Who’s Afraid of Swine Flu? We are, but we fear the cure more than the disease
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius gets vaccinated for the flu in Alexandria, VA on September 11, 2009 (Win McNamee/Getty)
Poll results released Friday by the Harvard School of Public Health found that only 40 percent of adults plan to receive a swine flu vaccination and about half would vaccinate their children. A story about those results runs in The Washington Post today, which also reported that research by both the University of Michigan and by Consumer Reports shows similar results. Robert Blendon, a professor at Harvard’s School of Public health said, “We’re talking about a campaign where ultimately nearly the whole population is supposed to be vaccinated.” The school has been studying attitudes about the pandemic for the CDC, and Blendon added the study’s results show vaccinating the entire population (never mind if we will actually have enough vaccine to do that) is very unlikely to happen. A study from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and the University of Georgia, also found that fewer than 10 percent of Americans are willing to take the vaccine.
So why the lukewarm response among the usually panic-motivated American public? Experts believe it’s a perfect storm of distrust in government and suspicions that mainstream medicine’s powers-that-be don’t really know what they are doing. That Post piece quoted a flu vaccine expert at the Mayo Clinic blaming the public’s uncertainty about the vaccine on its concerns about “conspiracy theories, government misbehavior and conflicts of interest.” Many people don’t really understand just what a vaccine is, which tends to make them afraid, and parents of young children are especially worried about side effects of a new, relatively untested vaccine. Even though it’s clear that we are all more susceptible to H1N1 because our immune systems don’t have experience with it, most believe it’ll be just like the seasonal flu—you stay in bed for a few days, drink fluids and it’s over.
Another psychological hurdle are memories—of which we are now being reminded—of the mass vaccination of millions in the mid 70s for yet another “swine flu.” Millions of doses of vaccine were injected into the population before the program was stopped. The problem? Hundreds developed a debilitating auto-immune response called Guillian-Barre syndrome. Although there’s no reason to believe the same thing will happen again this time around, it’s a cautionary tale.
The only way to get the public’s buy-in is to help them understand the risks and benefits of vaccination, through clear communication. At this point it seems the WHO and CDC are hoping to make people fear the disease, rather than the vaccine. What’s happened instead is we fear all of it. University of Pittsburgh study author Sandra Quinn said that communication about the H1N1 vaccine is “enormously challenging” and it would “behoove public health agencies to being now to think about communication and education of the public.”
I’m waiting for that lay-person friendly information to start flowing because, like everyone else, I’m not sure what I would do. I don’t have any deep suspicions of mainstream medicine, but I also can’t imagine lining up for a “new and better” vaccine that hasn’t yet been FDA approved, as some speculate may be the case in the event time runs short. And with all the mistakes the FDA has made recently, even that stamp of approval isn’t particularly comforting.
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I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I know the benefit of vaccines and I have nothing against the flu vaccine, either seasonal or swine. Yet I’ve never gotten a flu vaccine. I’ve also never gotten the flu. I’m not saying it’s never going to happen and I absolutely believe I’m just as likely to come down with it as anyone else. But year after year I survive unscathed by this particular malady.
Maybe I’d be more of a believer if I’d suffered through a nasty bout of flu and didn’t want to repeat the experience.
So should I get a vaccine this year? If you will, I will.
H1N1 Vaccines and Your Children: The details are in the fine print! http://wp.me/pC1DX-34
WARNING: Safety and effectiveness of Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine have not been established in pregnant women or nursing mothers or children <6 months of age. References from the CDC included in the above link. Seeing is believing so take a look not only for yourself, but for your family as well.
“Hundreds developed a debilitating auto-immune response called Guillian-Barre syndrome. Although there’s no reason to believe the same thing will happen again this time around, it’s a cautionary tale.”
There are numerous reasons to believe this same thing will happen–first among them that vaccine manufacturers have been granted immunity from prosecution should any injuries occur.
Does that sound like a choice made in the public interest? And it gets worse. Check some of the reports at swineflu.baywords.com ; you will be shocked.
Sorry, correct link is http://swineflu.baywords.com/
In response to another comment. See in context »Hello drrasberry,
Your posting is quite misleading. In 1976 a swine flue was introduced after an outbreak of swine flu in military facilities. Around 40 million people received the vaccine but doctors reported an increase Guillain-Barre and 25 people had died. The immunisation program was halted however it was never established whether the vaccine or the flu itslef was responsible increase in Guillain-Barre. Thirty years alter the first swine flu vaccine the current H1N1 vaccination is quite different.
In response to another comment. See in context »David, see my post above. Link is included there.
Vaccine manufacturers have not tested H1N1 vaccines for safety on pregnant women, breast feeding women, or young kids. Check the link out above for proof. Vaccine manufacturers are admitting this inconvenient fact in their own literature, however there is next to no media exposure about lack of safety studies for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, or small children.
Hello jakefelice,
The H1N1 vaccine has not be tested on lots of different sub-populations. It is not possible to test every flu vaccine on every possible sub-population. The question is, is there are reason that those sub-populations will react differently than the general population to this flu vaccine. There is no evidence that these populations will react any differently to this vaccine than any other vaccine.
In response to another comment. See in context »I disagree David. The population of pregnant women and young children are major groups that are known to react to multiple types of medication differently than normal adults. There are obvious reasons for safety concerns in both pregnant women and young children. If you look at the literature, effectiveness of vaccines in young children is questionable. One major reason for this is that their immune systems are not fully developed and because of this the “memory” of their immune cells isn’t 100%. I’ll attach a couple of references below.
Additionally, in vaccine safety trials for kids aged 6-36 months, when looking for adverse effects of vaccine, the children were only followed for two weeks. That and only 31 kids were followed, so not a huge number. Pregnant women were not looked at at all. See page 14 of this link from the CDC. http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM182404.pdf
For pregnant women, the blood-placental barrier is a critical concern with vaccine safety, so yes I would want this group studied.
Do flu shots work?
Not in babies: In a review of more than 51 studies involving more than 294,000 children it was found there was “no evidence that injecting children 6-24 months of age with a flu shot was any more effective than placebo. In children over 2 yrs, it was only effective 33% of the time in preventing the flu. Reference: Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy children.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18425905?ordinalpos=&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.SmartSearch&log$=citationsensor The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Not in children with asthma: A study 800 children with asthma, where one half were vaccinated and the other half did not receive the influenza vaccine. The two groups were compared with respect to clinic visits, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations for asthma. CONCLUSION: This study failed to provide evidence that the influenza vaccine prevents pediatric asthma exacerbations. Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15269071?ordinalpos=&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.SmartSearch&log$=citationsensor “Effectiveness of influenza vaccine for the prevention of asthma exacerbations.” Christly, C. et al. Arch Dis Child. 2004 Aug;89(8):734-5.
Not in children with asthma (2): “The inactivated flu vaccine, Flumist, does not prevent influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially the ones with asthma…In fact, children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than children who do not get the vaccine.” Reference: The American Thoracic Society’s 105th International Conference, May 15-20, 2009, San Diego.
Hello jakefelice,
I would only note that the original posting was about Guillian-Barre syndrome and the H1N1 virus. I pointed out that there is no clear link between the vaccine and the outbreak 32 years of swine flu. You noted that the vaccine was tested on women and children and I responded that you test every vaccine on every sub-population.
You then wrote: “The population of pregnant women and young children are major groups that are known to react to multiple types of medication differently than normal adults.”
This may be so be so for many drugs (which are chemical agents) but it is not generally the case with vaccines (which are viruses). You then go on to argue not that vaccines are dangerous to children but that they are ineffective at preventing asthma exacerbations. This is not the principal purpose of flu vaccinations, it is to prevent people from getting the flu. Astma exacerbations are just a side benefit.
What is illuminating about this exchange is the fact that no one stays on topic. Some one raises Guillian-Barre syndrome as a link to vaccination and when that is challanged the topic is shifted to “testing” protocol and when that is challenged the topic is shifted to effectiveness against asthma exacerbations. No one defends any claim, they just keep bringing up new topics.
The only real question is do flu vaccination protect people against the flu. Yes they do. Are flue vaccines perfect? No, there are going to be people who get the flu because they get a shot or have some reaction to the vehicle or something else. However, on the whole the benefits far outweigh the costs.
In response to another comment. See in context »Like Hilary, I also have never had a flu vaccine, nor have my kids (now 12 & 16) – and we’ve never had the flu either. (Now that I’ve said that I’m sure I’ve cursed us all with a terrible bout of swine flu.)I also know plenty of people who were vaccinated who got sick. I’m not up to date on the science, but I am distrustful of flu vaccines based on life experience alone!