Influenza Deaths: The Hype vs. The Evidence

By Barbara Loe Fisher

It's that time of the year again when drug companies, doctors, government officials and media conduct a national advertising campaign to sell flu shots to every American.^1, 2, 3 You can't pass by a pharmacy,⁴enter a supermarket,⁵ shop in a "big box" store⁶ or catch a plane⁷ without seeing the "flu shots for sale" signs trolling for customers.
The pharmaceutical industry is cutting out the M.D. middleman and going straight for the gold in places where we shop for toothpaste, clothes and food.⁸ Even on the evening news, flu shot commercials are becoming as frequent as political campaign ads.
Up until the year 2000, flu shots were not recommended for everyone. Back in the 1990's, doctors were telling seniors over age 65 and younger people with chronic illness to get vaccinated. ⁹

No Flu Shot? No Job or Daycare!

Now, doctors at the CDC tell every man, woman and child over six months old they need an annual flu shot¹⁰ and it is OK for health care workers to be fired if they don't get vaccinated every year.^{11, 12, 13, 14}
In the states of Connecticut and New Jersey, mandates are already in place that force parents to give their six-month old babies a flu vaccine or be banned from daycare.¹⁵ This, as state health department officials join with medical trade association lobbyists in many states to severely restrict or eliminate medical, religious and conscientious belief vaccine exemptions for all children.^16, 17
The vaccine liability shield that Congress gave doctors and drug companies in 1986¹⁸ and the public-private business partnership between government and the pharmaceutical industry that Congress created after Sept. 11, 2001,^19, 20 is paying big dividends for liability free drug companies and liability free doctors selling flu shots to more than 300 million Americans.
It doesn't matter if 80 percent of all flu-like illness is really caused by other viruses and bacteria and not influenza,^21, 22 or that flu vaccine efficacy is estimated at 60 percent to 80 percent, depending upon age and what kind of vaccine is given.²³

http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/October-2012/Influenza-Deaths--The-Hype-vs--The-Evidence.aspx