Bloomberg unleashes mandatory vaccination of children (NaturalNews) New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg successfully pushed a highly controversial mandate through his NYC Board of Health on Wednesday, which stipulates all children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years, 11 months, that attend a NYC licensed daycare or pre-school must receive the annual flu shot. Set to go into effect in approximately 30 days, the mandate is expected to affect as many as 150,000 children in the NYC area. Autism activists and enraged parents held a protest Wednesday morning in resistance to the proposed mandate, yet their voices went unheard by the Bloomberg appointees, as the measure passed unanimously. Angry that their rights as parents were being infringed upon and angry at the dangers that the vaccine will pose to children, the group, as well as supporters around the country, was clearly disturbed.
The proposed reasoning behind the mandate was to keep not only children but adults safe from the seasonal flu, as the sniffles that are commonly spread by children are often passed onto older family members. What Bloomberg and the NYC Board of Health failed to address was the lack of tangible evidence of the shot actually helping children and the mounting evidence of potential dangers, often extreme, when administering the shot to children, let alone developing toddlers. It was not until as recent as 2008 that the influenza vaccine was even suggested for use in children between 6 months and 8 years old and, until then, it has been a practice generally frowned upon.
Are 'Shots for Tots' safe?
The safety of shots for young children has been a heated debate over the last several decades; however, statistical studies show that the flu shot offers little protection for
children, if any. Other studies have shown that children who get the influenza vaccine are up to three times more likely to receive hospitalization for the flu than those avoiding it all together. While worried parents continue to voice their concerns over links from the
flu shot to the onset of autism in children, the CDC contends that the practice is completely safe, recommending double doses for children under 9 who are new to the shot.
According to the CDC, the flu shot contains hazardous chemicals such as thimerosal (mercury), sodium phosphate and formaldehyde, while recorded side effects include severe allergic reactions, seizures, Guillain-Barre syndrome and death. Health authorities claim that benefits of the shot outweigh the risks; critics however are quick to note that doctors and nurses without employer mandates are among the least likely to actually receive the yearly vaccine.