Sunday, May 16, 2010

More on pre-pandemic vaccinations/ CIDRAP

Prepandemic vaccinations have been discussed for years, quietly, by the international flu elite.  They were a "win-win" approach:  the elite recommending them would be viewed as heroes when the pandemic came (just as our public health officials assumed that the patina of a Salk or Sabin would rub off on them for saving us from swine flu).  The other win was that big pharma would do very well by doing good.

I hope that Secretary Sibelius, WHO Director Chen and others have learned that despite the good reputation of vaccines, in general, they are not made of fairy dust.  You cannot simply exhort the masses to take them, while spending like a drunken sailor to buy them, and expect there will be no accountability down the road for your lack of attention to details... your unwarranted fearmongering... your inability to take the "off ramps" Secretary Sibelius promised were being built into the American program.

UPDATE May 18:  However,  Sibelius is still proclaiming the wisdom of her actions:
"While some have questioned some of the actions taken by the international community, the outcomes speak for themselves. I believe we made the right decisions at the right times," said US Secretary for Health Kathleen Sebelius.

As CIDRAP makes clear here and here, the 1976 swine flu vaccine program and the 2003 smallpox vaccine program were dismal failures, causing hundreds or thousands of serious reactions for diseases that were not circulating on planet Earth when the vaccines were administered, and have not been seen since then, either.

The predictions of doom for 2009's swine flu were made and repeated like mantras, despite lack of support from the data.  And CDC was very slow to share that data.

In public policy, as in our national sport, after 3 strikes, you're out.    Therefore, I think the plan to issue us pre-pandemic body armor has been sidelined, at least until the public forgets about these 3 vaccine fiascos.  At least for now, the policymakers can spend our money to buy vaccines without consent, but they can't force them into us. 

That is, unless you attend school, work in the military, or work in many healthcare establishments.  Soldiers, for example, are still receiving mandatory smallpox inoculations.  Hmm.

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