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November 2011. The Individual & Society: Exploring Human Rights and Medical Freedom (Vol 14, # 2)

The Marketing of the Flu Vaccine

By Richard Pitt   Sun, Nov 20, 2011

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Mothering Magazine in 2004. Seven years later, there has been no let up in the marketing of the vaccine, including a mandatory law for children to get the vaccine in New Jersey, to all drug stores inundating people as they walk the isles, to get their flu vaccine. A new H1N1 flu vaccine is available, with exaggerated claims to its virulence and “pandemic” proportions. Therefore, it is interesting to revisit this article as it makes the claim that media and the medical industry, with government backing, are making claims about the flu and the vaccine that are simply projections and are not based on fact.

We like to think that the advice we get from health organizations and medical professionals is determined solely by unbiased concerns and supported by scientific evidence. However, as most of us are aware, other factors influence decisions regarding health policy. The most obvious of these is the economic and political influence of the drug companies, which has grown considerably in the last 20 years. Another factor is the psychological and social impacts of the events of September 11, 2001, which have helped to create in this country what many are now calling “a culture of fear.”

Changing Recommendations

Only a few years ago, the flu vaccine was recommended mainly for elderly people, who were considered to be at risk for flu complications such as pneumonia. In 2002–2003, the flu vaccine was recommended for children who already had diseases such as asthma, and who were also considered more likely to suffer flu complications. By April of this year, both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended the flu vaccine for all children ages 6 through 23 months, as well as for household contacts and caregivers of all children younger than two years. In the fall of 2004, the flu vaccine will be added to the United States Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule, which is approved by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the CDC, the AAP, and the American Academy of Family Physicians. 

According to a September 24, 2003, report in USA Today, the CDC was already recommending that everyone get the vaccine in the fall of 2003 (in contrast to the CDC’s official published material, which at that time did not recommend that healthy people under age 50 get the vaccine). Due to a rare abundance of the vaccine, it was possible for everybody to be vaccinated. The article stated that the flu kills an average of 36,000 people in the US each year—nearly twice the previous estimate—and that about 20 percent of the population will become infected and 114,000 will be hospitalized.

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By Richard Pitt

Richard Pitt

Richard Pitt | Homeopath and Educator

Richard has been practicing and teaching homeopathy in San Francisco since 1995.  He orginally trained in England and has been practicing homeopathy since 1984.  He is former Director of the Pacific Academy of Homeopathy in San Francisco and also teaches at many other schools in the United States and Canada.  He is a founding board member and past president of the Council for Homeopathic Certification, which has established professional certification for the homeopathic profession in North America.  He is in private practice in San Francisco.

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