Skip the flu vaccine because you have a immune system? Will you die in ignorance?

If, as a number of people have told me, you feel you don't need the flu vaccine because your super immune system protects you, or you can boost your own health by taking megadoses of vitamins or zinc or some herbs then you are a perfect example of the old saying, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

One way the flu kills is by activating strong immune systems - see below.

The coronavirus threat is real but insignificant compared to yearly flu deaths.

The 2019CoV Chinese coronavirus is in the news daily but so far it has not killed a single person in the U.S.

The regular yearly flu has already caused 8,200 deaths just in the U.S. and the flu season has barely gotten going. So while people panic about a possible Chinese pandemic don't ignore the influenza vaccine which WILL save lives and this year's flu will IS! already spreading widely.

But the regular flu isn't "sexy" enough for TV so you don't hear about the hundreds of U.S. citizens dead every day from the preventable flu.

NOTE: You may see complaints online that the CDC overestimates influenza deaths, suggesting the real number so far is only about 2,000 and 56 of those were children (ONLY??). But the nearly 9,000 deaths were all in people who had the flu and probably would be alive if they hadn't been infected.

There are expert estimates that of those 9,000 about 7,000 would have survived if they had been vaccinated this year. Some were is such poor health that even a mild case of the flu could have resulted in death.

But while the terrible post-WWI flu killed 30 to 90 million people worldwide before the era of modern medicine, since 2010 an average of 20,000 die of complications of the yearly flu every year in the US, 55,000 in the 2014-2015 season - 61,000 last year.

EVen if you don't mind getting the flu, being vaccinated helps stop the spread and saves other lives especially children and the elderly.

If you think you have a super immune system or can boost your own health by taking megadoses of vitamins or zinc or some herbs then you are a perfect example of the old saying, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." While it is true that you can boost your immune system, it isn't true that it would protect you from catching the flu and even worse, every year the flu kills very healthy younger people precisely BECAUSE they are young, fit, and have strong immune systems. You see one way the flu kills is by overexciting a strong immune system into producing TOO MANY protective cytokines which produce something called a cytokine storm that causes excessive inflammation and therefore fluid build up in the lungs and kills by causing the young, healthy, strong person to actually drown in their own fluids.

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The CDC says this will be one of the worst flu seasons ever with 22,000 already hospitalized by January 1) and will kill many children.

The flu has killed 56 US children already this year.

The 19-20 vaccine covers three strains of influenza virus (CDC).

Those over 65 get a much stronger vaccine because our immune systems are weaker. Many flu deaths occur due to the body's immune system overreaction causing a "cytokine storm" See my article on this and possible treatments. Statin drugs can also help reduce over active immune responses.