Flu shots: to vaccinate or not to vaccinate?

As flu season has arrived once again, this question is bound to be in many of my readers’ mind. Every year people ask me what I do and my answer has not changed in decades, I take vitamin C. In fact, I have never had a flu shot in my life and have no plans to start doing so now.

I can be accused of being quite the vitamin C fan, but I can report in all honesty that the only times when I got the flu in my entire adult life are times when – for one reason or the other – I had stopped taking my vitamin C.

In fact I take vitamin C all year long. My usual dose is 1 gram per day in addition to what is in my multivitamin, but I increase that to 4 grams per day when the weather turns chilly and parents start to bring by my office their children with runny noses and a high temperature. Not only does vitamin C seem to protect me from the flu, it also keeps me from catching whatever it is that children with their runny noses, coughs, and fevers are bringing to my office.

When it comes to flu shots many people still think that – in spite of potential negatives – they do at least guarantee that you will not get the flu. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact I have known many people who got the flu from the vaccine or right after being vaccinated. Read More »