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Seasonal flu vaccinations have been suspended in Australia for all children under the age of five. The suspension comes after 23 children in Western Australia were admitted to hospitals with convulsions after receiving flu injections.

More than 250 children may have had adverse reactions to the vaccine, with symptoms including fever, vomiting and convulsions.

WA Today reports that:
"Another 40 convulsion cases had been detected in the past month in children at other metropolitan hospitals ... Doctors are now working to determine how many of those children received the flu vaccine."
Sources:

WA Today April 23, 2010

News.com.au April 27, 2010

Dr. Mercola's Comments

Looks like we're in for another rousing round of flu vaccine debacles this year, starting off with Australia banning this year's seasonal flu vaccine for children under the age of five due to an unusually high number of children suffering adverse effects.

At least one Australian toddler has died, less than 12 hours after receiving the 2010-2011 seasonal flu shot. Her twin also suffered from vomiting and fever, but has reportedly recovered.

So far, more than 250 adverse reactions have been reported in children under the age of five, raising serious questions about the safety of the vaccine for that age group.

CSL's Fluvax appears to be the main vaccine under investigation. However, CSL has objected to being singled out, claiming that any of the other three vaccines on the Australian market could be to blame.

The majority of the adverse effects included vomiting, spiking a high fever, and convulsions.

Naturally, some go so far as to report that "flu experts have cautioned that the spike in reactions might yet prove to be illusory, or caused by factors unrelated to the vaccine."

Right... As usual they want you to believe that the law of cause and effect is permanently disabled when it comes to vaccines.

As of now, Australian authorities are still trying to determine what caused so many children to experience adverse effects; whether it was one particular brand, or certain batches, or perhaps "an illusion" of ill effect.

Were these Adverse Effects Really a Surprise?

Peter Collignon, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Australian National University doesn't think so, going 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 children who reacted to the seasonal vaccine - but that the results of this trial appear to have been completely ignored.

In a recent interview with ABC News, Collignon said:
"The early warning signs were in the original studies by the vaccine manufacturer, CSL, in children, that was published in January in a journal called JAMA and this looked at about 370 children who were vaccinated last October with the swine flu vaccine.

And what was surprising is, particularly young children under the age of three, about 35 per cent of those developed a fever when they were given the lower dose of the vaccine."
The interview also includes the rebuttal from Australia's chief medical officer Professor Jim Bishop, who disagrees, stating that that clinical trial was for the swine flu vaccine and is therefore unrelated, adding that "the swine flu vaccine has now been used in millions of children. We haven't seen high fever rates."

On the one hand, they've had the good sense to suspend all seasonal flu vaccinations for children under five. But on the other, they're now recommending all Australian children get vaccinated with the H1N1 vaccine instead, claiming that IT is completely safe...

This makes no sense, considering the fact that it was a clinical trial for the swine flu vaccine that showed that a substantial number of children experienced adverse reactions, as can be seen in this chart.

In some of the study cases, the fevers were so high that researchers decided not to give the children their follow-up doses.

So exactly WHEN will the authorities take these clinical study results into account?

They claim the swine flu vaccine is safe, despite what the clinical trial showed, and they claim the adverse events suffered after the seasonal flu vaccine is unrelated since the adverse events recorded in the clinical trial was due to the H1N1 vaccine.

Talk about running in circles, claiming everything is safe no matter what the clinical results show!

Folks, I hope you don't fall for this dangerous nonsense.

Vitamin D More Important than Flu Shot to Avoid the Flu

There's convincing evidence that vitamin D deficiency predisposes you and your child to catch the flu, and children who are vitamin D deficient may also be at higher risk of dying from the flu.

I urge you to review the data linking vitamin D status to the flu, and to reconsider subjecting yourself and your child to any of the flu vaccines this year.