[Angus]

Originally Posted by happyland

I know! It's really difficult!

And now bloody Patrick is telling the the vaccine doesn't actually work!

And he graduated from which medical school?

Well I had the jab in October because I'm apparently in one of most at risk groups as I'm asthmatic, as is one of my sons. But I do think all kids under 5 at least should have it.

I read somewhere today that they are on the brink of producing a vaccine which will give protection against ALL flu strains, but what's the point if it's not going to be available to everyone?

[Lee.]

Originally Posted by angus58

And he graduated from which medical school?

Well I had the jab in October because I'm apparently in one of most at risk groups as I'm asthmatic, as is one of my sons. But I do think all kids under 5 at least should have it.

I read somewhere today that they are on the brink of producing a vaccine which will give protection against ALL flu strains, but what's the point if it's not going to be available to everyone?

Yeah they did my son last year as he was under 5, but I don't really like just one of them being immunised and not the other one.. The docs surgery did say she could have it on the nhs if she was asthmatic (which she' snot)

But as you say, what is the point in spending the time and the money researching this sort of thing then devloping a vaccine if it's not actually widely available. it's just daft!

[billy123]

I wouldnt touch the vaccine with a barge pole in 1976 there was an outbreak of swine flu that started on a military base in america so the american goverment wanted to give everbody the vaccine but they abandoned it after 10 weeks after realising the vaccine caused guillain-Barre syndrome a neurological condition that paralysed 500 people and killed 25.

-More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu.
-500 cases of GBS were detected.
-The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times.
-The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear.
-The US Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected.

http://healthandsurvival.wordpress.c...arm-than-good/

The 1976 pandemic never materialised and the swine flu was found to be less serious than normal flu which kills between 250,000 to 500,000 every year.

Youtube video

[Kerry]

I was offered it last year (though it might have been the general flu jab) but turned it down. I know my docs has it as I was in there today and heard someone making an appointment to have it

[MrGaryy]

I got it in school last year as did about half of my school. My friend has a suspected case at the moment, her uncle definitely has it and she's visited him recently so it's quite likely that she indeed has it :/

[Stu]

I never had it but most people in my old school got it when vaccines were offered for absoloutely no reason. The idiots just saw it as some sort of 'event'. Ohhh I know let's go and get a fucking needle it will be great. I sat it out. I don't need it.

[Shaun]

it's made me paranoid about this cough I've just got

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by Shaun

it's made me paranoid about this cough I've just got

Thats the news for you. Scare the living crap out of people

[MrGaryy]

Originally Posted by Stu

I never had it but most people in my old school got it when vaccines were offered for absoloutely no reason. The idiots just saw it as some sort of 'event'. Ohhh I know let's go and get a fucking needle it will be great. I sat it out. I don't need it.

well I mean you can never be too safe right? my way of thinking was, if they're handing out free vaccination why not get it?

[Stu]

Originally Posted by MrGaryy

well I mean you can never be too safe right? my way of thinking was, if they're handing out free vaccination why not get it?

Because injections make me shit bricks and it is essentially the sensationalist sniffles.

[Shasown]

Originally Posted by bobnot

I wouldnt touch the vaccine with a barge pole in 1976 there was an outbreak of swine flu that started on a military base in america so the american goverment wanted to give everbody the vaccine but they abandoned it after 10 weeks after realising the vaccine caused guillain-Barre syndrome a neurological condition that paralysed 500 people and killed 25.

-More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu.
-500 cases of GBS were detected.
-The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times.
-The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear.
-The US Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected.

http://healthandsurvival.wordpress.c...arm-than-good/

The 1976 pandemic never materialised and the swine flu was found to be less serious than normal flu which kills between 250,000 to 500,000 every year.

Now thats what I call sensationalism and panic mongering.

Dont you think in the twenty odd years since that pandemic, the understanding of viruses, protection against them, vaccine production methods, safety standards and testing have advanced just a little, or do you think technology only advanced in the communications industry?

[InOne]

Bring it on Swine Flu

[billy123]

Originally Posted by Shasown

Now thats what I call sensationalism and panic mongering.

Dont you think in the twenty odd years since that pandemic, the understanding of viruses, protection against them, vaccine production methods, safety standards and testing have advanced just a little, or do you think technology only advanced in the communications industry?

No not sensationalism just facts like them or not.

You would hope standards and testing have advanced and that lessons were learnt but another fact is that its another untested vaccine.

You talk about sensationalism just type "swine flu" into google then click the news tab now that is sensationalism!

A relatively mild strain strain of influenza that causes problems to a tiny fraction of the amount of people that contract it compared to seasonal influenza that kills half a million people a year FACT.

When was the last time you heard people getting worried and rushing out to seek a vaccine because they heard somebody they knew might have caught seasonal flu???? and that is by far the more serious of the two strains of influenza.

And you talk about sensationalism

[Shasown]

Originally Posted by bobnot

No not sensationalism just facts like them or not.

You would hope standards and testing have advanced and that lessons were learnt but another fact is that its another untested vaccine.

You talk about sensationalism just type "swine flu" into google then click the news tab now that is sensationalism!

A relatively mild strain strain of influenza that causes problems to a tiny fraction of the amount of people that contract it compared to seasonal influenza that kills half a million people a year FACT.

When was the last time you heard people getting worried and rushing out to seek a vaccine because they heard somebody they knew might have caught seasonal flu???? and that is by far the more serious of the two strains of influenza.

And you talk about sensationalism

No not facts, what can only be described as half truths.

You mentioned Guillain-Barre syndrome and stated it was responsible for 500 cases, what you failed to mention that there was no link established by anyone as to whether a naturally occuring disorder was caused by the vaccine.

Heres something you probably dont know about GBS - in 1976 there were over 1000 cases recorded in the US.

Overall, there were 1098 cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) recorded nationwide by CDC surveillance, 532 of which occurred after vaccination and 543 before vaccination. There are about one to two cases of GBS per 100,000 people every year, whether or not people have been vaccinated

Due to the numbers of people vaccinated, In total, 48,161,019 Americans, or just over 22% of the US population were vaccinated, this would put 1 in 105,000 individuals who were vaccinated as possibly reacting and developing GBS. That puts the vaccine causing possibility in the same risk area as it naturally occuring.

Numerous studies have since shown no increased risk of developing GBS occured after being vaccinated against H1N1.(see the cdc and doi links at the bottom of this post)

However studies have shown people who received the 1976 virus at that time do have significantally increased resistance to the current swine flu virus

The current vaccine is totally different from the 1976 version, you see in making a vaccine they take antibodies from the current virus mutation otherwise the vaccine wouldnt be up to date and would be only mildly effective.

The current seasonal flu vaccine not only protects against H1N1 it also protects against two other strains, Influenza B and H3N2. The WHO classifies H1N1 as being the seasonal flu threat. Most of the deaths this season in the UK have been related to H1N1 (45 of 50 deaths since October).

Saying that, in some areas the seasonal flu vaccine is running low, so they are using the 2009 stockpiles that were made specifically for the H1N1 pandemic that occured in 2009-2010, it's shelf life means it will only start to lose its effectiveness after Nov 2011.

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pm...g&pmid=7361749
http://www.census.gov/popest/archive...opclockest.txt
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pm...ng&pmid=463869
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/gbs_qa.htm
http://dx.doi.org/10.2165%2F00002018-200932040-00005
http://dx.doi.org/10.1001%2Fjama.248.6.698
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/01Januar...n-in-2011.aspx