Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology released some alarming (-ist?) predictions about the possibility of a serious Swine Flu outbreak this winter.

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Predictably, the response has been swift and vigorous – THIS VACCINE WILL GIVE YOU NERVE DAMAGE!!!!

This single paragraph on Huffington Post generated 11 pages of comments:

“Government health officials are mobilizing to launch a massive swine flu vaccination campaign this fall that is unprecedented in its scope -- and in the potential for complications.”

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Many of the comments have to do with the nerve disorder Guillain-Barré Syndrome that was a side-effect of the 1976 Swine Flu vaccine, other comments express concern for the levels of mercury or thimerosal in the vaccines – neither of which have been used in vaccines for years.

Also, Drudge is reporting suspicious levels of socialism in the vaccine.

So, will you get vaccinated? Will you vaccinate your kids?

What else?

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So, will you get vaccinated? No, I've never had the flu. I think the swine flu being blown out of propotion, similar to Chicken Little the sky is falling & Y2K.

Will you vaccinate your kids? They are old enough to make their own decision.

dumb_blonde:

So, will you get vaccinated? No, I've never had the flu. I think the swine flu being blown out of propotion, similar to Chicken Little the sky is falling & Y2K.

A lot of people are citing the '76 swine flu "outbreak" (a pandemic that wasn't) when disregarding this one. It seems like this one might have legs.

I think I will get vaccinated at the same time I get my 5-year old vaccinated.

My MIL has already expressed fear/horror that I might consider such a thing.

No. No vaccines for me, none for my toddlers. We'll play the game with the hands we are dealt - versus taking a discard for what's behind door number three.

Yes. I think pandemic flu is something to be taken seriously. So we wash our hands, avoid sick people, and watch our kids like hawks.

[and I can't stick around today to have this argument]

- I don't trust drug companies

- I don't trust the FDA

- I don't trust the increasingly coopted medical journal and university system.

- I don't trust the politicians

- I don't trust mass forced human chemical expirements.

- I really don't trust them when they are in a hurry

- I don't trust mandated monopolies.

- I don't trust the regulatory system that clams they are safe.

- My wife and kids and I have indvidual medical issues that raises our personal risk of intervention.

- The miracle of vaccines myth is just that, a hero myth. The full story is more complicated. I am more interested in the achievements of public health and medical care during that period.

Even if we take the safety tests at face value (which I do not), we have to acknowledge that what and how they test is very limited. It does not test interactions of multiple vaccines, it does not test long term effects on the body, it does not test how vaccines affect developing immune systems, it does not test any of it in the context of the gumbo of toxic threats to which we subject our bodies and the relationship to the increase in generalized immune deficiency type diseases. What they test is does the injection of drug A lead to advese reactions. Then the rate of adverse reactions is compared to a hypothetical rate of adverse infection to make a cost-risk assessment. There is no mention of drugs and toxins B through Z. Which is to say: the drugs are not tested in the real world.

None of this should come as a surprise to anyone here: I do not trust massively powerful corporations, particularly when they achieve political and regulatory capture. You could take the above and apply it to the question of tobacco safety, global warming, or benzene in our drinking water, or the banking industry for that matter. In fact I believe that vaccines will one day prove to be the tobacco scandal for this century.

exactly.some does.some doesn't have it.also if you have an allergy to eggs(and more people do than you might imagine) you shouldn't have the vaccines as they often made from the denuded virus grown in eggs.

(and actually it is the shell of the virus that is what is contained in the vaccines, as the shell or outer covering of the virus, contains the same DNA, as the nucleus, which is the only dangerous part of the microrganism. They take the shell from the grown flu virus in eggs and denude the core containing the nucleus and put that portion into the vaccines.The shell contains the DNA ,so that the body can then produce antibodies safely against the DNA of the virus)

The Flue shots can be helpful. However, often the flu virus will continue to mutate and change ,so as one vaccine may help one strain, while other offshoots,mutations or even new virus, may develop and spead.

Swine Flu cases are expected to be pretty high.

However, it's already been determined to rarely be as lethal or problematic, as was first previously reported.

~LAM

I don't think I (personally) would get this round for either myself or my family. We typically don't get the flu shot even in regular years. I think the H1N1 is likely to mutate again, making this vaccine not as effective, if not ineffective. Wash hands, stay rested, and when it hits, stay home as much as possible.

From: <link>

The groups recommended to receive the novel H1N1 influenza vaccine include:

• Pregnant women because they are at higher risk of complications and can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated;
• Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age because younger infants are at higher risk of influenza-related complications and cannot be vaccinated. Vaccination of those in close contact with infants less than 6 months old might help protect infants by “cocooning” them from the virus;
• Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel because infections among healthcare workers have been reported and this can be a potential source of infection for vulnerable patients. Also, increased absenteeism in this population could reduce healthcare system capacity;
• All people from 6 months through 24 years of age
  • Children from 6 months through 18 years of age because we have seen many cases of novel H1N1 influenza in children and they are in close contact with each other in school and day care settings, which increases the likelihood of disease spread, and
  • Young adults 19 through 24 years of age because we have seen many cases of novel H1N1 influenza in these healthy young adults and they often live, work, and study in close proximity, and they are a frequently mobile population; and,
• Persons aged 25 through 64 years who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza.

We do not expect that there will be a shortage of novel H1N1 vaccine, but flu vaccine availability and demand can be unpredictable and there is some possibility that initially, the vaccine will be available in limited quantities. So, the ACIP also made recommendations regarding which people within the groups listed above should be prioritized if the vaccine is initially available in extremely limited quantities. For more information see the CDC press release CDC Advisors Make Recommendations for Use of Vaccine Against Novel H1N1.

Once the demand for vaccine for the prioritized groups has been met at the local level, programs and providers should also begin vaccinating everyone from the ages of 25 through 64 years. Current studies indicate that the risk for infection among persons age 65 or older is less than the risk for younger age groups. However, once vaccine demand among younger age groups has been met, programs and providers should offer vaccination to people 65 or older.

Sarvis:

Is there any "credible" evidence that they are not harmfull?

Russel's Serum Vial?

For both the wife and me.

We are at risk group people Her - asthma, me - heart mitral valve replacement.

As a well educated health care drug industry professional (one of those many of you call the untrusted enemy) I have taken the influenza vaccine every year for the past twenty + years. I normally get a feeling of malaise for a few days, then push right through the flu season.

Regarding vaccines, I travel to many dangerous (Public health and disease dangers) places all over the third world and have never considered not taking any vaccine the HWO suggests that I should take. The down side of saying "not for me" is simply too great. My WHO card is well stamped, and I like to keep it that way.

Of course all of this is just for me and those who I love. I would recommend that everyone search their own heart and do what they think is best for themselves and those they love. After all, the bitter truth is if you die, you simply die (dead, buried and gone) and from a morbidity perspective, swine flu will either kill you or you will recover. There will be no lasting damage if you make it through the illness and the American mortuary industry can take care of almost any pandemic outcome we will likely face. One thing we seem to be good at in the USA is planting or incinerating dead people.

If this one happens will not end mankind as we know it. At most, we would lose 100,000 to 150,000, maybe 250,000 people - mostly young and old, with existing health concerns, maybe a reasonably small percentage of "there was nothing wrong with Sally and then she was dead" healthy today, dead tomorrow people.

I suspect what will take everyone out will be an asteroid impact (perhaps in December, 2012?). Isn't it strange that if that is true, it is traveling toward us right now? Moving silently through the darkness and amazingly fast.

I'm getting an extra gallon of Bluebell mint chocolate chip Ice cream tonight, maybe raspberry ripple, too.

:O)

bright_virago:

I think the H1N1 is likely to mutate again, making this vaccine not as effective, if not ineffective. Wash hands, stay rested, and when it hits, stay home as much as possible.

That's a reasonable objection. The counter-argument I've read is that the fewer people who get H1N1 in its current form, the less chance it has to mutate. Not an entirely convincing argument.

Interesting responses.

(My) conclusion: BOTFers are dumber than I thought.