Of all the places $2 billion in government funds could be spent, using it to bring flu vaccines to market faster may be one of the most wasteful uses of that amount of money to date. One dramatic example is the flu shot, which has been proven ineffective time and time again, not to mention the myriad of side effects, some serious, that they cause every year.

If the U.S. government really wanted to make a dent in flu cases this fall and winter, they would put that money toward a massive public education campaign on the importance of optimizing your vitamin D levels.

Now that would be a strategy that would not only dramatically decrease the flu but also help save lives that are being lost prematurely from a completely preventable condition: vitamin D deficiency.

The government has once again pledged their allegiance to the vaccine makers, and will be supporting them full force this flu season, as they do every year.

What You Need to Know Before the Flu Shot Campaigns Begin …

This year the vaccine manufacturers are making up to 165 million doses of flu vaccine -- more than ever before. To use up this unprecedented supply, the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging all Americans over 6 months to get vaccinated, unless they have an allergy to eggs or other limited conditions.

That’s right. Every man, woman and child is expected to line up and roll up their sleeve for the  flu shot … which this year contains a mix of three strains of flu -- H1N1 (swine flu), H3N2 (a new variant of seasonal flu) and influenza B.

This is important information to know, because if you had doubts about receiving the experimental swine flu shot last season, it is now being automatically dished out with every flu vaccine in the United States.

Already, Australia has banned this year’s flu vaccine for children under the age of 5 due to an unusually high number of children suffering adverse effects such as vomiting, spiking a high fever, and convulsions.

Peter Collignon, professor of infectious diseases at the Australian National University, has also gone on record stating that a recent clinical trial uncovered issues with the swine flu vaccine -- adverse effects that are identical to those suffered by the Australian children who reacted to the seasonal vaccine.

Sweden and Finland also recently sounded the alarm because young patients suddenly developed the sleeping disorder narcolepsy after being vaccinated with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine. France, Germany and Norway are now also tallying cases, and the EU has launched an investigation.

But children aren't the only group that seem to react more violently to the trivalent vaccine that contains the H1N1 component.

In the United States, a special government committee has been created to investigate last year's H1N1 monovalent vaccine for signs that it may be associated with a higher rate of certain kinds of reactions. What the committee found out provisionally is that there were three signs of trouble with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine used last year.

Barbara Loe Fisher, founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, explained:

"One was Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), which we know has been associated with influenza vaccine since 1976 when the first swine flu vaccine was used. There is [also] a sign of a blood disorder called thrombocytopenia. Thrombocytopenia is when your blood cannot produce enough platelets. It's an autoimmune type reaction.

The other is Bell's palsy. That's a facial paralysis. It's a neuroimmune reaction.

The government is saying they don't know if these are true signals or not, but there were some red flags that were raised."

Unfortunately, instead of using the $2 billion in funding for further testing to make sure the vaccine is safe considering blatant “red flags” have already been raised, the government is moving full-steam ahead with their plans for a three-in-one flu shot this season, and is even paying the drug companies to figure out how to bring it out even faster.

You’ve probably already seen the signs at your local drug store advertising they’re here … and this is only the beginning.

All the Risk … for No Benefit?

You should know that anytime you receive a flu shot, you are taking a risk. In order to get the perceived benefit that you or your family is being  protected from the flu (which is only a perception, as I’ll explain below), you are being injected with numerous substances even above and beyond the three flu viruses -- substances with known risks to your health.

Toxic substances found in various flu vaccines include:

• Dangerous levels of mercury in the form of thimerosal, a deadly preservative that is 50 times more toxic than regular mercury
• Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)
• Formaldehyde – a known cancer-causing agent
• Neomycin and streptomycin (antibiotics)
• Aluminum -- a neurotoxin linked to Alzheimer’s disease
• Polysorbate 80 (Tween80™) – which can cause severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis
• Phenol (carbolic acid)
• Resin and gelatin - known to cause allergic reactions
• Triton X100 (detergent)

So every year that you get a flu shot, you are taking a risk that one or more of these substances, or the flu viruses themselves, will cause a problem in your body.

The payoff you get for taking this risk?

Well, the pharmaceutical industry would love for you to believe that the flu vaccine is going to somehow magically protect you from dying from the flu.

But in fact the evidence couldn't be clearer -- the flu vaccine doesn't work at all in the elderly, and the data is flimsy at best when it comes to children and adults. In other words, you’re taking all the risk for little to no benefit.

For instance, one recent review looked at the effectiveness of immunizing nursing-home workers to protect the elderly in their care. After reviewing five studies conducted between 1997 and 2009, the results show the vaccination campaigns had NO EFFECT on the number of confirmed influenza cases.

The researchers also concluded that vaccinating staff has no proven impact on reducing the number of related pneumonia cases, or pneumonia-linked deaths -- which, by the way, accounts for the vast majority of what the CDC counts as “flu deaths.”

Said lead researcher Dr. Roger Thomas:

"What troubled us is that [shots] had no effect on laboratory-confirmed influenza.

What we were looking for is proof that influenza ... is decreased. Didn't find it.

We looked for proof that pneumonia is reduced. Didn't find it.

We looked for proof deaths from pneumonia are reduced. Didn't find it."

This is only one example of many. Study after study continue to show that flu vaccines are virtually useless for preventing illness and mortality from the flu, and you can read about five more such examples here.

Let’s Get Real: Here’s What You Really Need to Do to Prevent the Flu

There is a massive attempt to defraud and deceive people to generate profits from flu vaccines, and the U.S. government is helping to fund and promote this system.

Fortunately, we are able to penetrate this veil of misinformation, as we did so effectively last year during the swine flu campaign. Last year the United States contracted for the manufacture of over 170 million doses of swine flu vaccine. Probably the most significant accomplishment of this Web site was that we were able to contribute to the fact that only 90 million doses were used in the United States.

This year, we want to start early by warning people about the new plan ... and the safer alternative … so the number of people exposed to potentially harmful and useless flu vaccines drops even lower.

I urge you to take your time and really make an informed decision before you rush to get this year’s flu shot for yourself or your family, and while you’re at it, tune in to the latest studies on vitamin D, which are strengthening the evidence that it is a potent preventive measure against colds and influenza.

There is so much compelling evidence that I believe optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds, including the flu.

As one recent study showed, a group of children taking vitamin D3 was 58 percent less likely to catch influenza A. That's a higher effectiveness than any flu vaccine can claim, and doesn't come with a barrage of potentially devastating side effects!

Most children, teens, adults and elderly in the United States are vitamin D deficient, especially during the winter months when sun exposure is at a minimum for many. So I urge you to get your and your children's vitamin D levels tested, and if found deficient, follow my recommendations for optimizing your levels.

Do this, and you’ll all be far less likely to catch any cold or flu this year.

So let’s get the word out. Ditch the flu vaccine and optimize vitamin D instead.

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