quickly and carries a substantially increased risk of morbidity and mortality.

When Dr. Tom Jefferson a lead researcher at the Cochrane Collaboration, a highly respected international network of researchers who appraise medical evidence, was asked if he thought that the WHO declared a pandemic prematurely, he had this to offer - “Don't you think there's something noteworthy about the fact that the WHO has changed its definition of pandemic? The old definition was a new virus, which went around quickly, for which you didn't have immunity, and which created a high morbidity and mortality rate. Now the last two have been dropped, and that's how swine flu has been categorized as a pandemic.” (3)

In 2005, Dr. Tom Jefferson and his research team at the Cochrane Collaboration discovered that flu vaccines have been overrated and have little value in protecting the public from yearly influenza outbreaks. In his article entitled Influenza Vaccination: Policy versus Evidence published in the British Medical Journal, Jefferson says, “Evidence  ^{from systematic reviews shows that inactivated vaccines have little or no effect on the effects measured”. Needless to say, he has little expectation that the H1N1 vaccine will make much of a difference in the current outbreak. (1)}

“For now, at least, I don't really see any fundamental difference - no difference in the definition between this and a normal flu epidemic. Swine flu could have even stayed unnoticed if it had been caused by some unknown virus rather than an influenza virus”, says Dr. Jefferson.

“The WHO and public health officials, virologists and the pharmaceutical companies have built this machine around the impending pandemic. And there's a lot of money involved, and influence, and careers, and entire institutions! And all it took was one of these influenza viruses to mutate to start the machine grinding.” (3)

When the Cochrane flu researchers first published their meta analysis in September 2005, we were elated that finally, an independent research team had published a thorough investigation of the performance of influenza vaccines over 37 years. Those of us in the vaccine awareness and truth movement expected that Cochrane’s meta-analysis would influence public health policies in a positive way. We thought the Cochrane research would inspire public health officials to alter their deceptive yearly barrage of hysterical flu propaganda, and bring it in line with the sobering reality presented by the researchers.

How very, very naïve of us to imagine that any such thing would happen – that a fastidious analysis of the accumulated world flu vaccine literature would alter the status quo of business as usual. What these past few years following the publication of the Cochrane data have shown us, is that when it comes to vaccines, even if you present public health policy makers with clear cut evidence of the ineffectiveness of influenza vaccines, they will shrug it off, ignore it and discard it as irrelevant. This is how the vaccine paradigm retains its protected status as an elite group of drugs, immune to scrutiny or honest appraisal by even the most respected researchers.

The media in its pro-vaccine bias has lost any scrap of integrity it ever had. During these many months of H1N1 propaganda, not once, while listening to television or radio news, did I hear mention of the Cochrane review or a suggestion that its findings should send vaccine policy makers back to the drawing board. The ONLY article I have found appearing in mainstream media with any credibility appears in the November, 2009, The Atlantic, written by two women – Sannon Brownlee, a senior research at the New America Foundation, and Jeanne Lenzer an investigative journalist and frequent contributor to the British Medical Journal (BMJ). (3)

They write, “The most vocal—and undoubtedly most vexing—critic of the gospel of flu vaccine is the Cochrane Collaboration’s Jefferson, who’s also an epidemiologist trained at the famed London School of Tropical Hygiene, and who, in Lisa Jackson’s view, makes other skeptics seem “moderate by comparison.” Among his fellow flu researchers, Jefferson’s outspokenness has made him something of a pariah. At a 2007 meeting on pandemic preparedness at a hotel in Bethesda, Maryland, Jefferson, who’d been invited to speak at the conference, was not greeted by any of the colleagues milling about the lobby. He ate his meals in the hotel restaurant alone, surrounded by scientists chatting amiably at other tables. He shrugs off such treatment. As a medical officer working for the United Nations in 1992, during the siege of Sarajevo, he and other peacekeepers were captured and held for more than a month by militiamen brandishing AK-47s and reeking of alcohol. Professional shunning seems trivial by comparison, he says.” (3)

“Tom Jefferson has taken a lot of heat just for saying, ‘Here’s the evidence: it’s not very good,’ says Dr. Sumit Majumdar, a researcher at the University of Alberta. “The reaction has been so dogmatic and even hysterical that you’d think he was advocating stealing babies.” Yet while other flu researchers may not like what Jefferson has to say, they cannot ignore the fact that he knows the flu-vaccine literature better than anyone else on the planet. He leads an international team of researchers who have combed through hundreds of flu-vaccine studies. The vast majority of the studies were deeply flawed, says Jefferson. “Rubbish is not a scientific term, but I think it’s the term that applies.” Only four studies were properly designed to pin down the effectiveness of flu vaccine, he says, and two of those showed that it might be effective in certain groups of patients, such as school-age children with no underlying health issues like asthma. The other two showed equivocal results or no benefit.” (3)

Jefferson also calls for placebo controlled trials, in which the health outcome of vaccinated groups would be compared with those getting a placebo. The medical world is appalled at this suggestion, saying that “It is considered unethical to do trials in populations that are recommended to have a vaccine”. They insist that the vaccine is effective, and that depriving people of the vaccine who are recommended to get it, is unethical. Jefferson argues that they have it backwards. “What do you do when you have uncertainty? You test” he says. “We have built huge, population-based policies on the flimsiest of scientific evidence. The most unethical thing to do is to carry on business as usual.” (3)

This is the same lame argument used by medical authorities when this topic comes up relevant to the role of vaccines triggering autism in some children. For years we have heard that it would be unethical to deprive a control group of children from getting vaccinated in order to have a comparative study looking at the long term health outcome of two groups – the vaccinated versus unvaccinated children to determine what negative impact the currently overloaded vaccine schedule has on the long term health of children. This comparative study would look at the relationship of vaccines to autism and many other chronic degenerative disorders.

We say it is completely unethical to keep vaccinating children with the overloaded vaccine schedule imposed on them today without knowing what the overall health impact is. Whereas the pro-vaccine camp says it would be unethical to do any studies that would deprive a group of children from being vaccinated. It is a moot argument as there now exists a large group of children in North America whose families refuse vaccination – so this group already exists as a baseline from which to begin research.

And who is there to stop this deceit? When the most respected researchers on the planet have concluded that flu vaccine policies are based on “rubbish”, what then is needed to stop these people from forcing their fraudulent policies on the public? How can meaningful changes, based on honest evaluation of vaccination policies be brought about when fundamental medical ethics have been abandoned? Certainly not by a complacent public that flocks like lemmings to the vaccine clinics, infected only by the engineered fear they have been programmed to obey.

Without some breakthrough to lift the veil of ignorance, the truth of this issue just never spreads far or wide enough to alter public perception. As long as mainstream media takes its marching orders from drug companies, and kow tows to health officials without question, the people won’t know they are dupes of the government and drug policy makers who will continue lying to them. Clearly, it matters not to vaccine policy makers what the evidence actually shows, nor that something is very, very wrong with this picture – that despite high vaccination rates, death rates among the elderly during flu season have increased rather than decreased.

So now, here we are $1.5 billion dollars in the hole, and the final cost of this H1N1 caper is expected to exceed $2 billion. And you know whose money is paying for this caper.

Back in the 1970’s, German physician, Dr. Ehrengut collected data on the numbers of children suffering neurological injuries following pertussis vaccination. He found extensive “pro-vaccination bias”. Then as it is today, when a child suffered neurological damage post vaccination, it was denied by the majority of doctors. “No doctor likes to report serious post-immunization events which he may have caused”, he said. The result is a ‘conspiracy of silence’. In response to the question why doctors continue to turn a blind eye to vaccine damage inflicted on children and the vehement denial of a director of a university children’s clinic in Germany who claimed he had never seen a neurological complication following immunization, Ehrengut coined the phrase “what must not be, cannot be”. (4)

“What must not be, cannot be”, is the endlessly recurring theme in “vaxworld’. Monopoly medicine’s intransigent denial that vaccines play a role in the autism epidemic and other neurological disorders that now afflict hundreds of thousands of previous normal children, insults the intelligence of all the parents who witnessed their healthy children unravel shortly after vaccination. Well known health writer Gary Null calls it “medical denialism”

Gary Null writes in a recent essay, “Under normal circumstances, when a public health measure is advocated or mandated, and it is accepted without question by all Federal health agencies, state and local health departments, and promoted by the mainstream media with unquestioning support from the orthodox medical community, then it is assumed that such measures at the very least meet basic scientifically proven criteria. Foremost should be public health safety and that the proven efficacy of a health program be implemented according to rigorous scientific gold standards. When this standard is ignored and denied, as is now being done by our health officials, then the wellbeing of the nation is placed at risk. Consequently, we see the concerns regarding the swine flu vaccine focusing upon supply rather than health. Our government health officials have baptized vaccine safe and, therefore, there is no reason for further debate. In fact, so certain are those in charge of the nation’s vaccination programs, even democratic discourse about vaccination controversies has been marginalized and smothered. There is no dissenting opinion published in any major industrial medical journal or magazine, nor found on any of government health websites.” (5)

Null continues, “When put to the test, a meticulous review of the scientific literature finds that virtually all of the Federal health agencies’ assumptions are held in error. Furthermore, we are shocked that the CDC, FDA and HHS, with all of their resources, refuse to take into consideration the large body of clinical evidence that contradicts their biased vaccine policies.” ( 5)

Commenting on the enormous quantity of tax funded dollars being spent not only on this experimental H1N1 vaccine, but on any influenza vaccine, now shown by the Cochrane Collaboration to be less than even marginally effective, Arthur Schafer, director of the U of Manitoba's Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, says "Good ethics requires good facts, and the ethical debate so far has been who should be the first to get the vaccine, and there has been virtually no discussion of the safety and effectiveness of the drug,"

“Vaccines to treat seasonal flu have not been effective, and there is no evidence to suggest a vaccine for H1N1 will be more effective,” He added, “As well, the so-called cure can be worse than the disease, or can be useless. There may be other alternatives, safer, more effective things we can do. It all depends on the evidence." (6)

An American study found that one of the more powerful risk factors for being admitted to the ICU and of dying was obesity. Dr. Russell Blaylock emphasizes that pregnant women are NOT at high risk of getting sick enough to end up in ICU (intensive care), UNLESS the pregnant woman is also obese. Obesity played a significant role in the risk to children as well as to pregnant women. Obesity in pregnancy substantially increases risk of serious illness. Obese people are admitted 6x more often than those of normal weight.

Dr. Blaylock warns about vaccination during pregnancy - “It is known that stimulating a woman’s immune system during midterm and later term pregnancy significantly increases the risk that her baby will develop autism during childhood and schizophrenia sometime during the teenage years and afterward.

Compelling scientific evidence also shows an increased risk of seizures in the baby and later as an adult. In fact, a number of neurodevelopmental and behavioral problems can occur in babies born to women immunologically stimulated during pregnancy.” (7)

“It is true that serious flu infections or E. coli infections during pregnancy are a major risk for all these complications, but a woman’s risk of becoming infected, is a very small fraction of 1 %, yet they are calling for all pregnant women to be vaccinated with at least three vaccines, two of which contain mercury. There is also evidence to show that a large number of these women will gain no protection from the vaccine.” (7)

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny concurs. She says “Women who received influenza vaccine during pregnancy had the same risk for ILI (influenza like illnesses) when compared with unvaccinated women, adjusting for women’s age and week of delivery.” She continues, “Vaccines made no difference to outcomes to the mom or the baby in either the vaccinated vs. unvaccinated population.” (8)

Dr. Blaylock cites the work of Dr. Bronze, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center writing for WebMD, who notes that animal studies have shown that vaccines harm unborn babies and that no safety studies have been done in humans. “A recent study done by Dr. Laura Hewitson, a professor of obstetrics at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center, found that a single vaccine used in human babies, when used in newborn monkeys, caused significant abnormalities in brainstem development. This mass vaccination program for H1N1 variant virus will be the largest experiment on pregnant women in history and could end as a monumental disaster.” (7)

Teresa Binstock, Researcher in Developmental & Behavioral Neuroanatomy reiterates Dr. Blaylock’s cautions in a recent article posted on the Generation Rescue website. “An increasing body of peer-reviewed evidence indicates that when a woman is pregnant, transiently elevated cytokines can induce atypical brain development in her embryo or fetus. Illnesses and vaccinations induce elevation of cytokines, and these elevations can be heightened in individuals with alleles of genes related to immune responses. An implication of citations supporting these relationships is that vaccinating pregnant women is likely to induce cognitive and behavioral pathologies in as least some children whose mothers were vaccinated while the child was in utero. Schizophrenia and developmental disabilities are pathologies that may ensue.” (9)

Binstock asks – “More generally, we ask if vaccinologists are prone to hubris? Their willingness to inject thimerosal and squalene despite voluminous evidence of harm caused by those substances appalls. An autism parent raises an important issue, are many and perhaps most vaccinologists rushing forth while ignoring advances in immunology, while ignoring findings which indicate why some individuals are more likely to experience adverse effects from vaccinations, especially during pregnancy?” (9)

It could be more than a “monumental disaster” in Canada where pregnant mothers have been injected with squalene adjuvant enhanced vaccine – unlike in the U.S. where the decision was made to use non-adjuvanted flu vaccine. The adjuvant will substantially increase immune response and the likelihood of harm to unborn babies.

“The majority of children respond poorly to flu vaccine, says Dr. Blaylock. “It is interesting to note that babies respond poorly to either the seasonal flu vaccine or the H1N1 vaccine. One of the largest studies ever done, found that children below the age of 2 years received no protection at all from the seasonal flu vaccine.” Blaylock refers here to the Cochrane review which analyzed 51 studies involving more than 260,000 children and found that below age 2 years, the seasonal flu vaccine offered no protection and those older than 2 years, only 33 to 36% had protective antibody response.” (7)

Remember, antibodies do NOT equal immunity. Antibodies simply indicate exposure to the pathogen. It is well known in immunology that a person with high levels of antibodies can still get the disease!!

In 2003 it was reported by the CDC that 90 children died from seasonal flu complications. Ironically, as shown by Neil Z. Miller in his excellent book -- Vaccine Safety Manuel -- once the flu vaccine was given to small children the death rate from flu increased 7-fold.10 Not surprising, since the mercury in the vaccine suppresses immunity.

“Parents should also keep in mind that this study, as well as the Australian/New Zealand Study found that childhood obesity played a major role in a child’s risk of being admitted to the ICU or dying. This is another dramatic demonstration as to the danger of obesity in children and that all parents should avoid MSG (all food-based excitotoxin additives), excess sugar and excess high glycemic carbohydrates in their children’s diets. This goes for pregnant moms as well.” (7)

“One major factor being left out of all discussion of these vaccines, especially those for small children and babies, is the effect of other vaccinations on presently circulating viral infections such as the H1N1 variant virus. It is known that several of the vaccines are powerfully immune suppressing. For example, the measles, mumps and rubella virus are all immune suppressing, as seen with the MMR vaccine, a live virus vaccine.

This means that when a child receives the MMR vaccine, for about two to five weeks afterwards their immune system is suppressed, making them highly susceptible to catching viruses and bacterial infections circulating through the population. Very few mothers are ever told this, even though it is well accepted in the medical literature.

In fact, it is known that the Hib vaccine for haemophilus influenzae (a bacterial infection) is an immune suppressing vaccine and that vaccinated children are at a higher risk of developing haemophilus influenzae meningitis for at least one week after receiving the vaccine. These small children receive both of these vaccines.

At age 2 to 4 months, they will receive a Hib vaccine. Therefore at age 2 to 4 months, and again at age one year, they are at an extreme risk of serious infectious complications caused by vaccine-induced immune suppression. The New Zealand/Australian study found that the highest death in the young was from birth to age 12 months, the very time they were getting these immune-suppressing vaccines.

The so-called healthy children and babies that have ended up in the hospital and have died may in fact be the victims of immune suppression caused by their routine childhood vaccines. We may never know because the medical elite will never record such data or conduct the necessary studies. Recall also that the seasonal flu vaccine, which is recommended for all children over the age of 6 months, each year, is also immune suppressing because of the mercury-containing thimerosal in the vaccine.” (7)

A recent Canadian study found those who have gotten the seasonal influenza vaccine in the past may be at greater risk from getting H1N1 and having complications. Flu vaccines will nearly always decrease your overall immune function, NOT enhance it. And now we have very young children who have been injected with flu vaccines these past several years along with other scheduled vaccines, which along with the immune suppressing effect of the regularly scheduled vaccines they get, makes them even more vulnerable to contracting H1N1.

The risk factors associated with OTC’s (over the counter remedies) are unfortunately not well known by most parents. Over the years we’ve brought the risks associated with fever reducing drugs to the attention of our readers. Perhaps it’s time to do so again. (12) When young Evan Frustaglio, the 13 year old Ontario boy died so suddenly after complaining of flu like symptoms for a few days, a review of the many news articles about his death revealed some information that could perhaps offer a clue that perhaps his death was not just because of H1N1..

Evan’s illness started with a sore throat and cough Friday night while at a hockey tournament. By Saturday night after hockey, he had developed symptoms that were more flu-like in nature and when over-the-counter medication wasn't helping with a fever, the family went to a walk-in clinic on Sunday afternoon where they were told the boy had a regular flu and were instructed to continue treatment with Tylenol and Gravol. The parents were assured that everything was fine – that he was “breathing normally, and were instructed to continue to give him the medication to keep his fever down, and that “everything should be fine” - 'He is breathing normally, continue to give him the med … and keep his fever down and everything should be fine. His father reported that “Less than 24 hours later my son is gone.” (10)

In Evan’s case, and many other cases we’ve heard of and read about over the years, the emphasis is always on keeping the fever down, and that the sick person was advised to continue with acetaminophen (brand name is Tylenol), also called paracetamol in the U.K. or Australia & New Zealand. While health officials confirmed that Evan had tested positive for H1N1, there is the possibility that there may have been other factors in his death, such as meningitis or a bacterial infection. This possibility was raised by Dr. Alain Poirier, Quebec’s chief public health officer. Unfortunately Evan’s family chose to forego autopsy, so we’ll never know what other condition might have complicated his situation.

One thing is for sure, the continuous ingestion of Tylenol was not of benefit to him as it could have masked the true degree of how ill he was while suppressing his immune system. As well, he may have built up a cumulative toxic level of acetaminophen over a number of days that became life threatening. Fever suppressing drugs can mask important symptoms such as decreasing respiratory rate which can confound accurate diagnosis. If Evan had an underlying bacterial infection such as meningitis, then appropriate medical treatment could possibly have saved his life. But we’ll never know. (10)

We know from the medical literature that acetaminophen, (the medicinal content of Tylenol), suppresses immune function. According to vaccine researcher, Hilary Butler, there is a 30 year history discussing and describing the immune suppressing effects of acetaminophen. In a personal communication with Hilary, she shared with me a letter she had recently sent to Dr. Chen of the CDC in which she chastised him for failing to be current on information that has been around for decades, including a WHO (world health organization) bulletin that warns against the use of paracetamol (acetaminophen) or any related type of drug for fever – “that these should never be used for fever, because it suppresses the immune system; masks serious disease and if you put those two things together, you can have a recipe for disaster.” (11)

A basic “must read” on the benefits of fever, is Dr. Robert Mendelsohn’s book, How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor which has an excellent chapter on fever. He reassures us that fever has an important function. “If your child gets an infection, the fever that accompanies it is a blessing, not a curse. It occurs because of the spontaneous release of pyrogens that cause the body temperature to rise. This is a natural defense mechanism of the body that has gone into high gear. When an infection develops, your child’s body responds by manufacturing additional white blood cells, called leucocytes. They destroy bacteria and viruses and remove damaged tissue and irritating materials from the body. The activity of the white cells is also increased, and they move more rapidly to the site of the infection. This part of the process, called leucotaxis, is stimulated by the release of the pyrogens that raise body temperature. Hence the fever. A rising body temperature simply indicates that the process of healing is speeding up. It is something to rejoice over, not to fear.”

During flus and colds, instead of reaching for antipyretics (fever suppressing drugs like Tylenol), there are many useful natural remedies that can help support you through the illness. Dr. Loreen Dawson, a Naturopathic doctor in Sechelt B.C offers a few suggestions that you may find useful.

-Sugar and sweets weaken immune function – avoid as much as possible

-Dairy products often create mucus in the nose, sinuses and throat which gives bacteria and viruses an ideal medium to grown on

Children - HMF powder or similar excellent quality lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidus probiotics (no other strains of probiotic proven to be effective for reducing flu symptoms in children) – ¼ to ½ tsp/day – reduces flu symptoms by 70% and need for antibiotics by 84% (Pediatrics, Aug 2009)

-Vitamin D – 2000iu/day for adults, 1000iu/day for school age children (Dr. Mercola recommends higher doses – see article on vitamin D in this newsletter)

Prevention Options – for those at higher risk due to home or work environment or underlying medical conditions – choose 1 or 2 of these:

- Excellent quality multi vitamins (Thorne Encaps) - 2/day with any meal

- Mucoccinum – 1 tablet every 1-2 weeks – homeopathic flu prevention

- Astragalus/ginseng combination – ½ tsp/day – to strengthen immune system

- Jade screen (traditional Chinese formula to prevent colds and flu) - ½ tsp once/day

- Elderberry tincture – tasty for children – ½ tsp once/day

- Vitamin C – 1000mg 2-3 times/day

After exposure, the virus settles in your throat and/or nose and begins to multiply. When the population of the virus is high enough (2-5 days), your body starts to react against it, and you get symptoms. Gargling with salt water and doing nasal lavage daily will reduce the viral load in your throat and nose, and should greatly reduce your risk of getting sick.

dress warmly, cover chest and neck, wear a hat if needed. Get lots of sleep. Do what you can to reduce stress and unnecessary “busyness”. Wash your hands frequently, and always before eating. Avoid touching your hands to your eyes, nose or mouth. Cough into your sleeve. Use disposable tissues only

2. Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer; Does the Vaccine Matter? November 2009, Atlantic

7. Dr. Russell Blaylock on Dr. Mercola’s; Swine Flu-One of The Most Massive Cover-ups in American: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/03/What-We-Have-Learned-About-the-Great-Swine-Flu-Pandemic.aspx