We’re now experiencing another media campaign to sell flu shots.  We hear that a lot of people are getting the flu and it’s a harsher strain than before, but do yourself and your family a favor and don’t succumb to the hype.  The flu is less dangerous than what’s in the vaccine!

Injecting the flu vaccine doesn’t save you from what’s in it, and your chances of contracting it from the vaccine are between 20 to 30 percent.  You can and should recover from a case of the flu, even if you get it from the shot, but these ingredients are usually additive and are hard to remove from your body.

Take a look at the ingredient list provided by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.  (They know a few things about what’s in vaccines.)  Then decide for yourself what would help protect you and your loved ones if you choose to have them get this shot.  We know of seniors who have died from it.

The Center for Disease Control says the number one recommended vaccine for 2012 was Fluarix.  The ingredients in Fluarix are sodium deoxycholate, formaldehyde, octoxynol-10, a-tocopheryl hydrogen succinate, polysorbate 80, hydrocortisone, gentamicin sulfate, and ovalbumin.

You would expect that they have peer-review studies verifying the safety of these in human beings?  And studies on the effects of the combination of these together in an elderly or weakened human?  Well, they don’t.  Or if they do, they keep these quiet–maybe because adverse findings would hurt sales.

Here’s what the CDC decribed as Fluarix ingredients:

Sodium Deoxycholate:  A water-soluble, bile-acid, ionic detergent commonly used in protein disruption methods.  It acts to lyse cell walls and stimulate the immune system to attack it.

Formaldehyde:  A colorless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical used in building materials and many household products.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies formaldehyde as a probable human carcinogen.  The Pacific Health Center reports that flu shots have two and a half times more formaldehyde as the level listed as “an immediate danger to life and health” by the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health.  Formaldehyde is the main ingredient in embalming fluid, but those studies aren’t deemed relevant to a vaccine.

Aluminum:  Used in trace amounts to accelerate the activation of the immune system.  But when activated, the immune system is not so easy to deactivate, and systemic inflammation is a common response of an activated immune system.  Numerous studies have associated aluminum as causing brain and neurological damage from that chronic inflammatory effect.  So don’t use it in your cookware or your deodorant–let alone have it injected directly into your body or someone you care for.

Polysorbate 80:  A PubMed article says Polysorbate 80 is a ubiquitously-used solubilizing agent that can cause severe non-immunologic anaphylactoid reactions.  That means it’s used almost everywhere, and it can trigger dangerous allergic reactions.

Hydrocortisone:  WebMD says, “Use this medication on the skin only.  Avoid getting this medication in the eyes, nose, or mouth.”  The National Science Foundation (NSF) says if hydrocortisone is ingested, to seek medical attention immediately, and that it poses a danger of serious health damage if swallowed.  It used to be a popular emergency drug, but its side-effects of addiction and joint destruction have seen it fall out of favor except in genuine emergencies.

Gentamicin sulfate:  A broad-spectrum antibiotic derived from an actinomycete used in the treatment of various infections.  Serious adverse effects are nephrotoxicity, auditory or vestibular ototoxicity, impairment of neuromuscular transmission, and hypersensitivity reactions.  Neuromuscular blockade and respiratory paralysis have occurred after administration.  That means it can damage your kidney, hearing, coordination, and muscles, and make you stop breathing.  But you might not get the flu.

Mercury:  Used as a preservative in the flu vaccine, despite worldwide outcries about it for decades.  Mercury is the second most poisonous element known to man.  Studies have shown that neurons begin to disintegrate in its presence, and it also damages chromosomes.  Once mercury gets into any body tissue, it stays there and accumulates.  Naturopathic doctors can help to remove mercury safely, but it is slow, expensive, and tedious.  When neurons have been destroyed from Mercury or any toxins, they are not regrown very quickly or easily.  Mercury poisons living cells, especially those of the liver, heart, and brain.

The good news in this whole grim announcement is that you can help your immune system avoid the flu or recover from it quickly and well.  Not with a government-designed vaccine, but with some basic good sense and personal decisions.  Take in clean food, water, and air, and keep your home environment sanitary.  Stress management, elimination of waste, and reasonable rest and relaxation are important.  Create and maintain meaningful relationships to keep the positive self-image that a healthy outlook requires.

These are not so easy for all of us in this busy modern world, but the concepts are simple and the results are proven.  Beware of dangerous shortcuts.