There are a number of questions we will ask ourselves in the weeks to come. Why do some of us get the flu every year, while some never come down with it? Will my child be home from school this season? How much time will I have to take from work? Some people may believe that it is hit or miss, but I believe it has more to do with how strong an individual’s immune response is at the time.All summer long we can enjoy the sunshine, the warm fresh air, increased physical activity, a slower pace and we tend to eat lighter and more nutritious foods. Now we have busier schedules with school and all its activities. We are crunched for time, which leads to pre-packaged, processed or fast-food meals. Less physical activity combined with more time inside where it is warm can add up to decreased immune system function.As with most viral or bacterial infections, if you get the flu you are more vulnerable to complications if you are already chronically ill or immuno-compromised. But most healthy children and adults who do get the flu do not suffer complications and are left to develop a natural immunity to the strain they were exposed to.So, should you get a flu shot? For most people, this question has been answered due to complications in the production of the vaccine in England and the “shortage” that started here in the United States. But this is a question you will likely be faced with again, either in the near future when “more” doses are “found” and acquired by local agencies, or in the years to come.To help understand how a vaccine, any vaccine, works, here is basic immunology information. Immunology works with a concept of specificity; a specific key will open a specific lock. If you have a lock that will open with any old key, it is not very useful or protective. In our analogy, the flu virus is the lock and the vaccine is the key.There are different rationales for immunization. The first is primary prevention – protecting individuals from an infection. The second is herd immunity – theoretically you can protect 100 percent of the population by vaccinating less than 100 percent of the population. The unvaccinated population is protected because the virus exposure is limited because of those who are vaccinated. The third is post-exposure immunization – utilizing a compound to negate a potentially dangerous situation.There are four types of mechanisms to acquire immunity:Active – where the body does the work; a natural line of defensePassive – someone else does the work and passes it on to youNatural – exposed in natureArtificial – man madeThese types of immunity are then paired together to discuss types of immunization: Natural Active is permanent and the preferred type of immunity. An example is getting the chicken pox naturally and fighting it off. Artificial Active is the next type. Vaccination is an example. It is protective but temporary. Natural Passive can be demonstrated through breastfeeding. Mother’s antibodies are passed to the baby via breast milk. Artificial Passive is demonstrated by using a snake anti venom to fight off the effects of a snakebite, for example. Or a rabies shot, which you get after you are bitten. It is derived from something else to benefit another. This is a good example of post-exposure immunization.The flu vaccine is prepared from fluids of chick embryos inoculated with specific types of influenza viruses (which is why having an allergy to eggs is a contraindication for receiving the vaccine). The strains of flu in the vaccine are inactivated with formaldehyde, and preserved with Thimerosal (a mercury derivative).Each year, researchers and scientists try to “guesstimate” which three flu strains are most likely to be prevalent in the United States the following year, determining which strains will be included in next year’s flu vaccine. It is not always possible for the health officials to make correct predictions. If they are incorrect, the effectiveness of the vaccine is reduced that year. Neither FLUMIST, a live virus vaccine new last year or the injected flu vaccine contained the mutated Fujian strain that caused the most severe flu in this country last year. This is where our lock and key analogy comes into play. If the vaccine does not specifically match the virus, there is no protection.The flu vaccine only protects against the three specific strains included in any given year’s flu vaccine. It is important to note that throat, respiratory, gastrointestinal and ear infections caused by bacteria or other kinds of viruses are not protected by getting a flu shot. The shot offers temporary immunity to the strains contained in the vaccine. The only way to get natural permanent immunity is to get the flu and recover naturally.The National Vaccine Information Center reported last year that when there is a close match between the vaccine and the circulating flu viruses, the inactivated flu vaccine is thought to be 70 to 90 percent effective for those individuals under the age of 65. The efficacy rate for those over 65 drops considerably to 30 to 40 percent.And there are possibilities of reactions with the flu shot: fever, fatigue, painful joints and headache. These symptoms can begin within 12 hours of receiving the vaccine, and can last for several days.Many families choose to utilize natural alternatives to try to prevent the flu. By boosting the function of their immune systems via a healthy diet, appropriate amounts of rest and sleep, proper washing of hands, vitamins, chiropractic, exercise and homeopathy, many families find their resistance to disease improves dramatically.Although the shot is recommended today for children over six months, I think it is important to consider whether the use of the flu vaccine in a healthy child is removing natural antibodies to flu, which are obtained with natural infection. It raises the question of whether it is better for healthy kids who rarely suffer from complications from the flu to get the flu and develop permanent immunity to that strain or get the shot to try to suppress all flu infection in early childhood. If we never allow our bodies to experience these viruses, how will they ever learn to function in the environment we live in?Do we want to raise a generation that will have little or no immunological experience with the type A or type B viruses that circulate every year and provide a natural, qualitatively superior and longer lasting immunity?The flu vaccine fiasco last year demonstrated that it is highly questionable as to whether the flu shot is going to offer even minimal protection against the flu, which you may or may not get.So should you get a flu shot? Become educated about the flu and its benefits and risks and those of the vaccine. You are in control of your health, not the vaccine manufacturers and distributors of some overpriced, scarce flu vaccine. Make an informed choice for yourself and your family.Palmer Chiropractic494-1395www.palmer-chiropractic.com
