Posted on 08/23/2009 1:34:13 PM PDT by GoreNoMore
I can see mandating a quarantine of folks with suspected swine flu.
I can’t see mandated vaccination with a vaccine that’s still being tested for safety and efficacy. They don’t have enough of any of the vaccines already for the priority groups.
They can mandate it on the Armed Forces, not civilians, IMHO.
under the bill you may refuse the vaccine without penalty, but not the order for quarentine...
409 An individual who is unable or unwilling to submit to vaccination or treatment shall not be
410 required to submit to such procedures but may be isolated or quarantined pursuant to section 96
411 of chapter 111 if his or her refusal poses a serious danger to public health or results in
412 uncertainty whether he or she has been exposed to or is infected with a disease or condition that
413 poses a serious danger to public health, as determined by the commissioner, or a local public
414 health authority operating within its jurisdiction.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/186/st02/st02028.htm
I have never had the flu before. I don't know why. I am concerned, though, over the flu shot. Do you think it is reasonably safe to take? I hear there is formaldehyde and mercury and thimerisol and other harmful substances in it, and it can hurt people. Do you really think this flu strain is bad enough to justify EVERYONE getting a shot?
Do you work in the medical field? What experience and background do you have with the flu shot?
Once again, I ask this in the sincerest way. It looks like this may be really overplayed and staged to create a panic, but, then again, I don't know everything. I am trying my best not to be an anti-vaccine nut, but this crazy hysteria is making it hard to do. I value your input.
Hopefully we’ll get to see Baraq, Michy, and the kids get their shots on national tv.
To start with, focus on the real threat, which is H5N1 Avian flu, not H1N1 Swine flu. H1N1 could become a bad flu, and people could die from it, this is true, but people die during every flu season.
But H5N1 is so incredibly dangerous, like no other plague in human history, that it may rack up casualties like a major nuclear war. For this reason, the medical infrastructure around the world is being changed.
In the US, where before only one or two companies made vaccine, today they all are prepared to do so. But they cannot make a true vaccine until they get a sample of the “actual” H5N1 Avian flu that is easily passed from human to human, and is killing people by the millions.
And there is no way that with all our power, we can make vaccine fast enough. But we are going to try. And this is where we are right now.
Enter the H1N1 Swine flu. In some ways, it is behaving like an epidemic, but much milder. Yet it gives us all an opportunity to test the new system to produce and distribute vaccine. To get most of the technical problems worked out, so we can have a timetable for production and distribution when the H5N1 Avian flu hits.
We know we can’t beat H5N1. But we might be able to save millions of American lives if we can do something.
As far as vaccine ingredients, I wouldn’t worry. Most of the troubling stuff is in micrograms, too little to hurt you. The trick to a vaccination is to be as “normal” as possible when you get the shot. You want your immune system to not be abnormally strong or weak, since either way might make trouble.
For the H1N1 vaccine, I am of mixed minds if you need it. If the Swine flu becomes a severe strain, you’ll hear about it. And if that’s the case, then I would get the shot. But if it remains mild, you can take a pass.
Bear in mind that there will be two shots of the H1N1 specific, *and* a regular flu shot for the seasonal flu. So you *could* get three shots, total, if you wanted to. But again, for any of these, it’s your choice.
However, when the H5N1 Avian flu arrives, hope to heaven you can get a vaccination for that. You will need no prompting to want to get one, either. By then you, and everyone else, will be half scared to death.
And most of the world won’t have that option.
Thank you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.