By Jimmy Downs

Friday Jan 4, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- An Indiana hospital has reportedly fired eight employees including three veteran nurses because they refused mandatory flu shots.  The hospital requires the vaccine shots because it believes that the flu vaccine can help reduce risk of medical workers spreading flu to patients.

News reports say that the hospital system has more than 20,000 doctors and nurses and about 5% of them (about 1400 in total) refused to get flu shots.  But at this time, only eight employees got laid off.

Ethel Hoover, a nurse at Indiana University Health Goshen Hospital said she has never received any flu vaccine during her 20-plus years working as a nurse.  She was cited as saying "This is my body, I have a right to refuse."

Should the hospital have the right to mandate the flu shots among doctors and nurses and if doctors/nurses refuse it, should they get fired?    A few things may interest readers.

1) Hospitals should have the right, and doctors and nurses have the obligation to take all measures possible to prevent any viral/bacterial infection from being spread from them to patients.  We know that hospitals are a dirty place.  For instance, in many cases of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), people get the infection from hospitals.  Some dentists practises bad hygiene and some contacted HIV from their patients as early reported.

2) Taking flu vaccine is not an effective way to prevent flu.  Flu vaccine is often times very ineffective. The efficacy is rarely exceed 50%.  So even if all doctors and nurses take flu vaccine, flu viruses can't be eliminated from hospitals.   If a hospital counts on vaccines to prevent viruses and pathogenic bacteria/fungi from being spread to patients, it can actually become a risky place for patients because the measure  can give the hospital, doctors/nurses, and patients a false assurance that they will not get infections.

3) Risk of flu is hyped.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention often says that flu causes a couple of thousands of deaths each year, but that is not correct, according to critics.  Many cases of death are caused by pneumonia, but not by flu viruses.  Flu viruses cause conditions that are much milder, compared with other infections like pneumonia.  Flu can cause about 300 to 500 deaths each year in the United States, but the death occurs often in individuals who has weakened immunity.   At-risk people include patients with HIV/AIDS, cancer who have or have not received chemotherapy/radiation therapy (the disease and treatment both can weaken the immunity), and elderly people.  The CDC recommends all people who are 6 months old or older should receive flu vaccine.  But healthy people do not need flu vaccine.

4) Flu vaccine is unnecessary.   Flu is not a severe medical condition that needs massive vaccination.  The overwelming majority of people recover from flu without any medical treatment.  Thus healthy people should not have to worry about flu.  In fact, getting flu is a good thing for many people, which can boost a person's immunity and when a more harmful virus strikes, then can be ready to meet the challenge.   

The 1918 flu pandemic killed 20 to 50 millions of people.  The interesting thing is that the death rate was lower among dark-skinned people like African Americans compared with white-skinned people.  The theory is, before 1918 flu pandemic, which was deadly, there was one milder flu epidemic that affected more black people than white people because black people had lower vitamin D levels in their blood and they were more vulnerable for flu (vitamin D has now been known to boost innate immunity against infections).    Because they suffered one milder flu epidemic, they naturally developed some defense against similar infections and then when the deadly 1918 flu pandemic hit, black people were less likely to die than white people.  White people tended to have higher levels of vitamin D and were less likely to experience flu in the first epidemic and they had not developed natural immune defense that could otherwise help fight the deadly flu pandemic. That is, white people were more at risk of dying in the 1918 flu pandemic.

If the theory holds true, receiving flu vaccine to eliminate mild flu infections can be a bad thing for a person's immunity and individuals who have received flu vaccine could be at higher risk of death if they get infected with a more virulent and lethal flu virus.

4) One better way to prevent flu for those who are in need is supplementation with high doses of vitamin D3.   Here are two letters Dr. John Cannell, director of vitamin D council received in 2009 from two physicians who reported the efficacy of vitamin d against viral infections.

Dear Dr. Cannell:

Your recent newsletters and video about Swine flu (H1N1) prompted me to convey our recent experience with an H1N1 outbreak at Central Wisconsin Center (CWC). Unfortunately, the state epidemiologist was not interested in studying it further so I pass it on to you since I think it is noteworthy.

CWC is a long-term care facility for people with developmental disabilities, home for approx. 275 people with approx. 800 staff. Serum 25-OHD has been monitored in virtually all residents for several years and patients supplemented with vitamin D.

In June, 2009, at the time of the well-publicized Wisconsin spike in H1N1 cases, two residents developed influenza-like illness (ILI) and had positive tests for H1N1: one was a long-term resident; the other, a child, was transferred to us with what was later proven to be H1N1.

On the other hand, 60 staff members developed ILI or were documented to have H1N1: of 17 tested for ILI, eight were positive. An additional 43 staff members called in sick with ILI. (Approx. 11-12 staff developed ILI after working on the unit where the child was given care, several of whom had positive H1N1 tests.)

So, it is rather remarkable that only two residents of 275 developed ILI, one of which did not develop it here, while 103 of 800 staff members had ILI. It appears that the spread of H1N1 was not from staff-to-resident but from resident-to-staff (most obvious in the imported case) and between staff, implying that staff were susceptible and our residents protected. 

Sincerely,

Norris Glick, MD

Central Wisconsin Center

Madison, WI

Dear Dr. Cannell:

Thanks for your update about the hospital in Wisconsin. I have had similar anecdotal evidence from my medical practice here in Georgia. We are one of the 5 states with widespread H1N1 outbreaks.

I share an office with another family physician. I aggressively measure and replete vitamin D. He does not.

He is seeing one to 10 cases per week of influenza-like illness.

In my practice-- I have had zero cases. My patients are universally on 2000-5000 IU to maintain serum levels 50-80 ng/ml.

Ellie Campbell, DO

Campbell Family Medicine

3925 Johns Creek Court Ste A

Suwannee GA 30024

These two letters are cited from a newsletter distributed by Vitamin D Council.

Many other alternative remedies can also be enlisted to prevent flu and other viral infections such as high doses of vitamin C.  But for healthy people, don't mess up with your natural healthy immune system! 

(This article should be considered a comment.  Some claims may not full substantiated. Readers are encourage to do their homework and learn to be smart enough to fight diseases in a natural way)