There are a number of things I disagree with (including Spanish flu) but the only one i can be bothered with is your claim that it always helps more than it harms.
In New Zealand there was a tainted polio vaccine and they knew it was but used it anyway, I don't know how many died but my mother had 3 close friends die. And polio had not been a problem for years and never was, there is no reason to believe it would have come back. On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 2:48 AM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> wrote: > John Berry wrote: > > Short version, Swine Flu is not especially deadly and compared to the >> numbers killed by regular flu it isn't a concern . . . >> > > Influenza is always a concern. It kills 30,000 to 50,000 people in a normal > year, and ~200,000 when a relatively new variety appears. This one is likely > to kill far more than the usual number, especially younger people. > Fortunately it probably evolved from a human variety that went to pigs and > then came back, so it is not too bad. A variety that humans have not been > exposed to, such as the 1918 influenza, kills far more people. The 1918 > epidemic killed roughly twice as many people as World War I did, including > many more healthy young people than normal. The proximate cause of death was > an allergic reaction that was far more powerful in healthy young people than > elderly people. If the H1N1 virus has this same tendency, which still seems > likely, it would be prudent to stock up unusually large numbers of vaccines. > > > According to the Centers for Disease Control, there will be no exemptions. >> "A certain amount of human wastage" is expected. >> > > As Lawrence de Bivort pointed out, this is nonsense, and this message is > propaganda. > > I doubt any expert mentioned "human wastage" but all experts know that all > vaccines always carry some risk. Indeed, all medical interventions of any > kind have some level of risk, including treatment for hangnails. Every > vaccine kills or disables some number of people, but the number is far lower > than the number who would die without the vaccine. If you are at risk for > serious influenza it is highly irrational not to get the vaccine. This is > like saying you will drive 600 miles rather than taking an airplane because > airplanes sometime crash. They do, of course, but the fatality rate per > passenger mile is far lower than for cars. > > I wasn't kidding about hangnails. You have to fill in medical forms saying > you will not sue if the local anesthetic kills or disables you. > > - Jed > >
