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CNN last night
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Anonymous
The government is not to blame for viruses. They do what they can. But they get the short end of the stick. If the flu does less harm than predicted, we will blame them. If it does more, we will blame them. If we all get vaccinated and it prevents mass deaths, we will blame them for overblowing things. If they rush the vaccine to market, we accuse them. But then when there isn't enough vaccine (because H1N1 replicates too slowly in egg medium) we blame them. We clamor for thimerosal-free vaccine, which means they have to crank out many different types of vaccine and then get mad at them because the matrix of vaccines is complicated and there are gaps for some age groups. |
Anonymous
Exactly. I am amazed at how critical we are of government while in other countries the government would just let its citizens die. We are so ungrateful. It's embarrassing. |
Anonymous
It's not just the government. Some people are downright pissed that the pharmaceutical companies profit off of vaccines, as if innovation to come up with something that saves lives should not be rewarded. I consider myself a liberal, but honestly, I don't see the logic in that. If we didn't pay smart people no one would go into science/research. |
Anonymous
Haha sorry to throw this off track but our governments also lets plenty of people die. All the time. |
Anonymous
Right, and they came up with the chicken pox vaccine because kids were dying by the droves of chicken pox each year. And they came up with bovine growth hormone because all they wanted was for everyone to have enough milk to drink. Riiiiiiiiiight. I've got a nice bridge for sale if you're interested. |
Anonymous
| I'm sorry it's just a naive thing to say. I never claimed the government is causing any of this, it's just quite a silly thing to put ourselves above other countries where they "let people die". I should know better than to respond to such posts... |
Anonymous
Bovine growth hormone wasn't even made by a pharmaceutical company. It was made by Monsanto. And while a handful of vaccines might make decent profits for manufacturers, the margins are really low on things like influenza vaccine. However, if you want to know where they make money, it's those expensive single dose thimerosal-free vaccines. Creating and filling the packaging blows up the price of the vaccine vs. a standard vial. So if you are one of those people afraid of 25 mcg of mercury, even though you get that pretty much every week or more, give yourselves a hand for generating most of the influenza vaccine profits. |
Anonymous
I posted that I am confused. Where did I say that I blame the government? I don't. I just said I was confused. Get over yourself. |
Anonymous
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I somewhat disagree with Gupta. Yes, perhaps the percentage of kids who are infected and have complications from H1N1 is smaller than the percentage of those who die from seasonal flu. But, in terms of impact on the population, H1N1 has such a wider reach, thousands are hospitalized from complications, and the absolute number of deaths is twice that of a regular flu season to date.
So yes, perhaps the virus is less lethal percentage wise, but in terms of effect and reach it is pretty serious. I hope no one takes Gupta's comments as a reason to not get the vaccine if they can find it. |
Anonymous
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Exactly. I am amazed at how critical we are of government while in other countries the government would just let its citizens die. We are so ungrateful. It's embarrassing. Wow. What exactly are you basing that brilliant piece of insight on? Can you even find more than 4 other countries on a map? Seriously, that is one of the most assinine and uninformed things I've heard in quite some time...but hey, as long as it makes you feel good to think that, whatever. America, love it or leave it. |
Anonymous
Hold on a second. No one says flu or chicken pox will kill you. Some of us want our kids to avoid getting sick for two weeks. I happen to believe these two particular vaccines are very safe so I am fine with my children getting them. Also, I am incredibly fit and healthy, and I get a flu shot every year. Not because I think I'LL CATCTH THE FLU AND DIE!!!! Just because I don't want the inconvenience of having the flu. Not everything is a conspiracy. Why shouldn't there be compensation - it is supply and demand. Sure there are folks who don't want the vaccines, but plenty of us do. And I for one am glad they are supplying them. Oh and I by the way, you should take five minutes and look into the BILLIONS of dollars the anti-vaccine movement has made. Those books and websites are not there for public health - they are there for profit. Dr. Sears is the biggest scam of all - that man should be in jail. And those trial lawyers who almost shut a pharmaceutical company down in 1986 because of the Dtap vaccine, even though it is perfectly safe, made billions. The government, using our tax dollars, had to intervene in their behalf, and pass a law to protect the pharmaceuticals from the trial lawyers taking advantage of scared parents and suing for NO REASON. Look into it, it's called the National Childhood Vaccine Act. |
Anonymous
Exactly. I am amazed at how critical we are of government while in other countries the government would just let its citizens die. We are so ungrateful. It's embarrassing. Wow. What exactly are you basing that brilliant piece of insight on? Can you even find more than 4 other countries on a map? Seriously, that is one of the most assinine and uninformed things I've heard in quite some time...but hey, as long as it makes you feel good to think that, whatever. America, love it or leave it. Basing it on my work in global public health - so it's not uniformed. I don't need to justify my statement to you or anyone else. |