Fewer people in the 'at risk' groups are taking the free flu jabs

It's really good to read that fewer people are falling for the propaganda urging them to have the flu vaccination. Flu vaccines are pretty ineffective. See this article and this.

 

And why have vaccine injected into your body and take the risk of adverse effects from it, when there are excellent drug-free ways to avoid catching flu? Here are some good precautions to take:

 

Wash your hands frequently to lower the risk of germs being spread.

Avoid dieting.

Eat good, nutritious meals cooked from fresh foods, rather than processed meals which are nutritionally poor and usually contain unhealthy additives.

Make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D, the 'sunshine vitamin', which builds up immunity to respiratory diseases. Most of us are short of this vitamin, especially in the winter, so you may find that taking a supplement of vitamin D3 capsules or tablets would be helpful for you. Some GPs will get your vitamin D level checked for you - a little blood test.

Cut down on salt and salty food.

Cut down on sugar and wheat/bread.

Avoid synthetic chemicals like artificial sweeteners, colourings, flavours, etc and those ghastly artificial scented room sprays and laundry products.

 

I myself haven't had the flu or a cold since I stopped having the flu jabs many years ago.

Is there enough evidence to support the policy of immunising people against seasonal flu?

BBC News reports the claim of an expert, Tom Jefferson, in the British Medical Journal, that there is not enough evidence to support the policy of immunising people against seasonal flu. Mr Jefferson, who works for the Cochrane Library, a body that determines the relative effectiveness of health interventions, has found that flu vaccines have "little or no effect on many influenza campaign objectives such as hospital stay, time off work, or death from influenza and its complications." He believes a re-evaluation of the evidence is urgently necessary, in view of the financial cost to the taxpayer of flu campaigns.

My own concerns about vaccines, as about other prescribed pharmaceutical medications, are about their safety and ubiquity, as well as their effectiveness or otherwise. When pharmaceutical drugs do harm patients, as they so very often do, this costs the drug companies so little financially or in any other way, that there is little to spur them into ensuring the safety of their products. See Drug firms dodge swine flu liability

You can boost your immunity by optimising your nutrition. Good nutrition has no adverse side-effects.

Hospitals are facing a winter crisis as a sharp rise in cases of flu and other viruses forces some to close wards to new patients.

Hospitals forced to close wards as virulent winter bug spreads
report in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract 1:

"The vomiting bug norovirus – the most common gastrointestinal illness in the UK, affecting up to a million people every year – is causing particular problems, with NHS chiefs forced to warn sufferers to stay away from doctors' surgeries and hospitals for fear of spreading it further.

Affected hospitals include Addenbrooke's in Cambridge, Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Worcestershire Royal Hospital and York Hospital.

Several trusts said the knock-on effect was making it difficult to meet the Government's target of admitting, or dealing with, 98 per cent of emergency patients within four hours.

One of London's three major trauma centres, St George's in Tooting, was issued a 'black alert' and closed its doors to emergencies for a number of hours on Monday after experiencing a 14 per cent surge in demand compared to the same period last year.

Staff at St George's reported that up to 20 patients requiring urgent admission had to be kept on beds in A&E as wards were full.

Some were diverted to neighbouring hospitals, including Mayday in Croydon, Kingston Hospital and St Helier in Sutton, all of which reported pressure on their own capacity.

The Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital closed its doors to all visitors last week after 12 of its 49 wards were infected, forcing it to postpone about 60 non-urgent operations.

It faced extra pressure from emergency admissions caused by falls on ice, with nearly 100 people going into the emergency department with ice-related injuries on Monday alone.

In Carlisle, two elderly care wards at the Cumberland Infirmary were closed last week in a bid to isolate the norovirus bug. Nearby Wigton cottage hospital was closed to all admissions and non-emergency transfers for the second time in a fortnight.

Two wards at East Surrey Hospital closed, while five at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn were shut or under observation.

At the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, six wards were closed, reducing the number of beds available to patients by 130.

Sarah Byrom, the chief nurse, said: "While norovirus is common for this time of year, we have seen a big increase in the number of people coming into the hospital with symptoms.""

As usual, the Department of Health is on another planet:

Extract 2:

"A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "Winter crises used to bedevil the NHS. Thanks to record investment and better organisation we have not had a major winter crisis for several years. However, we constantly update our contingency plans in the light of events.""

Kissing, shaking hands and infection transmission...

Cheeky kiss is healthier than a handshake

Extract from the Sunday Telegraph:

"People who greet each other with handshakes are much more likely to pass on germs such as flu, cold and stomach bugs, than those who settle for a peck on the cheek, a scientific study has concluded.

More than three million Britons called in sick last week as flu and norovirus outbreaks swept through the country.

The majority will have been infected after touching someone else's hands and might have been better off kissing friends and relatives instead.

"The hands are critical in the chain of infection as they transmit infections from surfaces to people and between people," said Prof Sally Bloomfield, from the London School of Hygiene and chairman of the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene, which carried out the research.

"Shaking hands is the main form of physical contact with each other but you don't know what the other person has been touching before you greet them. People avoid kissing each other when they have a cold, but in fact they are more likely to pass on an infection by shaking someone's hand.""

This information fits in with what I was told many years ago when I went as a volunteer to the Common Cold Research Centre at Harvard Hospital, near Salisbury, Wiltshire. - The virologists said the most common way of catching a cold was by shaking hands with someone who had the germs on their hands and then later, rubbing your eyes - and the germs entered your body by way of the eyes... - Ever since then I have tried to avoid rubbing my eyes...

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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