Pandemic Ends And The Sky Has Not Fallen

A firecracker goes off with a bang, loud noise and bright light. When it fades such there is no more noise and the last bit of light disappears almost imperceptibly. Then there is nothing again but sky.

The swine flu has run a similar path. It arrived with a bang and lots of noise. This week it faded with the “official” announcement by the WHO that the pandemic has ended. The disappearance was like the firework going out, hardly noticeable. And we are left with sky, which despite the hysterical claims by health officials did not fall.

The whole issue of swine flu has been badly mismanaged from day one. The closing of schools for a week because a child had a sore throat runny nose and a cough was the first obvious sign that a massive over reaction was happening. Other than appearing in Mexico and getting a fancy name, this was always flu like any other flu. Every year some people get the flu and some die with it.

Yet we have witnessed a full scale health scare, which has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. Governments on the advice of “experts” ordered millions of vaccines and stockpiled anti viral drugs. The vast majority of these were not used, despite advertising campaigns urging people to be vaccinated. Pharmaceutical manufacturers made significant profits.

As it turned out last year was no different to any other year with regards flu In fact not only was swine flu no more serious than any other strain, in most instances the illness was milder. There were fewer cases and less deaths than usual in the southern winter of 2009 and northern winter of 2010.

Some will defend the authorities on the basis of caution in the face of the unknown. This argument falls down, as flu is known. This was just another strain.

The reason most of the vaccines were not used is that most people very sensibly did not want a rushed out and inadequately tested vaccine against a mild illness. It turned out that those who had previous flu shots were more likely to get reactions to the new one. Worse still there has been a high rate of febrile convulsions in children under five having the flu shot this year leading the Australian government to (belatedly) suspend the use of it in this age group. This was after one child died and dozens more were hospitalized after having the vaccine.

Two weeks later this became public and the main concern of health authorities was not that children had been harmed or exposed needlessly to potential harm but that “an important vaccine program” was being disrupted. A report into how this was handled has called for sweeping changes.

There is another sleeper in all this. Serious questions have been raised in Europe and the USA about conflicts of interest with those advising governments also having ties to vaccine manufacturers. The European Commission has called hearings to investigate this. A New York Times article reported over 60% of advisers to the CDC had potential conflicts of interest including being paid by vaccine makers. In Australia questions have been raised about how close the government is to certain vaccine makers.

The fact that swine flu has been a non-event was largely foreseeable. The waste of taxpayers’ dollars and whipping up of fear in the community is not acceptable. I do not see that anyone is being held accountable. At no time did any “official” provide useful information to the public about what they can do to support their own immune system. The only answers to the “problem” were a vaccine, which was not needed, or an anti viral drug, which does not even work.

I wrote about this on May 28 2009 (and subsequently) and have consistently said that this issue has been mismanaged and that there was never any need for fear, panic or waste of billions of dollars. The public response in ignoring calls for needless vaccination and panic has been far superior to the so called ‘experts” who have been running around with the self importance and attention seeking behavior of Chicken Little.

The reality is that the sky was never going to fall. The firework of swine flu has now faded and the sky remains where it always was.

Swine flu-Chicken Little Rides Again

In the story of Chicken Little, it was Chicken Little’s view that the sky was falling. She, of course became very fearful of this and was able to convince others that this was the case. All those who believed it became fearful too. There are two endings to this story, a happy one where Chicken Little and friends are saved and a tragic one where Foxy Loxy eats them all.

The moral of the story is don’t believe everything you hear. Chicken little jumps to a conclusion, whips up others into fear and hysteria, which plays right into the hands of the fox that uses the hysteria to his advantage.

Whipping up fear, which can be used to advantage is sadly seen in health matters. Some expert has a view that the sky is falling and countless deaths will occur. In most instances the people running the scare have a “solution” of sorts, which either involves them, making money or wielding influence/power.

In the book Scared to Death by Christopher Booker and Richard North health scares are brilliantly defined as having four components:
1 The source of danger must be universal so anyone can be affected.
2 The danger must not have appeared in the current form before (even though it may have appeared previously.)
3 Whilst the scientific basis of the scare must be plausible there must also be an element of uncertainty to allow for alarmist speculation.
4 Societies response must be disproportionate.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you swine flu, a classic health scare where alarmist speculation about a virus has led to a massive over reaction. A lot has been written and said about H1N1 virus over the past 7 months.

However this article from the New York Times (see link) perhaps best sum up the situation. We have two polarized groups. There are those who desperately want a vaccine, as they are fearful of the H1N1 virus and those who are fearful of the vaccine itself. In amongst this are conspiracy theories with a fair amount of disinformation and a thriving industry.

Of course there is also a silent majority who wonder what all the fuss is about.
Yes there have been deaths associated with the H1N1 virus. There are deaths every year associated with the flu. Yes some previously healthy people for unknown reasons will succumb to overwhelming illness. The vast majority either has a mild illness or no illness at all.

Through all this I am yet to hear anyone in officialdom suggest that a healthy immune system is the best way not to get ill. I am yet to hear about the ways to strengthen your immune system.

Advice like put the right foods into your body, a balanced diet with adequate fruit and vegetables as well as sources of essential fatty acids such as fish, olives (or olive oil), linseed or nuts. Advice like taking vitamin supplements, particularly antioxidants such as vitamins A, C and E, D. Folate and zinc which help the immune system.

Advice to get enough sleep, as this is the bodies recharge the battery time and drink 35ml/kilo of water each day. Advice to lower your stress. This will significantly help the immune system.

No, we get a diet of fear, which increases people’s stress, and a line that there is nothing you as an individual can do, only a vaccine can save you. In turn you are encouraged to look to the medical industrial complex and government to save you in your hour of need. This is not the way to go if you want to be in charge of your own health.

Here is the bottom line. The sky is not falling. The H1N1 virus is a mild strain at absolute worst and there is no need for mass panic or the mass over reaction we have been subjected to.

The best way not to get sick is to be healthy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/health/10klas.html?th&emc=th

H1N1 Vaccination - why the rush ?

It is never a good idea to cut corners in life. Whilst it is often easy to justify in the heat of the moment, down the track, the consequences, some predictable, others not will come back to haunt. It is with this in mind that I am increasingly uneasy about the rush to do mass vaccinations against the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu.

Each year it is recommended that certain risk groups be vaccinated against the flu. This includes those over 65 and those with particular medical conditions. There is no mass vaccination against seasonal flu.

The Southern Hemisphere is getting to the tail end of winter. The number of cases of H1N1 is already waning. The number of deaths associated with it are less than with seasonal flu. There is nothing to suggest that the northern hemisphere winter experience will be any different.

So why are the authorities gearing up for mass vaccination. The vaccine has been tested on some hundreds of people. This is fine but side effects, which occur, say 1 in 10,000 will not be apparent yet but will be significant when 100 million are vaccinated. Rushing to market with inadequate testing is the worst form of cutting corners.

In the rush to do this multi dose vials are being used. These have not been acceptable for use by doctors for a decade due to risks of cross infection. Suddenly it is OK again. Governments are indemnifying manufacturers against claims that may be made in the event of side effects or harm caused. In the USA in 1976, in similar circumstances there were more than 500 deaths associated with the vaccine when 40 million were “mass vaccinated”. According to health authorities in Australia the new vaccine “seems to be very safe”.

In Australia, Medical Indemnity insurers are discussing whether doctors who administer the vaccine will be covered. If this isn’t resolved, no doctor will be able to administer it. I suspect that once again the government will step in and offer indemnity.

The big unanswered question in all this is why? What is the threat that justifies all the cutting of corners, that justifies rushing out a vaccine to use on people who wouldn’t normally even have a flu shot, that justifies allowing medical practices, which have been outlawed to be reinstated? H1N1 is not the bubonic plague. We are not seeing thousands of deaths. Compared to all other major flu outbreaks (1918, 1957 1967) this is mild. It is mild even when compared to seasonal flu where multi dose vials are not allowed and proper testing is done.

As I have written before, the best form of defense is having a healthy immune system (April 27 and June 10). As Louis Pasteur is reported to have said, “the seed (germ) is nothing, the soil (body) is everything. Whether you contract flu or not is about you rather than the virus.

The decision as to whether to have the vaccine against H1N1 must be left to the individual. Consider your own circumstances before deciding. Do not be influenced by Chicken Little “the sky is falling” fear.


1 http://www.watoday.com.au/national/swine-flu-vaccine-plan-in-disarray-20090828-f1lm.html

2 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/28/2669285.htm