Amongst all of the alarm about whether or not to get the flu vaccine, I think it’s important to keep matters in their proper perspective. Influenza (“seasonal flu”) is a serious infection that results in about 36,000 deaths per year in the USA alone. The new variant, called H1N1 (swine flu) is particularly dangerous to pregnant women, young children and teenagers; all groups that are particularly prone to fear about mercury toxicity.
The injectible flu vaccines involve placing a small amount of killed virus into your muscle in order for your immune cells to react and create antibodies. These antibodies are then about 90% effective in preventing you from becoming infected with the flu virus if you’re exposed to people with the infection. Unfortunately, a preservative is necessary to prevent contamination from occurring when multi-dose vials are used. That’s the reason that the mercury containing preservative called thimerosal is placed within the vaccine.
Thimerosal is a preservative used since the 1930’s. It does contain mercury but is used in very low
As a matter of perspective, I am firmly in favor of minimizing
our daily exposure to toxic substances. In fact, this has been a
central theme of my medical practice and the books that I’ve
written. One step you can take is to request the single dose flu
vaccine (where available) which is free of thimerosal. And for
those that would like to obtain a more accurate estimate of their
routine exposure to mercury, check out the Natural Resources Defense Council’s
calculator to estimate your body burden level.
For more information and updates in fertility and medical research,
please check back frequently to my main blog here:
