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President Obama is just NOW declaring a national emergency (after many people have already contracted the virus). In the meantime, the Feds have sat on their hands in getting the vaccines distributed in a timely manner ... even though they received the warning signs of this flu outbreak as early as last spring! I guess I shouldn't be too surprised with the delays, knowing how the government is SOOOOOO SLLLOOOWWW in just about everything it gets involved with. My question is: why must the Feds even be involved? If private manufacturers are responsible for developing the vaccines, let them distribute the supplies!
The supply of vaccines which are currently available are only being given to certain "high risk groups": babies, children, pregnant women, and health care workers. Excuse me??? Practically everybody is at a high risk! Plenty of adults over age 40 (myself included) have contracted this flu, have gotten extremely ill from it, and have missed lots of time from work as a result (some of that time without pay). Why is it all about the kids first? Does nobody else matter?!
It really amazes me that 33 years after the last major swine flu outbreak, we have improved very little since then in the process of distributing a worthwhile vaccine, and having it available to all who want (or need) it. Furthermore, there was great speculation that H1N1 stemmed from a Mexican pig farm. With today's so called "advanced technology" and all the time & money we have spent on it, I would think something could have been done to prevent this virus from being so widespread!
So many people are complaining about how this vaccine is being RUSHED to market, yet others complain about how long it's taking. It's a no win situation and it's got NOTHING to do with President Obama. It would play out the same whether he declared "emergency" today, yesterday or 6 months ago.
Different people are at risk with this variation than the regular seasonal flu, which is why they are targeting pregnant women and young people. I doubt you didn't get your shot because some kid got it instead, it's just not widely available yet.
I'm not sure why you think something could have been done. We humans are not all that, the germs have us beat by a long shot. You may not want to believe that but it's the truth.
The governent put a tax and many regs on Medical companies who develop these vacines so many stopped dong vacines and companies in other countries are making them. This is why we have such a sucky system on delivering vacines now. Only a few companies are doing them.
We have a love/hate relationship with our medical industry. Go figure.
President Obama is just NOW declaring a national emergency (after many people have already contracted the virus). In the meantime, the Feds have sat on their hands in getting the vaccines distributed in a timely manner ... even though they received the warning signs of this flu outbreak as early as last spring! I guess I shouldn't be too surprised with the delays, knowing how the government is SOOOOOO SLLLOOOWWW in just about everything it gets involved with. My question is: why must the Feds even be involved? If private manufacturers are responsible for developing the vaccines, let them distribute the supplies!
The manufacturer's job is to only make the junk and reap the huge rewards. They have done so in a flash without any of the usual so-called responsible scientific method of testing that everyone always claims is what makes science infallible. Here's the latest on how good the watch dog government organization is at policing these manufacturers.
Government Accountability Office (GAO): FDA fails to follow up on unproven drugs
GAO: FDA fails to follow up on unproven drugs - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091026/ap_on_he_me/us_fda_unproven_drugs - broken link)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valley Native
The supply of vaccines which are currently available are ONLY being given to certain "high risk groups": babies, children, pregnant women, and health care workers. Excuse me??? Practically everybody is at a high risk! Plenty of adults over age 40 (myself included) have contracted this flu, have gotten extremely ill from it, and have missed lots of time from work as a result (some of that time without pay). Why is it all about the kids first? Does nobody else matter?!
Actually, this is incorrect, at least in the Obama family because thus far they are refusing to have their children vaccinated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valley Native
It really amazes me that 33 years after the last major swine flu outbreak, we have improved very little since then in the process of distributing a worthwhile vaccine, and having it available to all who want (or need) it. Furthermore, there was great speculation that H1N1 stemmed from a Mexican pig farm. With today's so called "advanced technology" and all the time & money we have spent on it, I would think something could have been done to prevent this virus from being so widespread!
No actually technology has nothing to do with preventing any of this. It's more of a moral accountability thing and everyone on the planet has to be on board with that in order for it to work. Technology is only used for fix-it pills and nothing more. Techology/science is only profit/wealth/power driven machine. The pursuit for a preventative approach makes no money.
If you look at the Spanish Influenza as an example, it was human caused. Generally the Great War (such as WWI which ended in 1918) followed by the famine and pestilence, was the leading man made mechanism for which that disease was created and spread. Add the major advances of technology for traveling the globe back then and rather than staying localized, the disease spread rapidly. The same man made mechanisms are still with us today and filthy environmental conditions are the major cause for which gave birth to this present virus, but causes are far more advanced and widespread.
Greed and selfishness are the reasons we have these things. Try and address those cause and effect factors among the human population and you are accused for being judgemental for suggesting people use their freewill responsibly. Nothing about technology is going to correct or prevent anything.
"The supply of vaccines which are currently available are ONLY being given to certain "high risk groups": babies, children, pregnant women..."
I deliberately left out health care workers from your sentence because I believe thus far they are not mandated to get it. But if you believe that this virus is a bioweapon to cull population, those would be the best targets. I'm reading up on all that now and it is frightening -- if it's true. I don't know what to think at this point. I just know that we have to do our due diligence and research, and not count on anybody else to make these important decisions for us regarding taking the vaccine or not. Regarding children who rely on their parents to make such decisions, I certainly hope their parents are well-informed.
If the vaccine isn't good enough for Obama's children, it certainly shouldn't be good enough for me or anyone else.
Ultimately, we don't live forever. We do the best we can to take care of our bodies and avoid known risks. Other than that, we have to live our lives. And somewhere along the way, our bodies break down either via old age, disease, or accident. Then we move on to the next world. Our bodies die, but our spirits live on.
"The supply of vaccines which are currently available are ONLY being given to certain "high risk groups": babies, children, pregnant women..."
I deliberately left out health care workers from your sentence because I believe thus far they are not mandated to get it. But if you believe that this virus is a bioweapon to cull population, those would be the best targets. I'm reading up on all that now and it is frightening -- if it's true. I don't know what to think at this point. I just know that we have to do our due diligence and research, and not count on anybody else to make these important decisions for us regarding taking the vaccine or not. Regarding children who rely on their parents to make such decisions, I certainly hope their parents are well-informed.
If the vaccine isn't good enough for Obama's children, it certainly shouldn't be good enough for me or anyone else.
Well the highlighted part of what you wrote is the scariest. You'd think that the most informed parents on the planet would definitely be Mr & Mrs Barack Obama. If they are refusing to have their kids vaccinated based on their superior informational access, yet insisting that the entire country do so, what kind of message does that send ???
Most likely this will hit the proverbial fan and the damage control boys/girls will arrange for an on stage flu vaccination (though it would only be a placebo serum) to be administered at some future date for all the world's media to observe.
So many people are complaining about how this vaccine is being RUSHED to market, yet others complain about how long it's taking. It's a no win situation and it's got NOTHING to do with President Obama. It would play out the same whether he declared "emergency" today, yesterday or 6 months ago.
I have heard no reports about the vaccine being put on the market too soon. When there are rampant outbreaks of viruses such as this, especially when this particular flu strain is hitting people much earlier than the regular flu, there is going to be increased demand for a serum. The gov't KNEW this well ahead of time! Now, I'm not directly blaming Obama, even though I'm admittedly not one of his biggest supporters. It's the Federal Government in general which is to blame for being so slow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceece
Different people are at risk with this variation than the regular seasonal flu, which is why they are targeting pregnant women and young people. I doubt you didn't get your shot because some kid got it instead, it's just not widely available yet.
While it's true that the younger generations are contracting this strain more readily than the older generations, the risk levels really boil down to the INDIVIDUAL. For instance, I'm just now recovering from the H1N1 virus after a full week of high fevers, throbbing headaches, severe laryngitis, and being extremely weak to where I could barely get out of bed for several days ... and I'm 46! There are other people in my age group who have had even worse symptoms. On the other hand, not everyone in the "middle age range" will contract this flu, and not every person in that so called "high risk group" will get it either. It really makes no sense to cater to one or two particular demographics and leave everybody else out. Why makes anybody think school children take priority over adults who have to work for a living???
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceece
I'm not sure why you think something could have been done. We humans are not all that, the germs have us beat by a long shot. You may not want to believe that but it's the truth.
Well, for starters, if the U.S. would quit having so much contact with Mexico, and stop letting all their illegal transients over here, perhaps the virus would have been more confined to the point where it wouldn't have been such a world wide pandemic (as many are claiming). Maybe not ... but it all comes down to the fact that a large percentage of Americans are contracting this strain, and many are extremely ill. Death has resulted in a few cases. This is going to end up costing a tremendous amount of money for indivuduals who are missing work ... as well as for companies who are losing business because of their employees being out for extended periods of time!
I have heard no reports about the vaccine being put on the market too soon. When there are rampant outbreaks of viruses such as this, especially when this particular flu strain is hitting people much earlier than the regular flu, there is going to be increased demand for a serum. The gov't KNEW this well ahead of time! Now, I'm not directly blaming Obama, even though I'm admittedly not one of his biggest supporters. It's the Federal Government in general which is to blame for being so slow.
While it's true that the younger generations are contracting this strain more readily than the older generations, the risk levels really boil down to the INDIVIDUAL. For instance, I'm just now recovering from the H1N1 virus after a full week of high fevers, throbbing headaches, severe laryngitis, and being extremely weak to where I could barely get out of bed for several days ... and I'm 46! There are other people in my age group who have had even worse symptoms. On the other hand, not everyone in the "middle age range" will contract this flu, and not every person in that so called "high risk group" will get it either. It really makes no sense to cater to one or two particular demographics and leave everybody else out. Why makes anybody think school children take priority over adults who have to work for a living???
Well, for starters, if the U.S. would quit having so much contact with Mexico, and stop letting all their illegal transients over here, perhaps the virus would have been more confined to the point where it wouldn't have been such a world wide pandemic (as many are claiming). Maybe not ... but it all comes down to the fact that a large percentage of Americans are contracting this strain, and many are extremely ill. Death has resulted in a few cases. This is going to end up costing a tremendous amount of money for indivuduals who are missing work ... as well as for companies who are losing business because of their employees being out for extended periods of time!
Actually alot of the virus was brought home by spring breakers in April.
Well, for starters, if the U.S. would quit having so much contact with Mexico, and stop letting all their illegal transients over here, perhaps the virus would have been more confined to the point where it wouldn't have been such a world wide pandemic (as many are claiming). Maybe not ... but it all comes down to the fact that a large percentage of Americans are contracting this strain, and many are extremely ill. Death has resulted in a few cases. This is going to end up costing a tremendous amount of money for indivuduals who are missing work ... as well as for companies who are losing business because of their employees being out for extended periods of time!
I was wating for this statement to pop up. Its very interesting the way people think when they panic. Mexicans are not the only reason why so many Americans are gtting this virus. A lot of people that have traveled to Mexico from around the world for vacation have gottent it and spread it around.
Now about the vaccine, I am glad the government is taking its time letting thed meds. companies roll out this vaccine. I sure as heck don't want anything that is not 100% proven to cause no harmful side effects. If they rush through getting the vaccine out, I can see how costly, life threatening mistakes can be made.
I for one, even before my children got sick last week ( I think they might have had the H1N1 but doctors did not even bother to give my 2 yre. old the test or the vaccine) wasn't sure if I wanted to give my kids or my self this vaccinew, because I'm not sure how safe this vaccine is. Another reason too was that I read in a couple places that some of the vaccines contain mercury as a preservative (in a very low dose, but still mercury) ad I don't want to end up with the vaccine that has it being given to my children, especially my 2 yr. old.
So not all people in the age groups mentioned is getting the stuff.
This is just my honest opinion, I'm not a doctor or health care provider, but we seem to have weathered the storm.
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