http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience/

Yes, I know the partial reality hype. I’ve seen the same “Swine Flu” graphic over the shoulder of Brian Williams EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the past several months.

I tend to trust science. What I cannot trust, based on track record, is government, manipulation of the media and bottom lines.

I was actually in rural Thailand among birds and pigs during the Avian Flu panic. I was actually mask-free in China during the SARS scare. I never so much as got a runny nose.

I am not oblivious to the potential, but I am impervious to the hype. My decisions about vaccinations – those for babies, flu and now H1N1 – are based on in-depth research and benefits versus risks information from reputable sources (which does not include the nightly news).

Without even touching on childhood vaccinations, here is why my family and I are not getting H1N1:

1) According to the British Medical Journal, a study of 8500 healthcare workers in Hong Kong, taken at the height of their H1N1 panic last May, revealed half of them would refuse the swine flu vaccine fearing side effects and doubting its effectiveness. Here in the U.S., fewer than 50 percent of health workers get vaccinated against the regular flu.
2) The rush and inadequately tested nature of the vaccine’s production. It’s been a mere seven months since the first cases of swine flu appeared in the United States and 77 million vaccines have already been distributed. Just two months ago, clinical trials involved only 500 adults for a two week period. This would imply that the vaccine and dosages are essentially still being tested – on all of us.
3) A vaccine used to treat swine flu in 1976 was associated with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disorder that leads to nerve inflammation causing muscle weakness. At that time, one person died from the actual swine flu – 25 died from the vaccine, and several hundred developed crippling GBS. The vaccine was withdrawn after ten weeks and the U.S. government was forced to pay millions to those affected. CDC claims that since then, influenza vaccines have not been clearly linked to GBS.
4) Now the CDC is fervently recommending the most “at risk population” – 159 million people – get H1N1 vaccines as soon as they can. This coming from the same organization that championed the disastrous 1998 rotavirus vaccine, hailed as a way to fight childhood diarrhea. It was approved by CDC and FDA despite tests showing children were more immune to rotavirus without the vaccination. It was also known to cause intussusception, a condition causing one section of a child’s intestine to enfold within another, resulting in vomiting, bloody stools, abdominal pain and possible surgery. Less than a year following its release, the vaccine was pulled after intussusception occurred in 102 infants, causing two deaths.

The CDC states the anticipated safety profile of the licensed 2009 H1N1 vaccines will be similar to seasonal influenza vaccines with serious adverse events being “uncommon”. They further report side effects following immunization may be “coincidental or just casually related to the vaccine” – a rather convenient assumption.

Most important to consider is the symptoms of swine flu mirror classic flu – fever, cough, sore throat, headache, chills, muscle aches, diarrhea and vomiting. While “feeling like you just got hit by a bus”, a quote from Swine Flu sufferers, does not sound like fun, my family and I have healthy immune systems that may actually work just fine on their own.

Ignorance is bred from fear, yes. And in this case, the fear-inducing hype of dying from swine flu and the researched-fear of getting the vaccine are contented partners at the dance.