10/26/2009 Update: I’m not sure how many people are hearing about this CBS report on swine flu cases being overestimated, but it is worth reading. Here is a snippet:
In late July, the CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting individual cases.
I can’t encourage people enough to read this article. Now on to your regularly scheduled post.
What to do about the swine flu and its just as questionable vaccine? The amount of information (and disinformation) out there is growing every day, so now is definitely NOT the time to over-react or just do as we are told. Now is the time to think and research, so here is some information to ponder.
CNN ended an August article about the swine flu with the following:
“More than 1,490 people around the world have died from the virus since it emerged this spring, a WHO official said last week.”
This line leaves the story ending on an ominous note instead of a more reasoned and level tone. With the mere changing of one word and the adjustment of the number by ten people and we have a completely different note on which to end:
Less than 1500 people around the world have died from the virus since it emerged this spring, a WHO official said last week.
So now that we are in the height of the H1N1 season, is all the hype playing out? So far, no. Sure a lot of schools are closing, but what about the massive death tolls? So far it seems that the swine flu is just a nasty flu. But just because the deaths haven’t happened yet, doesn’t mean they won’t, so we should all be smart and try to inform ourselves as much as possible. Not just from the swine flu, but also from the vaccine.
Now I know Louis Farrakhan called the vaccine a government plot to kill an unsustainable population, but I don’t want to go down that crazy path. People either cling to crazy or dismiss it altogether, neither is a smart option.
Here are my concerns about the vaccine:
H1N1 vaccines are being produced under EUAs. What is an EUA? According to the CDC website:
An Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) may be issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow either the use of an unapproved medical product or an unapproved use of an approved medical product during certain types of emergencies with specified agents.
Basically, based on scientific knowledge, the government can fast track certain drugs to stop an emergency. This measure is a double-edged sword. It can be potentially life-saving, but without adequate testing, the unknown side effects could be potentially deadly as well. So this can leave a person at a crossroads about what to do medically. Since the first rule of medicine is “do no harm,” we tend to trust the doctors in our lives. And many times, if not most, they are right. But what if the information they are basing their advice on is wrong at worst or incomplete at best? If you take that advice, is it the doctor’s fault or the source of the information?
It doesn’t matter, because you have no recourse if the fast-tracked drug kills a loved one thanks to the PREP Act:
The PREP Act authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (“Secretary”) to issue a declaration (“PREP Act declaration”) that provides immunity from tort liability (except for willful misconduct) for claims of loss caused, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from administration or use of countermeasures to diseases, threats and conditions determined by the Secretary…
Basically, even if the government mandates that people get vaccinated, and that vaccine goes terribly wrong, because it was deemed an emergency situation, you have no recourse for the damage done. There is supposed fund to cover such problems, but it unfunded.
So far there are five (5) EUAs in effect for H1N1: 3M’s N95 respirator, 2 types of test kits, as well as Tamiflu and Relenza.
Here is why I grow concerned about the vaccine. One of the EUAs went to Quest Diagnostics for their swine flu test kits.
While the term Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) sounds urgent, the products being authorized have been in development for some time, usually at a significant cost and the government has been in contact with the company about the EUA.
So when the press release is more focused on the product being “first to market” and having a monopoly of the U.S. market, some red flags go up for me. Here are some snippets:
…the only company in the U.S. to offer test kits for detecting the pandemic 2009 H1N1 virus that the FDA has authorized for emergency use by CLIA high-complexity labs, which include certain hospital and regional labs.
The new test offering is one outgrowth of an exclusive global distribution agreement formed between Focus Diagnostics and 3M…
Quest Diagnostics’ Focus Diagnostics has a track record of being first to market with new laboratory testing services for emerging infectious diseases.
Of course this isn’t all bad, the test ”provides results in 30-75 minutes” in conjunction with a 3M machine “and can process up to 96 samples per run.” So there is a hugely faster turn around time. And if I thought I had the swine flu, I would want to know as soon as possible.
But take a look at Quest’s financials. Just two days ago they upped their profit outlook, right on the heels of the newest EUA. Coincidence? I don’t know.
All of this just for the test. Now consider that instead of a one dose vaccine, the government and companies say that we need a two-part vaccine. Could be construed as double profit? I don’t know.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory, but just some musings and questions. These are difficult times, not because much has changed, but because we went from having little information getting out to the public to information overload. Who to believe or trust is almost impossible.
What are your thoughts?
-mike
