The government acknowledges that. In fact, there is something called the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program that financially compensates people for injuries and death related to vaccines. Over the last 20 years, this fund has paid out close to $2 billion in compensation for several thousand injuries and about 1000 deaths. See this page for more info:

<link>

The question isn't are you going to be smart and be vaccinated or be dumb and not be vaccinated. It's about weighing the risks of each. Currently, the risk from the flu seems to be pretty small. We don't know what the risk from the vaccine is because it hasn't been out there long enough.

...let's see about 1000 deaths in the past 20 years compared with 20million deaths from the 1918 Spanish flu in just about 1 year...hmmm...yup not worth getting people vaccinated at all is it...?

...look anti-vaccine kook...no one is saying they don't carry some risk...NO ONE...even the government...as YOU have pointed out...but the benefits massively out-weigh the risks...

Hey KC64, Thanks for the link, it was excellent. I guess it depends on whom you believe and where you get your information:

<link>

Maybe you are right KC64: “Currently, the risk from the flu seems to be pretty small”.

Time will indeed tell and I wish you and yours the best. And, I do agree with you, it is not about being dumb or smart and it does involved risk assessment.

...[sigh]...mmm that's right...let's let it get to dangerous levels and then get everyone vaccinated...oh wait...that doesn't really help does it...this is the same thing as the seasonal flu...every year we get a new vaccine with the same preparation as this one has had...the anti-vaccine non-sense in this country is getting out of control...please...for all of our sanity...keep your faux-intellectual "risk assessment" business to yourself...

Pretty amazing that pointing out the fact that vaccine do injure and kill people makes a person an "anti-vaccine kook". I guess if I mentioned that people die in in car accidents, I'd be an "anti-car kook".

In fact, I'm not against vaccines at all. I think vaccines are wonderful things and I and my family get vaccinated. But there are all kinds of vaccines out there for all kinds of things. Have you been vaccinated against everything? Probably not, because all vaccines (and other medicines as well) have possible risks as well as benefits. My point is that framing this debate as one between smart people getting vaccinations and stupid people not getting them is not helpful or accurate.

Personally, I am not in one of the categories for which the CDC recommends the flu shot. If I were, I would consider it.

KevClark64:

Pretty amazing that pointing out the fact that vaccine do injure and kill people makes a person an "anti-vaccine kook". I guess if I mentioned that people die in in car accidents, I'd be an "anti-car kook".

"Anti-vaccine kook" statement retracted. I do always try to be open to both sides in a debate. As a public health official I encounter lots of "anti-vaccine" kooks and so with this subject my guard goes up pretty quick and I get pretty defensive. Especially during one of my classes a student, studying public health and epidemiology, started blabbering on about the danger of vaccines and siding with Jenny McCarthy and crying in the middle of class. It has left a very sour taste in my mouth about who holds these anti-vaccine points of view.

In fact, I'm not against vaccines at all. I think vaccines are wonderful things and I and my family get vaccinated. But there are all kinds of vaccines out there for all kinds of things. Have you been vaccinated against everything? Probably not, because all vaccines (and other medicines as well) have possible risks as well as benefits. My point is that framing this debate as one between smart people getting vaccinations and stupid people not getting them is not helpful or accurate.

Personally, I am not in one of the categories for which the CDC recommends the flu shot. If I were, I would consider it.

I posted in another thread (somewhat unnecessarily hostile) that the CDC doesn't just recommend those groups under normal circumstances. Those groups are target high-risk populations that should have priority in the event of a shortage of the vaccine. They do recommend that everyone receive the vaccine.

My apologies HAP. Nothing to do with the eyesight. It was more a matter of impotent rage that sometimes gets the better of me regarding this topic. (See my response to KevClark)

Yes, vaccines carry some risk. The problem with making your own risk assessment is that most people are horribly innumerate. The risk of death or injury from this disease is thousands of times larger than the risk from getting this vaccination, and it looks like the chances of contracting the disease are high and getting higher every day.

So people who "weigh" those odds and decide to forego vaccination, are indeed stupid. It's way dumber than basing your retirement planning on lottery scratchers: It's like "deciding" to play a roulette wheel that only pays back $100.01 on a $100.00 bet.

Am surprised at this forum's ignorance of so much discovery about the Swine Flu Hoax by criminal international pharmaceuticals Baxter and ilk, the UN, WHO, the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and even the puppet OBaama, signing 'statements' from Washington. Some 'kook' below wants you to take the shot. He can have mine. Thrice. This, like the Kansas 'Spanish' Flu, are weapons for bio-terror, as is AIDS-HIV, Ebola, Anthrax, and even Chemtrails. Same criminals behind them all, same criminals in government enforcing them. And SAME ethnic group, or tribe, holding the reigns of this macabre theatre. Treat yourselves to the TRUTH out there:

Google and destroy the man-made infection with these two:

MMS Standard Protocol & Thieves Oil Formula

The story behind MMS - MMS part 1

The story behind Thieves Oil - (The Black Plague, by the SAME tribe.)

Swine Flu Lawsuits Criminal charges against Baxter International Criminal Charges Swine Flu Edits Evidence of the Use of Pandemic Flu to Depopulate USA Filing criminal charges against the terrorists www.theflucase.com Horowitz sues Pharma & Rockefellers www.fluscam.com Sheriff Mack on forced vaccines <link> W.H.O. Admits No Deadly Mutation Of Swine Flu <link> The story behind MMS - MMS Part 1 Thieves Oil - The story behind thieves oil Google: "Swine Flu Hoax", "Jane Burguermeister lawsuit", "Baxter Avian Flu incident".