Gov’t preparing media campaign to “promote vaccination”; people worried it could produce side effects

Published on October 4th, 2009

Posted by Cherman in Health Care, Politics, science

The U.S. government is expecting delivery starting this week of enough doses of the new swine-flu vaccine for nearly every American who wants it, but state and local budget cuts coupled with limits on who can administer the vaccine could hamstring the campaign.

A big question is how many people will actually want the vaccine amid concerns that it has been rushed to market and could produce side effects, as well as a sense among some that the disease isn’t serious enough to warrant seeking a shot.

The CDC is rolling out a media campaign to promote vaccination, with ads expected on buses in Chicago, Dallas and several other cities within the next two weeks. One will remind pregnant women that “flu can harm you and your baby” and urge them to get shots both against seasonal flu and the H1N1 influenza.

48 users responded in " Gov’t preparing media campaign to “promote vaccination”; people worried it could produce side effects "

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# 1 Personality said, on October 4th, 2009 at 6:55 pm

They can keep it. I just don’t trust it since it hasn’t been available for very long. And No. I am not a fear mongering Repuke.

# 2 loconavi said, on October 4th, 2009 at 7:36 pm

Everything in life has side effects! Just get the damn shot.

# 3 caleb said, on October 4th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

funny, children under 10 are being told NOT to get the swine flu shot in Australia… cant see how giving it to a pregnant woman is going to be good for the baby

# 4 SimonSezz said, on October 4th, 2009 at 7:43 pm

Why the hell are people here being such pussies about this? Geez, you’re not going to get the swine flu anyway because you sit on your ass on the computer all day complaining about stupid shit.

# 5 Ah_Yea said, on October 4th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

I think I’ll just go get swine flu and be over with it.

# 6 brm said, on October 4th, 2009 at 8:35 pm

#2:

Getting shot in the face has side effects! Just do it!

How about I don’t “just get the damn shot.”

# 7 pfkad said, on October 4th, 2009 at 9:04 pm

Kee-rist! Do we have to rehash all this swine flu crap every other day?

# 8 Howard Beale said, on October 4th, 2009 at 11:52 pm

Some Complications to the flu, pneumonia, severe dehydration, to the point of being fatal. In a Pregnancy the immune system is suppressed naturally pregnant women are more likely to catch swine flu, and if they do catch it, they are more likely to develop complications, it is generally considered a risk to the fetus to have the mother DEAD. There is also evidence of these complication increasing the risk to premature labor or even miscarriage. An NICU as good as they are is not where you want your baby to land.

The Right to Lifers should be insisting all Pregnant women get vaccinated as they feel woman have no right to decisions about there own bodies anyway.

Folks the CDC is only trying to help if you are bad at math and think the risk of the shot out weights the risk of the flu go ahead and skip the shot but if you get sick PLEASE STAY HOME. And if you are Pregnant and lose your baby due to this preventable illness you will have to live with the results of your bad bet.

# 9 Howard Beale said, on October 4th, 2009 at 11:55 pm

Sorry #8 was in response to caleb #3

# 10 Simon Filiatrault said, on October 5th, 2009 at 12:02 am

Strong accusation against WHO and the UN on H1N1 vaccine… http://www.theflucase.com

Opinions?

# 11 Simon Filiatrault said, on October 5th, 2009 at 12:44 am

Another source of information about H1N1. Seems there is more to it than what we see in mass media.

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=newsHighlights&newsId=46

# 12 caleb said, on October 5th, 2009 at 1:16 am

#8 you make a valid point

however isn’t it dangerous to give an untested vaccine to pregnant mothers? thats all i am saying… lets see if other people drop dead from it… im not saying they will or wont… but lets be sure before we dose up pregnant mothers…

# 13 bobbo, are we of science or devo said, on October 5th, 2009 at 1:50 am

#12–caleb==define: “tested.”

Reasonably speaking, this vaccine is about as tested as any other vaccine. This highlights the fact that with flu evolving all the time, NONE of the vaccines are “tested” in a way we would all like. Ten year follow on studies from double blind groups and so on.

THIS vaccine was developed along the same lines as all the other proven vaccines.

Are you of science or have you devolved into non-science?

BTW–anyone got a link to the expected death rate from flu, regular or special, of any population if they don’t take the approved vaccine??? I can’t find it.

# 14 hahnarama said, on October 5th, 2009 at 3:05 am

Will this add campaign be like the one claiming famous people had gotten the shot and actually had not.

John needs to re post the 60 minutes piece from ‘77.

# 15 Art Bell UFOs said, on October 5th, 2009 at 3:29 am

I heard about these dangers late night on the radio with Art bell
It was all about UFOs and aliens

# 16 Dr Dodd said, on October 5th, 2009 at 4:00 am

Shouldn’t everyone always believe what the government says? Haven’t they always been completely honest with the people in the past?

Why does this shut up and get the shot strangely resemble the Nazis shut up and get on the train, shut up and walk in the shower.

If I were Jewish I would be worried. Oh wait, Obama hates white people – whooops.

No, Socialist like Obama and his growing number of Czars would never do that – again???

# 17 bobbo, are we of science or devo said, on October 5th, 2009 at 4:26 am

#16–Dr Doodiepants: nice rant. I’m taking a Pscyhe 101 class. Mind if I copy/paste your post for my class in “Raving Paranoia, the Politcal Fringe?” I don’t think it is worth any extra credit, too garden variety, but it will bulk up my report on Alfie.

# 18 Dr Dodd said, on October 5th, 2009 at 4:55 am

#17-boob-I’m taking a Psyche 101 class.

I would have thought you a patient instead of a student. Maybe it will help your observation skills so you can recognize the obvious warning signs before it is too late.

I bet you are the first to claim global warming is destroying the planet with no facts what-so-ever, but when real facts present themselves about your favorite politician you can only offer up the “you’re crazy” defense.

Good luck with your class and with defeating government brainwashing.

# 19 Laugh Lab said, on October 5th, 2009 at 5:05 am

Funny how the medical system keeps trying to kill viruses when they are not living things. I will pass on inserting poisons directly into my blood thank you.

# 20 Dr. Mary's monkey said, on October 5th, 2009 at 5:13 am

Where does one get the “straight” scoop.

A lady at the office stayed home with her son who was ill with a fever.
The boy’s Doctor took all kinds of tests.
The doctor decided it was “Swine flu” because that was what was going around.
The test reports were so inconclusive, that the lady had to call the lab to learn what came back positive.
The child recovered & I am sure it was a result of constant attention to his Mother to his temperature & taking precautions related to elevated temperature.
This lady knew what to do.
The Doctor’s staff & the Lab reports were of no consequence.
The public needs sound advice.
Reports of the number of deaths, locally, means nothing.

# 21 Stinker said, on October 5th, 2009 at 5:14 am

#13 No, I’ll have to disagree with you there.

The ‘Usual’ vaccines undergo a 15 year testing regimen. Have they been even testing this for 15 months??

While this may not be untested, it certainly hasn’t been tested enough. Although I appreciate the catch-22 that its in, as there’s no way to test it for that long (at least at this time).

It seems here that reasonable might not be reasonable as we’d like. (I’m not a government conspiracist, and I don’t play one at work.)

# 22 Flubber said, on October 5th, 2009 at 5:16 am

#8 Were you trying to say something, or just test out a new keyboard?

# 23 bobbo, are we of science or devo said, on October 5th, 2009 at 5:25 am

#18–Dr Doodiepants: you do recognized you stepped right into it and are calling it shinola?

#21–stinker==the relevant context is “flu” vaccine.

FYI–numbers change on threads do to the spam filtering system. Post with names if you want your analysis to stick.

# 24 Stinker said, on October 5th, 2009 at 5:39 am

#23 bobbo,

Exactly, you take my point then. The seasonal flu shot is not able to be tested to the same extent that Measles, Mumps, Chicken Pox Vaccines have been.

It would be moot to even try as that flu would have passed. So…have we just been fortunate that we’ve had so much practice with the seasonal vaccine, or is H1N1 not as bad as the media is portraying it? Thats really my underlying question.

# 25 bobbo, are we of science or devo said, on October 5th, 2009 at 5:51 am

#24–stinker==media covers a broad swathe. What I’ve heard the media say is that this h1n1 appears to be less lethal than others “but” it takes those who otherwise are more resistant (young parents) but that “the real concern” is that it may mutate to something more lethal just as its closests relative the Spanish flu of 1918 did. My perception of the media reports is that the CDC is concerned about what it may become, not what it has proven to be so far.

What impression truncates everything I have seen about it. Do you stop paying attention before the report is over/the article is read?

# 26 The0ne said, on October 5th, 2009 at 6:17 am

These are the people who are going to get the shots and we’ll be expecting comments later on…

#2,4,8, 13, 15, and more to come!

Please don’t hesitate to tell us when you got your shot (don’t let yourself be the middle or last please) and how you’re doing afterward. Thanks for your generosity.

# 27 pedro said, on October 5th, 2009 at 6:22 am

This fascist Bush government forcing vaccinations on people…oh wait!

#10 Just another nail on the “UN is a shithole” coffin

# 28 stinker said, on October 5th, 2009 at 6:30 am

When I say media I”m thinking of CNN, NBC, MSNBC and the like. There is the level of hype that is pervading the H1N1 story that has put it to the disaster de’jour. I don’t see reason from these reports, written or video and that has me upset.

I’ve been trying to find articles that go beyond the hype, and have found them but have to dig. From what I have read this H1N1 is more succeptable to a different section of the populace, but comparissons to the 1918 flu are not appropriate, the seasonal flu would be more appropriate. If your doctor tells you to get the vac. then I’d say do. But I’m trying to find out why this is worse than a ‘bad’ flu year where people die by the thousands world wide. There have even been years where the flu has mutated and come around again and people who got it before, got it again and died. But where is the panic from the media?

I do tend to think this is getting blown up by talking heads in Gov. and Media to get them something to talk about (Not the CDC mind you).

I”ve read what the CDC has to say, and I’m still convinced that this H1N1 is not the killer people are being fed it is. This is not to say don’t take precautions, but don’t freak out. Take appropriate precautions.

I guess I”m reacting to people reacting.

H1N1 is ‘bad’ but mitigate the risk and then go on. We shouldn’t be looking over our shoulders for a specter. This isn’t a plague.

# 29 Mr. Fusion said, on October 5th, 2009 at 7:10 am

#21, stinker,

The ‘Usual’ vaccines undergo a 15 year testing regimen. Have they been even testing this for 15 months??

Yes. And then some.

The same procedures have been used to develop vaccines to evolving influenza viruses for some time now. The current method was developed and first mass produced in the 1950s. There have been minor changes since in the procedures to make them safer.

The fact is:

The result has been cited to stoke lingering doubts about vaccination[25], even though the 24 excess deaths and 400 excess hospitalizations from the 1976 vaccine are dwarfed by the thousands of lives and tens or hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations saved annually by seasonal influenza vaccination.

ibid

# 30 bobbo, are we of science or devo said, on October 5th, 2009 at 7:12 am

Is NPR “media?”

What You Need To Know About Swine Flu Vaccine:

http://npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113446539

# 31 Mr. Fusion said, on October 5th, 2009 at 7:31 am

#28, stinky,

Twenty-eight pregnant women in the United States had died from H1N1 swine flu as of the end of August, and 100 pregnant women had been hospitalized in intensive care, federal health officials said Thursday.
Oct. 01, 2009,

Two considerations.

First, older people are not being affected as severely as younger people. It is suspected H1N1 is related to a previous flu strain such as the 1957 “Hong Kong Flu”. BUT, they can still get mild symptoms and pass the illness on to younger people without that pre-exposure resistance.

Since younger people are generally healthier they are less inclined to experience severe symptoms. This is not universal though. Even mild cases can lead to more severe bacterial infections such as pneumonia. Usually, it is the secondary infections that cause death or severe illness.

While the choice to get a flu vaccination is your decision (unless you are a health care worker), they are worth it in saved loss work time alone.

Of course, if you are unemployed and can’t afford a vaccination, don’t forget that the Republican Health Care plan is for you to hurry up and die.

# 32 Mr. Fusion said, on October 5th, 2009 at 8:13 am

BTW,

I had my flu shot last week. Some very minor aches and pains for maybe half a day and I was good.

I’ll get the H1N1 in a couple of weeks. My wife’s employer (a hospital) is providing them to employees and families. Their thinking is a nurse can’t work if they are sick or has to stay home to care for a sick child. Cheap insurance.

# 33 pedro said, on October 5th, 2009 at 9:49 am

#32 So you got a good excuse for being delusional. You’re gonna blame it on the shot.

# 34 Stinker said, on October 5th, 2009 at 9:53 am

Healthcare people have no choice. The burden is higher for them than for others. They will need to be innoculated out of necessity, but this can be documented.

Bobbo, yes NPR can *sometimes* fit that description. I grew up listening to All Things Considered. That said, 9.9/10 they are very well thought out, and bias is easier to detect. Thanks, I’ll check it out.

I’m not an anti-science guy, just one who doesn’t put it up in the Godhood shelf (not saying either of you are as well)

# 35 bobbo, words have a context said, on October 5th, 2009 at 10:34 am

#34–stinker==well, to be fair, I “do” put science up on the Godhood shelf, and for all the reasons others put God there, except it allows me to be free, makes sense, is verifiable, and open to all.

# 36 Stinker, context is a good thing (and crucial) said, on October 5th, 2009 at 11:05 am

Bobbo,

The shelf is a high one, very high…just not *that* high. I hold science, and thinking in high reguard.

# 37 bobbo, words have a context said, on October 5th, 2009 at 11:21 am

Stinker–I can’t think of a higher shelf so doesn’t that “define” the highest high? In a universe bounded by space, time, and causation?

# 38 Howard Beale said, on October 5th, 2009 at 11:39 am

#12
There is no evidence of inactivated (killed) virus influenza vaccine harming a baby in utero and they have decades of studies to support that. So it seems like a much safer bet than risking the infection.

#22 Flubber did you have some thing to add to the discussion? If not as is demonstrated by your post I’d recommend you hang out on the Fox News Forums you should find those much more comfortable.

#26 theone
I probably will get vaccinated for H1N1 most years I get the general flu shot and all ready did this year. Since I’m a healthy middle-aged man who was around in the 70s the last time a strain like this H1N1 came around I can wait until the “at risk” population has a chance at getting a dose but rest assured when it is my turn I’ll get the shot and probably pay 15 or 20 dollars for the privilege. My wife is a Neonatologist and will be getting vaccinated in the first round with the other caregivers I’ll let you know if it kills her. Funny the Docs have no problem getting vaccinated I wonder what they know?

# 39 Flubber said, on October 5th, 2009 at 11:44 am

#38 Esteemed Howard Beale,

oh you were talking sense, and adding to the discussion. Right up to the point you took the swipe at the right to lifers from your soap box.

My bad. Thought you had tourettes.

# 40 Howard Beale said, on October 5th, 2009 at 12:02 pm

Flubber #39
Did I take a swipe at them? I thought I was just giving them advice on how not to not look like hypocrites. If they are so concerned with the development a zygote as to make such a fuss about morning-after pill by all logic should insist on flue vaccines. That is if they believe in evidence based medicine.

# 41 Flubber said, on October 5th, 2009 at 12:10 pm

Now you’re being disengenuous. You come in here and start swinging left and right at the rest of us fools who don’t know what you do. I think you’re far happier hearing yourself talk than anything else.

But what do I know, and what does it matter. You and your high horse amuse me. Your wife is the Medical Professional, but you seem to think it and your opinion makes your words golden.

So what, and maybe my sisters a nurse in a NICU.

ahh, ok why do I bother…

# 42 Howard Beale said, on October 5th, 2009 at 1:04 pm

My wife’s and often disagree on many subjects and I have no medical training. My thoughts are valuated only as to quality of there content in what I have printed of each post.

Did you want to discuss the apparent hypocrisies of not insisting on expecting mothers being vaccinated? I’d be against mandatory vaccinations but why would right to lifer not insist on it? That would be consistent. Just asking

# 43 Mr. Fusion said, on October 5th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

#39, flubber,

Howard Beale made a very correct assessment and asked a very timely question. From your disagreement with him, I can only assume you are a No-Choice supporter and thus scum of the earth.

So what, and maybe my sisters a nurse in a NICU

Sure, but isn’t your sister an only child?

# 44 flubber said, on October 6th, 2009 at 12:31 am

ahh mr. fusion, your username is apt. you never resist the chance to pick a fight do?

Good night.

# 45 Stinker said, on October 6th, 2009 at 4:34 am

Bobbo,
Checked out the NPR article. Very good and informative. I do tend to think people over vaccinate. Wonder if its the thinking of getting a pill for everything.

# 46 bobbo, the devout evangelical anti-theist said, on October 6th, 2009 at 4:37 am

#45–Stinker==glad you liked it. course, lots of unanswered questions, guess not all questions can be “the most asked?”

I can’t imagine how anyone can be “over vaccinated.” That notion only highlights a failure to understand what a vaccination is. As far as I know, no vaccination is a pill.

I would counter that if there is a beneficial pill for something that anyone is subject to, then yes, that pill should be taken. THAT is not to be confused with taking pills for conditions you don’t need treatment for.

Many of the same words, but not the same idea at all.

# 47 Stinker said, on October 6th, 2009 at 7:50 am

#46 bobbo, well when I say ‘over vaccinated’ I think of things like the Chicken Pox vaxination. Does a child need that?? No I say expose them. I had it when I was 7. A day home from school, thats it. Now for an adult who’s not been exposed (very dangerous) they should get the vaccine. But why not let the body do its thing (in the way of Tea Parties for example) to get kids innoculated? Thats how Measles and Mumps used to be taken care of. The body is more than capable of handling those things.

Now for Polio, German Measles, Rubella, etc and other diseases rightly considered scourges of mankind, I’d say absolutely vaccinate.

There are a whole host of childhood diseases that we should take vaccines for, and I had my child given the Hepititus B vaccine when she was born.

But for things the body can handle? The flu? I’m down for 4 days and then back up, happens once every 2-3 years. For me, (for *me*) I don’t see the value in the seasonal flu vaccine at this point. Wouldn’t give it to my kids *automatically* either. But I wouldn’t stop my wife if she wanted to. So…there you go.
I try to maintain a sense of rational thinking on this.

I don’t subscribe to a ‘pill for everything’ philosophy. If I was in school today I’d for sure be diagnosed as ADD, and took Ritalin for 2 years in elementary school. But I’ve learned to deal with it, and harness it.

So while medicine can be a help, and a wonderful thing, and it is a modern miracle, there are areas where I think it can get over applied. I think as a society we’re straying to the Hypocondriac side of the scale.

# 48 Amy said, on October 7th, 2009 at 2:02 pm

That is great that the vaccines have finally arrived. Hopefully, there will be no more deaths because of the swine flu.

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