Comments on: Culture Of Fear: How The Media Killed The H1N1 Flu Shot

By: Jude Arandia

Jude Arandia — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:12:34 +0000

My brother got infected with H1N1 or Swine Flu in Mexico. He got a mild fever and luckily he did not die.

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:21:04 +0000

@ Christine — True, most children will never get chicken pox again (I had it twice, though), but the virus doesn’t go away. It lies dormant in the body and can come back with a vengeance as shingles. The pain associated with shingles can be quite severe, and can last months after the rash goes away (it’s nerve pain).

I’m not sure how I feel about the chicken pox vaccine (I’ll research it more when I have children), but I think it’s one case where it might not be better to get “natural immunity”. I’m not sure I’d expose my child to a virus that could reinfect them later in life if I could avoid it altogether.

There is a shingles vaccine for adults, but adult vaccines aren’t as effective as vaccines for children because our immune system declines as we age.

(Report comment)

By: The 419 King

The 419 King — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:37:29 +0000

Just a thought to those “natural selection” nazis:

I doubt you’d be so sanguine if it was you who was to be “naturally selected”.

And to the “on-the-fencers”:

Inoculation is, shall we say, PROVEN SCIENCE?

And the conspiracy theorists:

The World Bank is behind this one! Trust me.

(Report comment)

By: Tucker

Tucker — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:25:07 +0000

I had H1N1, was no big deal, a little worse than the standard flu. Obviously will not be getting the flu shot. I refuse to pay a hidden government tax and find the timing between this “outbreak” and the attempted passing of a universal health care bill quite intriguing. H1N1 is only dangerous if you take terrible care of yourself. As a smoker and someone who had Pneumonia as a child I was concerned before I got the cold, but vitamins, lots of water and rest was all I ended up needing. My personal opinion is that this epidemic has been very trumped up and is just cashing in on the fact that Americans, an a good portion of the world have an obsession with the Apocalypse. Just look at the popularity of the Mayan’s 2012 myth these days. First of all, even scholars are still debating when the Mayan calendar actually began and believe that the “end of days” event predicted probably took place sometime in the 1800’s actually. Also the myth does not state anything about a global apolcalypse, more accurately it depicts a changing of the worlds state of being. A new age so to speak, not the end of the world. And yet, authors are writing books, Hollywood is making movies, all in the name of fear, the driving factor behind capitalism, fear of wanting. Bottom line, fear is a powerful drug, one the government mass produces everyday and has no shortage of supply. Don’t let fear influence your decisions. If you feel it’s personally necessary, due to societal guilt to vaccinate yourself for the protection of others then do so. But realize that life is over-valued in western society, and by deviating the course of natural selection we are progressing further and further to a point where we will mutate humans in an unalterable way, possibly causing global sterility, or any other variety of counter-effective population moderating processes. No offense to the mothers or parents on here. If you don’t survive H1N1 don’t take it personally, it’s life at it’s most primal and intimate.

(Report comment)

By: uneasy

uneasy — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:53:19 +0000

People on both sides of the fence, do you ever really think you know what is right or wrong? Is h1n1 a serious enough threat? Can the vaccine be a threat to you? Personally I’ve made the decision to not get vaccinated. Do I feel good about my decision, no. Would I feel good about the decision to get vaccinated? No. Both sides have strong valid points, but noone really knows what the reality or the outcome of this threat really is. We live in a society that thrives on fear, hysteria, misinformation and greed. It’s hard to tell what’s the real thing or not. There is a way to discredit every piece of information we get, and we are inundated with studies that constantly contradict each other. How can anyone ever be comfortable with any decision they make these days.

(Report comment)

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:43:02 +0000

As it turns out, the demand for the H1N1 vaccine is currently outstripping supply, so obviously there are many people who are, in fact, more scared of the virus than they are of the vaccine. I count myself as one of those — I would get the H1N1 shot right now if it were available to people in my demographic. Now, I know that this is “just the flu”, but I can’t remember any flu that I’ve had that I enjoyed. And if I don’t get the flu, I can’t transmit it to any other people.

That aside, prevention is always a tough sell. Once you warn of a worst case scenario, a significant percentage of the population will be disappointed, if not ANGRY, when that worst-case scenario doesn’t play out. This is true EVEN WHEN THE WARNING DIRECTLY PREVENTED THE WORST CASE SCENARIO FROM HAPPENING. If enough of us go out and get vaccinated, we’ll prevent a whole lot of unvaccinated people from getting sick, and who will ever know –maybe prevent a deadly mutation from occurring. Our reward will be unvaccinated people smugly telling us that they didn’t get vaccinated, never got sick, and that we were stupid to get vaccinated.

(Report comment)

By: Timothy Underwood

Timothy Underwood — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:48:33 +0000

Regarding the bit about an illuminati plot to create a mass die off, that was my least favorite Tom Clancy novel, although in that one it was an environmentalist plot, and the virus they were releasing was also deadly.

(Report comment)

By: Jonny

Jonny — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:57:48 +0000

The media (both major news outlets as well as smaller, more focused or independent news sources) can never be fully trusted. Most exist to create and perpetuate a culture of excitement or fear (Turner is right – Crichton’s ‘State of Fear’ is on point in this regard), and they have done both with the H1N1 virus. They speed to publish dire warnings and bloated predictions in order to be the FIRST to break the story, without worrying about the long-term repercussions of such irresponsible reporting. Being the first should matter less than being the most accurate, objective, and comprehensive. Unfortunately, it doesn’t.

From what I know (and what I know is not based on hyperactive news media outlets, but on raw data as well as medical, science, and technology journals), the H1N1 virus currently in circulation has not been any more deadly or contagious than the regular flu. That does NOT mean that there is no reason to fear.

The main threat that the H1N1 virus poses is that, as the infection rate increases, the likelihood of a viral mutation skyrockets – the kind of mutation that causes pandemics. The 1918 H1N1 virus that killed millions of people was such a mutation. Instead of killing mostly people with weak immune systems (the very young, elderly, or chronically ill), it killed young, otherwise healthy adults, by causing their strong immune systems to attack themselves. And it killed a lot of them.

The vaccine has been rushed to market with limited testing is for two main reasons:

1. It is the same flu vaccine that has been tested extensively and proved effective for decades with the new H1N1 strain added. The major need for additional testing is to determine the effective DOSAGE – not the safety of the vaccine.

2. To prevent widespread infection and an increased risk of a pandemic, vaccinations need to take place BEFORE everyone starts getting infected. If the vaccine didn’t come out until the fearmongers’ predictions came true, it would be worthless.

That said, there are reasons to avoid it.

The reason that is most often (reputably) cited is the addition to most vaccines of the preservative thiomersol, which contains mercury. Some people (Jenny McCarthy, for one) have blamed it for an increased risk of autism in children. However, you can ask for a vaccine without it.

The US government has also granted legal immunity to H1N1 manufacturers (I don’t know how other countries are handling it). This in itself makes me suspicious.

I haven’t decided yet whether or not I will get it. As a young, healthy adult I tend to believe in my own immortality.

(Report comment)

By: Somchai

Somchai — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:32:45 +0000

I worry less about the flu shot than I do all the billions spent uselessly on education. We work so hard to edcuate our population yet when push comes to shove we can’t separate good science from superstition. And this from our young and educated. I guess partly due to 30 years of the “the I only care about me, the hell with the rest of you” mentality.

(Report comment)

By: heidi

heidi — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:35:43 +0000

I am afraid to give the shot to my one year old daughter, even though our doctor recommends it.

(Report comment)