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Flu season is just around the corner. Better think twice before visiting your local drugstore for that little shot!

Three years ago, a Canadian research team noticed that people who received a flu shot were more likely to become infected with the pandemic H1N1 virus than those who hadn’t received a shot. Five follow-up studies were done in several provinces, with the same disturbing results.

Now a new double-blind study led by an influenza expert at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control has recreated the event using ferrets. The ferrets in the vaccine group became significantly sicker than the other animals.

No one is entirely sure why this is, though it does not appear to have been a problem with the flu vaccine used in Canada. So not only do we have to worry about the side effects of the flu vaccine, it now seems to be exacerbating the very illness it’s supposed to prevent.