The Influence of the Influenza Vaccine:

[Bridgid Joseph]

According to the CDC, in the US, deaths from influenza (flu) can hit up to 49,000 annually. As nurses, we all work really hard at preventing transmission of infections within the hospitals through diligence with hand washing, aseptic technique with IV access, and contact precautions for patients with C. Diff, MRSA, and VRE because we care about our patients and we are also helping them heal from their current illnesses. Why does it feel different to protect our patients by getting a vaccine that is required by the hospital as opposed to following all of the other policies and protocols that are imposed upon us? Yes, we are taking a medication, an injection, created to prevent an illness that is easily spread and can have devastating effects to our patients...either through infecting them or infecting other staff members and leaving us without adequate staffing to take care of said patients.

It does seem to take away our ability to make an informed decision: How do you know what YOU think is best when the information from the CDC recommends that basically, everyone should get the flu vaccine, of which there are a few different kinds of vaccinations that you can get, and then there are always hospital policies about flu vaccinations that can also have an impact on when and what type of flu vaccine you obtain?

How the Vaccinations Work

This year all of the vaccinations are either trivalent or quadrivalent to protect against the two strains of influenza A and either 1 or 2 strains of Influenza B that research indicates will be most virulent this season. You can be vaccinated two different ways, either by nasal spray or through an actual injection; two weeks after vaccination, your body starts to create antibodies against the flu that will help prevent you from getting infected, and if you do, it will be a very mild form, like a cold, but you will not have the true flu.

The injection is an inactivated form of the virus, and, being injected with the inactivated strains of the flu, means that you aren't actually infected with the live virus so you won't get the flu from the vaccine. After the injection, there may be some redness at the site, soreness, and low fever that can last 1-2 days.

The nasal-spray vaccine is made with living, but weakened, flu virus that does cause an immune response, but you don't get as sick as you would with the actual flu after use. It is not suggested for pregnant women or asthmatics (there can be an acute respiratory reaction from the live virus directly reacting with the lungs.) After the nasal-spray vaccine, the side effects are a little more than the injection: runny nose, headache, sore throat, and cough that last just a few days. This gives your immune system a real challenge because you are actually getting the virus, so you do feel unwell for a few days.

What are the Types of Vaccines?

Trivalent:

Standard- dose injection: can be given to anyone 6 months old to 64 years of age.

Intradermal injection: a dose given with a smaller needle into the skin instead of intramuscularly and can be given to patients aged 18 years to 64 years.

High dose injection: is recommended for adults over the age of 65 years because of a diminished immune system, the injection has more antigens prevalent to help prevent the flu.

Recombinant egg-free injection: for those with an egg allergy and it is approved for adults over 18 years.

Quadrivalent:

Standard-dose injection: can be given to anyone 6 months to 64 years of age.

Nasal Spray: can be given to anyone 2 years through 64 years, however, it is emphasized for children 2 years to 8 years that have no other medical conditions that could be complicated by the flu.

Who should get vaccinated?

According to the CDC, basically everyone 6 months and older should get vaccinated (which I tend to agree with!)

The "high risk" list for definite vaccination:

• Pregnant women (injection only)
• Children younger than 5 years old (especially those in pre-school activities, daycare, etc.)
• Anyone > 50-years-old
• Anyone with chronic medical conditions
• People who live in nursing homes or long-term care facilities
• People who live with or care for those at high risk (healthcare workers, family members of those at high risk, and family and caregivers for those less than 6 months old.)

Who might need to discuss their risk further with their healthcare provider?

• Anyone with an allergy to chicken eggs (if the non-egg injection is not available)
• Anyone who has had a severe reaction in the past (i.e. anaphylactic reaction)
• Anyone who has had Guillain-Barre syndrome within 6 weeks of a flu vaccine
• Children under 6 months of age (their immune systems are too immature to respond appropriately)
• Anyone who actively has a fever or is unwell.

How does hospital policy work?

Patients: Where I work, and in most of the surrounding hospitals (I don't want to say all because there are a lot of hospitals and I haven't discussed with each one), every patient is screened within 24 hours of admission and offered the flu shot. Every single one. And this screening allows everyone on the healthcare team to be a part of the conversation (whether patients rule in or out) and we educate and discuss with patients their own risks.

Staff: When it comes to the staff, our policy is that all staff that work in direct patient care, are required to have a flu vaccine (which is offered free of charge to all staff), and it needs to be documented by mid-November each year, as a contingency of employment. If you are medically unable to have a flu shot, it needs to be documented annually. It is part of a safety initiative to prevent the spread of disease and protect patients. If you get the vaccine from the hospital, you get the injection that is offered.

I appreciate that they offer kiosks to get my flu shot, and they collect the paperwork to file away for me; it couldn't be easier. But once I started doing some research for my family members who had questions about which vaccines they should get, I realized that I put zero thought into receiving a vaccine. I would never take a medication without knowing the side effects, dose, type, etc. but because it is policy, and easy, without a medical consult, I got the injection. I honestly didn't even know all of the options that I had for flu vaccines! I would have gotten it anyway, I am a believer in the flu vaccine, and I always have been, but I am not sure how I feel that I let hospital policy blind me from going to my own healthcare practitioner and making a truly informed decision that might be best for me.

What do others think about getting the flu vaccine mandated at work? Does it make you feel like you made a medical decision with little to no actual thought about it?

I know the flu shot is best practice to protect our patients and ourselves...I just wish there was a way to make me feel like I was making an informed medical decision about getting a vaccine, as we encourage all of our patients to do, even though it is mandated.

[banterings]

toomuchbaloney,

I am not sure if I am missing something or if you are? Are you being sarcastic?

My entire post was sarcastic!

Look at my examples: New Orleans and Katrina, all the drugs I listed were pulled from off the market because they were outright dangerous.

I do NOT believe in quarantine either.

I also do not anybody telling me how to live my life or what to do with my own body. You can make recommendations, but guess what? The final decision is mine!

sunshinerainbows,

You missed the main point of the article: INFORMED CONSENT.

It does seem to take away our ability to make an informed decision:

Apparently you disagree with the concept of informed consent. Despite all the research, facts, studies, what is true and what is not, I still get to make the decision.

sunshinerainbows also said:

Please stop saying "it won't even work" when that is completely false, and proven again, and again, and again, and again...every single year! When you spread false information, you should at least take responsibility for the damage it causes, like unnecessary illness and death.

A September 2013 meta-analysis study by the CDC reveals that flu vaccinations among healthcare workers offer no evidence of protection to the patients under their care! The CDC still recommends flu shots for healthcare workers because “It’s the best intervention we currently have, so we need to keep using it while working toward a better flu vaccine.”

So in other words, mandatory flu vaccinations of healthcare workers will continue, in spite of the lack of evidence that they work to protect patients.

Here are some excerpts from the study as published by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota:

Is it safe?

The June 2014 report from the Department of Justice on damages paid by the U.S. Government to vaccine victims was recently published on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources website. There were 120 cases of vaccine injuries decided. 78 cases received compensation, while 42 cases were denied.

Most of the U.S. public is unaware that a U.S. citizen, by law, cannot sue a pharmaceutical company for damages resulting from vaccines. Congress gave them total legal immunity in 1986, and that law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011. There is a special “vaccine court” called the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program that is funded through a tax on vaccines. If you are injured or killed by a vaccine, you must hire an attorney and fight tax-funded government attorneys to seek damages, as you cannot sue the drug manufacturers. As you can see from the report below, it takes years to reach a settlement, with the longest case below being settled after 11 years. Therefore, this report probably only represents a tiny fraction of the actual number of people harmed or killed by vaccines, since it is so difficult to fight the government in court to win a settlement.

As in previous reports, the June 15, 2014, report covering a 3-month period shows that the flu vaccine is the most dangerous vaccine in America. 78 cases were awarded settlements for vaccine injuries, with 55 of the settlements being for the flu shot, including one death. Most of the settlements for injuries due to the flu shot were for Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Other flu vaccine injuries included: Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy, Rheumatoid arthritis, Shingles, Brachial plexus neuropathy, Bell’s Palsy, Brachial neuritis, Transverse myelitis, Lichenoid drug eruption, and Narcolepsy.

Please stop saying "it won't even work" when that is completely false, and proven again, and again, and again, and again...every single year! When you spread false information, you should at least take responsibility for the damage it causes, like unnecessary illness and death.

Guess what the CDC says about the flu vaccine?

....The risk of a flu shot causing serious harm or death is extremely small. However, a vaccine, like any medicine, may rarely cause serious problems, such as severe allergic reactions. Almost all people who get influenza vaccine have no serious problems from it....

.....There is a small possibility that influenza vaccine could be associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome....

Source: CDC website

"U.S. data on influenza deaths are a mess," states a 2005 article in the British Medical Journal entitled "Are U.S. flu death figures more PR than science?" This article takes issue with the 36,000 flu-death figure commonly claimed, and with describing "influenza/pneumonia" as the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.

Even the CDC admits the numbers are incorrect:

Using this new, loose definition, CDC's computer models could tally people who died of a heart ailment or other causes after having the flu. As William Thompson of the CDC's National Immunization Program admitted, influenza-associated mortality is "a statistical association ... I don't know that we would say that it's the underlying cause of death."

The CDC's decision to play up flu deaths dates back a decade, when it realized the public wasn't following its advice on the flu vaccine. During the 2003 flu season "the manufacturers were telling us that they weren't receiving a lot of orders for vaccine,"Dr. Glen Nowak, associate director for communications at CDC's National Immunization Program, told National Public Radio. "It really did look like we needed to do something to encourage people to get a flu shot

Source: The Huffington Post

Research shows that the vaccine can actually cause people to be more susceptible to the flu, or suffer worse symptoms if they contract the influenza virus.

This phenomenon where the flu vaccine can actually make the flu worse was originally observed in mass in Canada during the 2008-2009 flu season. Researchers studied the issue for the next couple of years and concluded that the flu vaccine did in fact increase the severity of flu symptoms among those who were vaccinated (see: Study finds flu shot really did make people sicker).

This was studied in Hong Kong in 2012 by researchers who conducted a true vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study on the influenza vaccine. The researchers found that those who received the flu vaccine suffered 5.5 times more incidents of similar diseases (see: Study: Flu Vaccine Causes 5.5 Times More Respiratory Infections – A True Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Study).

In 2013, a study conducted by microbiologist Dr. Hana Golding of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at Bethesda in Maryland showed that pigs vaccinated against one strain of influenza were worse off if subsequently infected by a related strain of the virus (see: Vaccination may make flu worse if exposed to a second strain).

When you spread false information, you should at least take responsibility for the damage it causes, like unnecessary illness and death.

So I ask you sunshinerainbows, what responsibility do you take?

[toomuchbaloney]

Quite right, I missed the sarcasm.

my apology

[SoaringOwl]

First, 50-60% is in healthy adults. It's around 80% for children. It's very low for the elderly, and at least one study (I will dig it up and post it later this evening) found that it was much more effective to vaccinate healthcare workers than the elderly themselves. So protect the elderly and get the flu vaccine.

Second, 50% may seem low compared to our other vaccines, but it is better than nothing. If you had a 50% chance of winning the lottery, you would buy a ticket.

Third, I am assuming that when you say "chemicals" you mean "dangerous chemicals," because water is a chemical; air is a chemical. Everything around you is a chemical. Your body is composed of chemicals. You put chemicals into your body every single minute of every single day.

Fourth, the "dangerous chemicals" that people like to talk about are not present in dangerous levels. Mercury, for example, of which there is a mercury-free vaccine if you want it, is consumed in far greater amounts by the fish you eat! So, if you don't want to put "a bunch of chemicals in [your] body every damn year," you'd better stop eating fish. You better stop doing a whole lot of things, like living!

Please stop saying "it won't even work" when that is completely false, and proven again, and again, and again, and again...every single year! When you spread false information, you should at least take responsibility for the damage it causes, like unnecessary illness and death.

**Since the flu vaccine is less effective than other vaccines, it is even more important that every one get it!**

Chemicals: whatever you want to call it, our government lets plenty of awful stuff go in our bodies. Cancer-causing parabens in our shampoo, trans fats in our food, etc. I don't trust the American government as far as I can throw them. I don't want to put anything in my body that doesn't need to be there. Period.

[toomuchbaloney]

Chemicals: whatever you want to call it, our government lets plenty of awful stuff go in our bodies. Cancer-causing parabens in our shampoo, trans fats in our food, etc. I don't trust the American government as far as I can throw them. I don't want to put anything in my body that doesn't need to be there. Period.

Does this imply that you didn't get any of the vaccinations required for nursing school or employment in nursing?

[Akewataru]

First of all, Mercury and other heavy metals that are consumed rather than injected are handled two completely different ways. The latter bypasses several layers of the innate immune system that exist in the mouth, throat, stomach, and intestines it passes through. The chemicals are everywhere and in everything argument doesn't fly with me. What is that supposed to mean? There are some toxins you are going to be exposed to there's no getting around it, I get it. We can't live in a bubble. However, there are certainly toxins you can avoid exposing yourself to.

[Racer15, BSN, RN]

I don't really care. I have no issue with vaccines. I HATE getting shots because I dislike needle sticks but I was getting annual flu vaccines long before I was an ER nurse. If you have a legitimate medical excuse for not getting the vaccine that is understandable. If not, you're welcome to find a new job.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

Johns Hopkins Scientist Reveals Shocking Report on Flu Vaccines

[Akewataru]

Influenza Outbreak in a Vaccinated Population-USS Ardent, February 2014

This one has the almighty, all knowing CDC scratching their heads.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Johns Hopkins Scientist Reveals Shocking Report on Flu Vaccines

This has been proven to be nothing but false propaganda several times. The "scientist" is an anthropologist posting an opinion piece. He's not a virologist, epidemiologist or microbiologist. He's never even studied influenza or the influenza vaccination. He was a post-doc fellow in 2013.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2014/11/03/shocking-report-on-flu-vaccine-is-neither-shocking-nor-correct/

[ShirleyMc]

Herd Immunity!

With infectious diseases you are vaccinating populations, not just individuals.

When more people get vaccinated, more people are spared of the flu (or other disease) which makes for a healthier population / area / country.

That's Community Health 101.

Edited to add this link to a Canadian study called:

"The Effect of Universal Influenza Immunization on Mortality and Health Care Use" (2008). Kwon, et al.

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0050211

[h=3]CONCLUSION: Compared to targeted programs in other provinces, introduction of universal vaccination in Ontario in 2000 was associated with relative reductions in influenza-associated mortality and health care use. The results of this large-scale natural experiment suggest that universal vaccination may be an effective public health measure for reducing the annual burden of influenza.[/h]

[banterings]

Te CDC admits they do not know if the flu vaccines are effective!

Read my post #24, links to sources!

Here is a study published in Oxford University's Oxford Journal. The study finds that the flu vaccine causes 5.5 times More respiratory infections. The implications are the act of injecting antigens probably damages the innate cell-mediated immune response, the part of the immune system that protects without the need of resorting to development of antibodies. (The phenomenon of virus interference has been well known in virology for over 60 years.)

Source: Increased Risk of Noninfluenza Respiratory Virus Infections Associated With Receipt of Inactivated Influenza Vaccine; Clinical Infectious Diseases; Benjamin J. Cowling, Vicky J. Fang, Hiroshi Nishiura, Kwok-Hung Chan, Sophia Ng, Dennis K. M.lp, Susan S. Chiu, Gabriel M. Leung} and J. S. Malik Peir; DOI: 10.1093/cid/cis307

June, 2014 -- Europe’s biggest drugmaker Novartis had its offices in Italy searched by police in June of 2014 for information related to two flu vaccines. This one was covered by the mainstream media as Bloomberg reported:

Italian police searched two of the company’s sites as part of a probe into possible fraud related to the purchase of the vaccines by the Health Ministry, one for a pandemic in 2009, according to an e-mailed statement from the police. The police allege Novartis inflated the cost of an additive to the vaccines, known as MF59, by six-fold. (Source Law 360)

You are missing the whole point of the article: informed consent AND freedom of choice!

Does anyone remember the 1980's, the Soviet Union, or Red China? That was all about the people, not the individual (community health vs. individual health). In China they had forced abortions and forced sterilizations for the good of the people (community health).

If I came to the ED and needed emergency bypass surgery to save my life, I have the right to refuse. That is the whole point of her article.

Glen Nowak, former communications director for the CDC’s National Immunization Program, openly admitted during a 2004 presentation to the AMA, the CDC exaggerates flu hospitalization and death numbers to scare Americans into getting the flu shot. Although the presentation has been removed from the AMA’s website (most likely due to its incriminatory nature), other websites have archived it.

Of particular interest is Nowak’s plan (he even calls it a “recipe”) to increase vaccination rates. Medical experts and public health authorities are encouraged to:

Express concern and alarm publicly (e.g., in the media), predict dire outcomes, and urge influenza vaccination;

Frame the flu season in terms that motivate behavior (e.g., using phrases like “very severe,” “more severe than last or past years,” “deadly”);

Help foster the perception that many people are susceptible to a base case of influenza, by using continued reports from health officials and media that influenza is causing severe illness and/or affecting lots of people; and

Show photographs of children and the families of those affected coming forward to get vaccinated.

The CDC would apparently like you to believe that if everyone just got the flu shot, there would be no more tragic deaths. They seem to support efforts to force all healthcare workers to get it or lose their jobs, and of schools and youth programs to require it.

I have presented scientific studies that show that the flu vaccine is not as effective as it claims. I have even shown the CDC's own admission to this as well, yet it is defended as the Holy Grail. Should there not be a healthy skepticism in healthcare towards vaccines in light of the abuses committed by big pharma?

What if I told you that the biggest risk to your health is going to a healthcare facility?

A new study published in the March issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology shows that routine well-child visits to pediatricians actually increase a child's chance for catching the flu within two weeks. This confirms what many parents have already discovered, that well-child visits are counterproductive, and usually a primary method of distributing vaccines.

This is because of what providers are taught (cathylou's reference to "Community Health 101."

"Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed. --Joseph Stalin"

What is really at stake? BILLIONS on DOLLARS!

Richard Lander, MD (who also is a speaker for Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Pasteur – all vaccine makers) wrote in the article was published on Healio Pediatrics webpage about Infectious Diseases in Children: “Influenza vaccination makes sense for everyone.”

Giving influenza vaccine is also good for the financial health of your practice. Source:

Note that the article was published in January of 2013, plus there could be added financial rewards a year later due to vaccine price and medical service fees increases. Guess how much the vaccine administration fee is? According to Dr. Lander, it should range from $14 to $30.

Dr. Lander uses a hypothetical patient base of 2,000 and explains who may or may not receive the flu vaccine. He contends bottom line and revenue results are $14,000 to $30,000 from only 1,000 patients receiving the flu shot. However, Dr. Lander throws in a financial wild card regarding 100 patients, who called to get a flu shot and then end up scheduling a well visit. According to Lander, a doctor “should be generating an additional $10,000. Bottom line: $25,000 to $42,500, which is not bad!”[Source:]

How many workers are in the average hospital??? You do the math.

Again do not forget: Flu Vaccine is the most Dangerous Vaccine in the U. S. based on Settled Cases for Injuries [Source: Department of Justice (Vaccine Court) claims 8/16/2013 through 11/15/2013].

Of the 70 cases compensated (8/16/2013 through 11/15/2013), 42 of them were for the flu vaccine, or 60% of the cases settled where compensation was awarded for injury or death due to the flu vaccine. The combined total of the other 40% of cases settled included the following vaccines: Hep B, Tetorifice, HPV, DTaP, MMR, IPV, PCV, Hib, Meningococcal, Varicella, TD.

When you receive your “required” annual flu shot, are you aware of these statistics?

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

Your facility did not mandate you receive their flu vaccine, just that you receive a flu vaccine, right? It is our job as individuals to make an informed decision about what we do with our bodies. There are many out there who are misinformed, but in their own minds "informed" none the less. We must educate ourselves about things.. I'll leave it at that as I am pro vaccine and have learned that debating vaccines on here (and with most people in "real" life) is useless..