Docs told to avoid 1 flu shot brand for small kids

By MIKE STOBBE

ATLANTA (AP) - A government panel is recommending doctors steer clear of giving one brand of flu vaccine to young children this year because of convulsions and fever in kids who got the shot in Australia and New Zealand.

At issues is the flu vaccine made by CSL Biotherapies, an Australian company. CSL is one of five manufacturers supplying the U.S. this fall but it only accounts for a small portion of the 170 million doses.

On Thursday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said doctors should avoid using the CSL vaccine in children ages 6 months through 8 years.

Committee members were concerned about the unexplained higher rate of fevers and related seizures seen in young children who got the vaccine earlier this year in Australia and New Zealand. In kids under 5, the rates were roughly 10 times that of other flu vaccines. No deaths have been linked to the problem.

AP Story from Excite

So, ATS has been saying this for at least two years. I have a personal experience with my child developing seizures after his round of shots at 5 months old, and now an official advisory panel to the CDC is saying the same thing.

At least they are being honest about it.

I am not a Doctor, but my opinion is that Flu Shots are entirely useless! They warn you up front that the shot may not prevent the flu. They warn you up front that if you have already had the flu, that doesn't mean you won't get it again. If that is the case, then a vaccine is useless as well. We all know of the potential side-effects to the shot, and we all know of the commonly weak symptoms of most flus. So......why risk the shot? Why take a potentially devasting shot to prevent relatively minor symptoms of a common flu? That is a very poor risk/benefit decision? If someone did a risk/benefit analysis of the flu shot, there is no way it ever comes out in favor of getting the shot.

I am just glad to see this kind of news in the MSM.

reply to post by getreadyalready


I don't think this is sufficient to say "all" flu shots are worthless or dangerous. This one is for sure, but if you remember I did a risk benefit analysis of the H1N1 vaccine and found that it was less risky to take that vaccine.

Granted however, I will not be getting myself or family the regular flu shot, as I believe it is useless and goofy and you are correct about the risk benefit analysis of that shot. I also understand what happened with the shots with your family and your argument makes perfect sense in that regard.

I still don't think we should discount every brand b/c one has issues. I think it is better to be aware, as you are making us, and ask lots of questions. We need to know what brand our shot is if we get it and regardless of age we should avoid the brands with the biggest issues, like this one.

I did read from the CDC that they are putting the H1N1 vaccine in all flu shots now though and other than on their page they are not announcing it, so that is a big story. The H1N1 did have issues in the 70's and even in the most recent round so they should not put it into the new vaccines without people knowing.
www.cdc.gov...

Usually the problems from these vaccines come from egg allergies though, not the vaccine itself. So the vaccines preparation is the problem.

Educate, Read, and Analyze! That is the only hope we have of keeping our families safe.

Here is a great source for you to do a risk analysis, if you look a bit further you can find the stats from the 1970's and see that for this particular vaccine, its better to get it. The expected value of receiving the vaccine is greater than the expected value of not receiving it(disclaimer: I have done this for H1N1, I have not analyzed the other vaccine or illnesses from the other strains of the flu).
www.cdc.gov...

reply to post by memarf1


Ya, I'm not against "all" vaccines. Many are effective and have decades or even a century of success.

I am pretty much against all flu vaccines, because flu symptoms are usually so minor, and flu vaccines are not proven effective, and the possible side effects are serious.

As for childhood vaccines. I am for the majority of them, but I know from experience and research and contact with multiple doctors from my child that the vaccines need to be administered 1 shot at a time with at least 1 week between shots. Most Pediatricians do 5 or 7 shots all at one time! Most Neurologists and Epidemiologists say this is a bad practice and should be stopped!

In addition, the shots should come from "single-dose vials." These are the only vials guaranteed to be Mercury and Thimerosal free. I know the drug makers say their vaccine doesn't contain those ingredients, and that is technically correct, but the bottle that contains the vaccine also contains the preservative, and the shot that goes into the child does in fact contain the preservatives! It is a split tongue argument. The vaccine doesn't contain it, but the injection does. It was confirmed for my child, and it has been confirmed in the Swine Flu shots, and many other Flu shots.

What you say about eggs is true, but that is an allergy issue, not a neurological one. All vaccines are manufactured through eggs, and someone with an egg allergy would already know this and request the special vaccines. The Neurological side-effects are a whole different ballgame unrelated to eggs.

bumping my own thread, because I'm a little disappointed that ATSers are as fickle as normal folks. During the Swine Flu hype a thread like this would have gotten 1000 responses. Since it is not in the headlines right now, it isn't interesting I guess?

This is exactly how TPTB slip stuff by us. They put the important stuff out during non-important times. Summer
Break, Christmas Break, Friday afternoon, or in the middle of some other flavor of the day taking up all the headline space.

I wonder how many other important stories got buried by the Gulf Oil Leak and summer vacation?

reply to post by getreadyalready


Bump

Maybe there should be a thread calling ATSers fickle! haha. I agree, this is serious and nobody seems to be talking about it. TPTB are putting this new vaccine out there with additions that they are not advertising on the MSM. They expect everyone to just go to the sites I listed above and find out for themselves and that is simply NOT going ot happen. Americans, sadly, need to be spoonfed some information and this is one of those items.

Where are all the ATSers?!?