Anti-h1n1 vaccine fear-mongering runs amok in Canada

[Drakken]

Address swine flu vaccine fears, doctor urges

Last Updated: Monday, September 14, 2009 | 4:14 PM ET

In a poll of 1,000 Canadians conducted in late August, only 45 per cent of respondents said they planned to get the vaccine and an equal percentage said they would not take the shot. In a poll of 1,000 Canadians conducted in late August, only 45 per cent of respondents said they planned to get the vaccine and an equal percentage said they would not take the shot. (Greg Baker/AP Photo)The federal government needs to reassure the public that it will track the swine flu vaccine's safety and effectiveness, an Ottawa health policy researcher says.

Some Canadians at high risk of getting swine flu have said they don't trust the vaccine enough to get the shot.

"People will refuse to take the vaccine if they don't have confidence in how the vaccine is being rolled out," said Dr. Kumanan Wilson, a doctor of internal medicine at the Ottawa Hospital and Canada Research Chair in public health policy at the University of Ottawa.

Wilson worries that fear of the vaccine could undermine government flu prevention programs. That also concerns Dr. Lindy Sampson, chief of infectious diseases and head of pandemic planning at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.

"Having the vaccine and being able to distribute it will be a very key part of our response," she said, adding that Canada has a solid record when it comes to the safety and efficacy of the vaccines it produces and distributes.

"The government will not put forth a vaccine that is not safe and I think we need to get that message out."

Pregnant women, health-care workers, those living in northern and remote communities and people under age 65 with chronic health conditions are expected to be targeted first when the vaccine is released in Canada in November.

Arwin Widmer-Bobick is pregnant, but doesn't plan to get the vaccine. She asked her doctor about it, and he told her he didn't have enough information to recommend whether she should get it or not. After talking to her midwife, who recommended the vaccine, she still decided not to get the shot.

'People will refuse to take the vaccine if they don't have confidence in how the vaccine is being rolled out,' warned Dr. Kumanan Wilson. 'People will refuse to take the vaccine if they don't have confidence in how the vaccine is being rolled out,' warned Dr. Kumanan Wilson. (CBC)"Myself and a lot of other pregnant women I know are questioning ... what the real facts are," she said. "In terms of the vaccine itself and being a guinea pig ... how do I calculate that risk?"

Widmer-Bobick isn't the only one who has concerns. In a poll of 1,000 Canadians conducted in late August, only 45 per cent of respondents said they planned to get the vaccine and an equal percentage said they would not take the shot. The poll was commissioned by the Canadian Press and conducted by Harris-Decima.

Wilson said many people have bad memories of the 1976 swine flu vaccine. Hundreds of people in the U.S. came down with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that causes paralysis, and 25 people died before the vaccine was pulled from use. Wilson said scientists still don't know exactly what went wrong with that vaccine.

In addition, only 30 per cent of Canadians typically even get the seasonal flu vaccine.

There are also public concerns about the safety of an additive in the swine flu vaccine called an adjuvant that is intended to help boost a person's immunity to the flu.

Internet spreads fear

Wilson said vaccine production is much safer now than it was in 1976. But there is also an anti-vaccine movement spreading fears across the internet, and public officials must wage a better campaign against those negative messages when it comes to the swine flu vaccine, he said.

"It's going to be a very safe vaccine but we just have to take measures to ensure that it's as safe as possible and the safety is being monitored. And this needs to be communicated to the public," he added.

A spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada said the government has a monitoring program in place with the Influenza Research Network to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

Wilson said public health officials need to better publicize that and be up front about how they will evaluate any concerns that are brought up and how potential adverse effects are being reported and tracked. They also need to be clear about what they do and don't know in order to earn public trust, he added.

Meanwhile, Widmer-Bobick said she remains confident about her decision not to get the flu shot, because there are antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu to treat swine flu.

"If I get a fever, I'm going to my doctor's office and I'm going to get the antiviral," she said, "and I'm quite confident that that is both safe and effective, which is something I can't say about the vaccine at this moment."

Just mind-bogging.

And in Quebec, two pseudo-experts, Jean-Jacques Crèvecoeur and Cyrinne ben Mamou, make credulous people pay 20$ to assist a conference in which they argue that the OMS is organizing the genocide of millions of people through contaminated vaccines. Just wowwwwwwwwww...

Added to that e-mails are circulating dubious documents, either taken out of context or doctored, to feed the big pharma conspiracy. And people buy this bull. One has only to read the comments on the CBC websites to see that quite a few people will refuse to take the vaccine and put themselves and their loved ones in danger by fear of being poisoned.

[Malthus]

First I've heard of it.

[Drakken]

First I've heard of it.

Good for you if have been spared. But in Quebec, it has literally exploded.

So much, in fact, that I wouldn't be in disagreement, if the next h1n1 wave is strong enough, if the Quebec Public Health Care decided in favour of compulsory vaccination for all.

[Viking]

From this year's "The Amazing Meeting 7" a panel discussion on the Anti-Vax movement. This is old hat and predates the MMR anti-vax bullshit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap_0uQDbZl4

[Drakken]

I'll have to go to TAM once in my life, especially since it is in Las Vegas.

[Viking]

I'll have to go to TAM once in my life, especially since it is in Las Vegas.

They have TAM london as well. Though, this year it sold out almost immediately.

[Grey Fox]

The way the vaccine was created is shady at best. Barely has been tested & the company making it as requested immunity (no idea if they got it tho). I don't mind getting vaccinated but they need to test the damn thing, first.

[Josephus]

Can we bring down Harper over this?

[Drakken]

The way the vaccine was created is shady at best. Barely has been tested & the company make it as requested immunity (no idea if they got it tho). I don't mind getting vaccinated but they need to test the damn thing, first.

Why? It is basically the same flu vaccine we get every year, and it has been proven to be secure. Of course it's being tested and monitored, like every flu vaccine since it exists.

The only difference is that, in season flu vaccination, we have to guesstimate which strain will be the dominant flu in the next flu season. This time, however, we already know which strain to protect ourselves from, and the strain hasn't been reported to have mutated enough to be dissimilar from the first wave.

[Grey Fox]

I'm not going to get the regular flu vaccine. I'm not 80.

[Malthus]

The way the vaccine was created is shady at best. Barely has been tested & the company making it as requested immunity (no idea if they got it tho). I don't mind getting vaccinated but they need to test the damn thing, first.

Most of the news articles here in Ontario are critical of how long the vaccine is taking to get here - noting that in the US they are already getting it.

See, the problem here is that a "well tested" vaccine will prove too late, should there be as expected a fall outbreak of the flu. It's already fall now ...

[Drakken]

I'm not going to get the regular flu vaccine. I'm not 80.

No, but don't visit your grandparents, who are 80. Plus also all the little children around you.

Vaccination is not just to immunize, but to stop the propagation to more vulnerable people.

[Drakken]

The way the vaccine was created is shady at best. Barely has been tested & the company making it as requested immunity (no idea if they got it tho). I don't mind getting vaccinated but they need to test the damn thing, first.

Most of the news articles here in Ontario are critical of how long the vaccine is taking to get here - noting that in the US they are already getting it.

See, the problem here is that a "well tested" vaccine will prove too late, should there be as expected a fall outbreak of the flu. It's already fall now ...

Indeed, but the debate lies on whether we should use a vaccine with or without adjuvant. It's expediency vs quantity. At least it remains a sane debate.

In Quebec, though, the debate is whether the vaccine is lethal, dangerous and part of the the BPhC(tm) to poison the population. Asinine would be an understatement.

[Viking]

http://www.jennymccarthybodycount.com/Jenny_McCarthy_Body_Count/Home.html

[Malthus]

I'm not going to get the regular flu vaccine. I'm not 80.

So-called "herd immunity".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity

Dunno what the math is like for flu vaccine on this.