[NVIC] NIH Wants Toxic Adjuvant in Flu Vaccine

[Guest guest]

Why am I always shocked?

Sheri

E-NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER

Vienna, Virginia http://www.nvic.org

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

UNITED WAY/COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN

#8122

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

" Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982. "

============================================================================

==============

BL Fisher Note:

The vaccine adjuvant, MF59, that NIH proposes to add to flu vaccine given

to the frail elderly, is not licensed in the U.S. as safe for human use.

MF59 contains squalene, which can cause autoimmunity. Some ill Gulf War

veterans, who were given anthrax vaccine and other experimental vaccines,

have tested positive for squalene antibodies even though the U.S. Department

of Defense denies putting the adjuvant MF59 in anthrax and other vaccines

given to soldiers.

The tragic consequences of experimenting on America's elderly population by

giving them annual flu vaccinations laced with MF59 will be that, when they

develop lupus, rheumatorid arthritis, asthma or die, it will be written off

as old age and unrelated to the squalene injected into their bodies via flu

vaccines. The elderly with as yet unidentified genetic factors that make

them exquisitely vulnerable to squalene-induced autommunity or death will be

the first to go down.

The suggestion that the notoriously ineffective flu vaccine be made more

toxic by adding squalene to a brew that already contains mercury is nothing

more than a callous disregard for human life. If Americans do not understand

what is being done to them in the name of disease control and take action,

they will be forced one day to be injected with squalene containing flu

vaccines whenever the Secretary of Health declares an emergency. Go to

www.nvic.org and click on " Liability Shield Given to Pharma " and read NVIC's

letter to Senate staffer Col. Kadlec.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/17/AR2006041700

892.html

The Washington Post

Experts Say Elderly Need Better Flu Shot

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

Mon Apr 17, 7:13 PM

WASHINGTON - Put aside hypothetical worries about bird flu: Regular flu

already kills elderly Americans in droves every winter because the vaccine

simply doesn't work as well inside aging bodies as young ones.

The National Institutes of Health wants to strengthen flu shots destined for

the elderly, part of a push to get the nation to start treating influenza's

yearly attack as seriously as the threat of some super-flu striking in the

future.

The message: Why wait for a pandemic to benefit from better flu vaccines and

treatments?

" My great frustration (is) in trying to shake the cage and say, 'We have

not, by any means, optimized how we approach seasonal flu,' " Dr.

Fauci, the NIH's infectious disease chief, told The Associated Press.

Topping his do-better list: testing whether higher vaccine doses or adding

immune-boosting compounds to the shots some of the same compounds already

being studied to fight bird flu would improve the elderly's protection

against regular winter influenza.

In Europe, U.S. flu-shot supplier Chiron Corp. already sells a revved-up

version just for people over age 65. Studies mostly from Italy suggest that

adding a chemical called MF59 to Chiron's regular flu shot spurs a modestly

better immune response in older people, especially the frail.

Chiron wouldn't say if it plans to eventually bring that shot, called Fluad,

to the United States; it sells about 20 million doses abroad. Instead,

Chiron's U.S. focus has been on testing whether MF59 could improve

experimental vaccines against bird flu.

But Fluad is among the approaches catching Fauci's interest as he plans new

research into improved elder vaccines.

Also, at least one well-known vaccine research center, at St. Louis

University School of Medicine, is planning a study of higher flu vaccine

doses for the elderly this fall.

And NIH recently began recruiting 150 U.S. volunteers to study just which

parts of the immune system change as we age to make flu a more serious

threat, basic biological underpinnings that remain a mystery despite

influenza's unrelenting yearly toll.

Here's the sad irony: Influenza kills 36,000 Americans in an average winter,

many more during harsh flu seasons and people over age 65 make up 90 percent

of those deaths. Yet flu vaccine is less effective in the people who need it

most, protecting roughly 60 percent of elderly recipients compared with 75

percent to 90 percent of young healthy people.

Just as the body's physical abilities typically slow with age, the immune

system can become sluggish. It's not impossible to rev it back up. Some

earlier research suggests that giving four to six times the normal dose of a

flu vaccine component could double the elderly's immune response, says Dr.

Treanor, a University of Rochester vaccine specialist.

The question is whether pumped-up vaccines for the elderly would provide

enough extra protection to be worth it. Some previous attempts have found

only slight improvements, and souped-up vaccines cost more to make.

" Until recently there was a lot of reluctance to do anything that would make

the vaccine more expensive, " Treanor says, speculating that cost might be a

key reason that Chiron debuted its Fluad shot in Europe.

A stronger vaccine might also come with more side effects, cautions Dr.

J. Kennedy of St. Louis University.

Still, there are low-risk strategies to test. Aside from the simple

higher-dose study his university colleagues are planning, Kennedy wonders if

giving seniors a flu shot plus a second vaccine the FluMist nasal spray made

of live but weakened flu virus might activate different immune pathways to

improve protection.

Ultimately, what may protect the elderly the most is when flu's main

spreaders healthy young people, especially schoolchildren start getting

vaccinated in high-enough numbers to stem the virus' tide.

For the first time this fall, all children from age six months to 5 years

will be recommended for a flu shot. Until now, the government pushed

childhood flu vaccine just for chronically ill youngsters and healthy tots

up to age 2.

Expect even more children to be on the vaccine list as early as 2007;

already under discussion is the 5- to 9-year-old crowd.

And with a record 120 million vaccine doses expected this year far more than

the most ever given, 83 million doses the government is preparing to

encourage inoculations for healthy 20-, 30- and 40-somethings this fall,

too.

EDITOR'S NOTE n Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The

Associated Press in Washington.

=============================================

News@... is a free service of the National Vaccine Information

Center and is supported through membership donations. Learn more about

vaccines, diseases and how to protect your informed consent rights

http://www.nvic.org

Become a member and support NVIC's work

https://www.nvic.org/making%20cash%20donations.htm

To sign up for a free e-mail subscription http://www.nvic.org/emaillist.htm