2-4-6-8! We don't need to vaccinate!

As if it’s not enough that every drugstore (there are at least 35 Hamilton County) has signs out proclaiming that the flu vaccine is here and there and only $25, at which I roll my eyes and move on, I was surprised that there also would be a ‘Tailgate and Vaccinate’ event at a high school football game.

Then again, now that the flu frenzy season is here and everyone ‘needs’ this vaccine, I guess the next logical step is to push the vaxes at the schools and school events. After all, according to the announcement, “Why not tailgate - and vaccinate - while you're there?”

Why not vaccinate for the flu? I’m no expert and don’t claim to be, but I have been wary of vaccines, and how they’re pushed on our kids, for years, and I’ve researched vaccines, compared vaccine schedules, and questioned. We don’t vaccinate for the flu.

In my compiled notes, I have a page dated from 2003 that states “Children are the next frontier for the lucrative flu vaccine campaign.” Back then, only those aged fifty and up (and those in high risk groups) were encouraged to get the vaccine. And just a few years before that, the threshold age was 65. Now, here we are--starting the flu shot at six months.

And yet, I don’t have solid evidence that the flu vaccine is safe, effective, and truly intended to help me and my family be healthy. It’s an experiment with unknown implications. I say no to the drugs pushed on us every flu season (to be sure, vaccines are drugs). I’d like to see an end to the fear-mongering and pressure to conform, and a more critical look given to whether this is the best for our health.