EU slammed over “disproportionate” swine flu response

[mhatrw]

http://www.pharmatimes.com/Article/11-02-01/EU_slammed_over_%E2%80%9Cdisproportionate%E2%80%9D_swine_flu_response.aspx

European MPs have criticised the European Union (EU)’s “disproportionate” response to the outbreak of H1N1 swine flu virus in 2009-10 and have called for more safeguards against “conflicts of interest.” H1N1 had caused 2,900 deaths in Europe by April 2010, compared to 40,000 deaths from seasonal flu in a moderate year, points out a resolution which has been adopted by the Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) on a 58-2 vote, with one abstention. ...

“France regrets 220 deaths and 3,000 cases of various adverse effects, whereas Poland, which refused to organise a vaccination campaign, had 120 deaths and no adverse effects. My report aims to obtain precise explanations on the choices that led to the organisations of such operations, considering the low risk-benefit ratio,” said Ms Rivasi.

The resolution calls for further safeguards to prevent potential conflicts of interest. The names of experts who advise European health authorities should be made public, say the MEPs, and they also point out that while EU legislation states that full liability for vaccines must remain with the manufacturer and not with the member states, this was not always the case during the flu pandemic. ...

They also call for the EU to have greater autonomy from the World Health Organisation (WHO), and for WHO to review its definition of a “pandemic” to include consideration of the severity of an illness and not only the spread of a virus. To ensure the EU’s own risk assessment capacity, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) should be given full independence and the necessary support to be able to assess risks independently, as well as perform its other tasks, the parliamentarians add. ...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-27/novartis-q4-profit-down-as-vaccine-demand-drops.html

Swiss drug maker Novartis AG saw fourth quarter net profit slip 2 percent on the year to $2.32 billion amid one-off charges and a sharp drop in demand for its pandemic flu vaccine, the company said Thursday. ...

Revenue in the fourth quarter grew from $12.92 billion to $14.19 billion. However, the vaccine division suffered a 74 percent decline in sales to $361 million following the end of the pandemic flu in 2010, after sales for the flu vaccine totaled $1 billion a year earlier.

[truedelphi]

1. It is my understanding that France, a nation of some

Eighty million people, only had around five million vaccinated, so if that is true, and the 3,000 adverse reactions is true, than that is huge statistic about how dangerous the vaccines were.

It would also be interesting to have some data on how many people who do get something like this H1N1 flu were made sick by coming into contact with newly vaccinated people.

The one person in my family who did get this vaccine came down with the H1N1 vaccine within 48 hours of her injection. She almost died. No one else in my family even got the disease.

[LeftishBrit]

5. 'Adverse reactions' generally means a slight temperature and a sore arm

And you can't get the flu from contact with a vaccinated person, as it doesn't contain a live virus.

And by the way I am NOT the world's greatest fan of the seasonal flu vaccine, because it is so dependent on advance predictions of what will or won't be the prevailing flu, which are not always accurate. I'm hoping that something better will be developed. I often don't get it (though I might for herd immunity if it was universally recommended here). But I still don't think that flu vaccines are some sort of evil conspiracy!

I am sorry about your relative, but her flu would not have been the result of the vaccine. It's conceivable that she was already ill and having the vaccination made her reactions worse; but you can't get flu from a vaccine. However, she also would not have been protected, as the vaccine takes more than 48 hours to work.

[truedelphi]

19. Well, in my case, my adverse reaction to the swine flu vaccination

Of the seventies was a bit more severe - I came down with Guillaume Barre and lost a lot of the mobility in my left arm.

This is part of what led me to become skeptical of the whole vaccination process. The area where the injection had been forced into my arm hurt and blazed with heat and pain for over six months.

None of the doctors I saw took my claim seriously. Instead I was told that it was "all in my head." I only found out what had REALLY happened to me a full decade later when reading some Life or Look magazines.

The whole vaccination thing is horrid - you have infants that will be scarred for life with paralysis, or migraine headaches, or who even die from the Hep vaccine injected into the fragile bodies at Day One. So the parents do not have any records of whether their child was or wasn't born healthy.
(Originally the Big Pharma vaccine companies were going to make it mandatory to have the hep vaccine protocols part of a twelve year olds "school vaccine schedule." But then they realized that twelve year olds have histories - a twelve year old has videoes of their entire lives - from blowing out the birthday candles on each and every birthday to running in the school track program. Plus friends, teachers, neighbors and relatives all being able to testify how active the child was until the moment of the fateful hep vaccine at age twelve. So paralysis cases would incur huge liabilities. In their wisdom, the moved the "mandatory hep vaccine" into the healthy newborn clinic package.)

[mhatrw]

20. Even though Hepatitis B only spread by the exchange of bodily fluids.

There is a high risk of transmission only among intravenous drug users and the sexually active. So why the fuck has its injection into every newborn without hours of birth been mandated?

Does this policy make any sense to anyone here?

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[stockholmer]

2. further vaccine bans/article links, sourced from last time we here went thru this in the EU

Investigation Chief: Swine Flu Pandemic Was A Hoax
Council of Europe chair says pharmaceutical companies conspired with WHO to make vast profits from fake hysteria
Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, the president of the Council of Europe's Health Commission, was interviewed by L'Humanité about the links between Big Pharma, the World Health Organization (WHO), and governments. http://www.gaia-health.com/articles101/000148-swine-flu-fraud-official-questioning-starts.shtml

http://www.theflucase.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2506%3Ainterview-with-wolfgang-wodarg-in-lhumanite-in-english-translation&catid=41%3Ahighlighted-news&Itemid=105&lang=en

http://www.wodarg.de/english/index.html

We blundered over swine flu, admit health chiefs
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1265530/We-blundered-swine-flu-admit-health-chiefs.html

Flu Spread Linked to Sesonal Vaccine
http://topnews.us/content/215882-h1n1-spread-linked-seasonal-flu-shots

Millions of Swine Flu Doses to be Destroyed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/31/AR2010033104201.html

Drugs Firms Cashed in on Swine Flu Scare
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242147/The-false-pandemic-Drug-firms-cashed-scare-swine-flu-claims-Euro-health-chief.html

Flu Jab linked to Fits in Under-Fives
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7918351/Flu-jab-linked-to-fits-in-under-fives-officials.html

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6531447125053615129# good movie

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/view/ PBS programme

http://www.nvic.org// clearinghouse of great info

http://www.cidpusa.org/vaccinedangers.html clearinghouse

(Reuters) - The World Health Organization is to examine its handling of the H1N1 pandemic, the group said on Tuesday, after accusations by some politicians that it exaggerated the dangers of the virus under pressure from drug companies. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BL2ZT20100112

Swine Flu RECALL: H1N1 Vaccine Pulled In Canada
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/24/swine-flu-recall-h1n1-vac_n_368776.html

The Swedish Medical Products Agency ...regarding narcolepsy as suspected adverse drug reaction following Pandemrix flu vaccination
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/10/swine-flu-vaccine-may-have-caused-narcolepsy.aspx
http://www.thelocal.se/28446/20100819/

Cases of narcolepsy in children jumped 300 per cent following H1N1 vaccination campaign

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/H1N1%2Bvaccinations%2Bsuspended%2Bover%2Bnarcolepsy%2Bscare/1135259606164
http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/08/minister_calls_for_thorough_examination_of_possible_link_between_h1n1_and_narcolepsy_1912099.html?print=true
http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/08/vaccine_expert_doctors_withheld_narcolepsy_symptoms_1919879.html

The UK ignores most of EU, allows mercury back into a million Under-Fives children's vaccines anyway, the very same Pandemrix we have banned here in the Nordic

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/222000/Child-flu-vaccine-contains-mercuryChild-flu-vaccine-contains-mercuryChild-flu-vaccine-contains-mercuryChild-flu-vaccine-contains-mercuryChild-flu-vaccine-contains-mercuryChild-flu-vaccine-contains-mercuryChild-flu-vaccine-contains-mercuryChild-flu-vaccine-contains-mercury

meanwhile the USA steams ahead

http://flu.gov/news/blogs/blog20100222.html
“The 2010-2011 seasonal flu vaccine will include the H1N1 strain that was responsible for the 2009 pandemic,” said Vicki Monks, media spokesperson for the Oklahoma City-County Health Department.A press release on the United States Flu.gov website that states: “Today’s recommendation to include protection against the 2009 H1N1 flu strain in next season’s flu vaccine was made by the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. The committee’s recommendations typically guide vaccine manufacturers in preparing each season’s flu vaccines. The World Health Organization has made the same recommendation. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/recommendations2010_11north/en/index.html This recommendation will go into effect for next fall’s flu season. In the meantime, you can still protect yourself against the H1N1 flu by getting your H1N1 vaccine now.



Around 12,000 U.S. children will be used as guinea pigs for an experimental swine flu vaccine known to contain the dangerous ingredient squalene, which has been directly linked with cases of Gulf War Syndrome and a host of other debilitating diseases.
According to a report in the Oklahoman, 12,000 children nationwide will partake in “fast-tracked studies” to test the side-effects of the untested swine flu vaccine in trials.
http://newsok.com/state-kids-to-get-shot-at-swine-flu-vaccine/article/3387609

In order to head off legal claims for side-effects caused by the swine flu vaccination program, the U.S. government provided vaccine makers with blanket legal immunity before the shots began to be dispersed.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/health/20088640/detail.html

[LeftishBrit]

3. I'd take this more seriously...

if it didn't include links to Mercola, Nvic, and the Daily Mail and Daily Express (two of Britain's vilest, most right-wing and most sensationalist tabloids).

[LeftishBrit]

4. FWIW...

the UK recently found itself with a shortage of flu vaccine, having acquired too little and then being suddenly faced with a sharp rise in flu, especially swine flu, cases. (Actually the government should have predicted it; flu frequently rises sharply in wintertime.) The government decided to use swine flu vaccine from the older stocks, even though it would not also protect against the current seasonal flu.

I would add that in the UK, the flu vaccine is not provided universally, and is generally given on the NHS just to those in vulnerable groups, their carers, and health workers. A high proportion of those to whom it's offered don't take it up. So we're talking about a flu vaccine shortage *even just for vulnerable groups* - not for the entire population.

[mhatrw]

10. Now compare this to the USA, where flu vaccination is urged on

every man, woman and child over 6 months old, and if you ask for the thimerosal-free single-dose versions that they always use in Europe (unless there is a manufactured "emergency"), you are treated as if your were crazy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242147/The-false-pandemic-Drug-firms-cashed-scare-swine-flu-claims-Euro-health-chief.html

Dr Wodarg's claims come as it emerged the British government is desperately trying to offload up to £1billion of swine flu vaccine, ordered at the height of the scare.

Could this possibly have anything to do with Britain's decision to manufacture a seasonal flu vaccine shortage and use old swine flu vaccines in their stead?

[LeftishBrit]

12. No; Britain never needs to 'decide to manufacture' shortages of anything...

at any rate under Tory governments. It just pursues cost-cutting polices that result in shortages, especially when combined with lack of planning!

And could you PLEASE not quote the Daily Mail as evidence for anything, and in return I promise not to the same with Rush Limbaugh's talkshow. They're equivalent.

[mhatrw]

14. OK. I'll simply quote you then

The UK recently found itself with a shortage of flu vaccine, having acquired too little and then being suddenly faced with a sharp rise in flu, especially swine flu, cases. (Actually the government should have predicted it; flu frequently rises sharply in wintertime.) The government decided to use swine flu vaccine from the older stocks, even though it would not also protect against the current seasonal flu.

Could that fact that Britain had millions of extra swine flu doses left over from the scare have anything to do with these decisions?

[LeftishBrit]

23. Short answer: No.

Long answer: Only in the sense that they used what they had, rather than what they didn't have. Except when it comes to making cuts and privatizing public services, this government is reactive rather than proactive.

[trotsky]

6. I really feel for the public health organizations.

They're in a can't-win scenario. If it's a true epidemic and people die and there isn't enough vaccine, they'll get bashed for not responding enough. When a novel virus that spreads easily even outside of normal flu season appears and the experts get worried because all it would take is one little mutation to up its lethality, so they raise the urgency and get vaccine to people, but the mutation doesn't happen and the virus isn't as deadly, well, they get bashed for responding too much.

Poland gambled, and won. (This time.)

[LeftishBrit]

7. Also...

Poland's gamble re the flu vaccine was a very small part of the government's cost-cutting proclivities and general distrust of state provision in healthcare. They aim to privatize their health service, and are one of the most right-wing governments in Europe.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/free-healthcare-at-risk-as-poles-vote-for-new-president-2005436.html


People who distrust government provision of vaccines are often those who distrust government provision of anything at all. Progressives should be careful about whom they get into bed with!

[mhatrw]

8. You really feel for public health organizations? What about for poor Novartis?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-27/novartis-q4-profit-down-as-vaccine-demand-drops.html

Swiss drug maker Novartis AG saw fourth quarter net profit slip 2 percent on the year to $2.32 billion amid one-off charges and a sharp drop in demand for its pandemic flu vaccine, the company said Thursday. ...

Revenue in the fourth quarter grew from $12.92 billion to $14.19 billion. However, the vaccine division suffered a 74 percent decline in sales to $361 million following the end of the pandemic flu in 2010, after sales for the flu vaccine totaled $1 billion a year earlier.

Novartis' vaccine division revenues plummeted 74% last quarter because it no longer had the swine flu scare to drive sales!

[trotsky]

9. Naw, I'll let you worry about pharma companies. n/t

[LeftishBrit]

11. Novartis can look after itself. I'm worried about those who are denied vaccines that they want/need

Why is it always for you about who profits? That should be irrelevant. It is just as bad to deny people preventive and other healthcare so that drug companies should NOT profit, as to deny people preventive and other healthcare so that the drug companies SHOULD profit. Which also happens a lot, of course.

[mhatrw]

13. Well, I really feel for the Bush Adminstration.

They were in a can't-win scenario. If there truly were WMDs and yellowcake uranium in Iraq and Americans died because Hussein was not disarmed, they would have gotten bashed for not responding enough. When a madman has that much power, the experts get worried because all it would take is one little mushroom cloud to destroy Manhattan, so they raise the urgency and spend a billion a day and thousands of US lives on a war, but when there are no WMDs and the yellowcake claim proves to be a joke, well, then they get bashed for responding too much.

France, Germany, Canada and Mexico gambled, and won. (This time.)

[trotsky]

16. I'm not too worried about the former Bush administration, either.

But at least they have you to be concerned about them.

[mhatrw]

15. Meanwhile, back in the USA

[mhatrw]

17. How Hyteria Kills the Market

http://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/11/01/809103/how-hysteria-kills-the-market-nvax

By far, the swine flu – the horrifying virus that swept the world two years ago – is the most prominent media scare story of the past decade, leading investors down a rocky road of troubling investments.

On March 6, 2009, Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) was trading at $0.56 per share; on August 28, the stock peaked at $5.89. Investors bought into the company because they believed that the swine flu would fulfill the fears of the media, requiring millions (if not billions) of people to get the H1N1 vaccine or face certain doom.



By October 2, Novavax had dipped to $3.43; two months later, the stock lost another 90 cents.

This, of course, is one of many instances where investors responded too quickly to the mass hysteria brought on by the media. Predicting the worst, investors turned their attention to the manufacturers of the H1N1 vaccine.

[LeftishBrit]

22. Oddly enough...

I am much more worried about the fate of vulnerable people who can't get vaccines (or other forms of medical care that they need) than about the fate of people who invested in these products.

[mhatrw]

18. The flu "experts" who cried wolf

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/01/07/lorne-gunter-the-flu-experts-who-cried-wolf/

There is a fine line between erring on the side of caution and crying wolf. And last year, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) blew through that barrier with abandon. Just as it had on SARS and bird flu and the Ebola virus, the WHO overreacted to swine flu, issuing cautions that were out of all proportion to the risk the disease posed to the public. (Remember in 2003 when the WHO recommended people from around the world stay away from Toronto because the city was host to a few hundred SARS infections?)

But unlike those earlier panics, the WHO pulled out every stop on swine flu. It was as if the UN agency had been surprised that its earlier scares had failed to grow into full-blown pandemics; and so they figured that, finally, swine flu was due to become a worldwide infection requiring a dramatic response from international health officials. The WHO and Atlanta’s Centers for Disease Control — who worked closely together on the swine flu outbreak — estimated in the fall of 2009 that between 90,000 and 200,000 people would die in the United States alone. Globally, the death predictions ranged from two million to 10 million, or somewhere between eight and 40 times the annual death rate from the run-of-the-mill seasonal flu.

In the end, the number of deaths from swine flu in Canada, the United States and around the world was not only lower than projected, it was lower than for the typical winter’s flu. The WHO estimates that around 250,000 people die around the globe each flu season. In 2009-2010, the number of global deaths from the swine flu virus was one-third that total. ...

When experts last season were accused of crying wolf, they deflected criticism by insisting that even if they were overreacting, it was better to be too cautious than not cautious enough. But that’s simply not true. If the hysteria generated by over-the-top flu warnings last year is causing increased hospitalizations and deaths this year, then last year’s pandemic panic arguably did more harm than good.

[LeftishBrit]

21. Have you read any of this writer's other articles?

Warning: his articles come with a health warning for who is left of centre and has a weak stomach!


http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/07/lorne-gunter-how-the-liberal-elites-lost-touch-with-canadians/

Key excerpt:


The transformation began under Lester Pearson, when the Liberals launched huge new social programs — universal medicare and pensions — that were uncharacteristically collectivist for the party. Their central characteristic was the suspension of personal responsibility. Canadians were to be guaranteed health care and retirement income regardless of whether they had made plans and sacrifices during their healthy working years for the time when they became sick or old. They were have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too programs.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/01/28/lorne-gunter-trudeaus-weapon-against-personal-responsibility-was-the-charter/

Basically: disabled people who ask for accommodations are lacking in personal responsibility and it's all Pierre Trudeau's fault!


Typical right-wing views on climate change:

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/10/04/lorne-gunter-voters-are-losing-their-interest-in-climate-change/


http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/05/05/the-debate-on-abortion-is-quot-settled-quot-just-like-the-debate-on-global-warming-gun-control-punishment-v-rehab-multiculturalism.aspx


'There would appear to be much to debate, as there is on so many other topics our elites have declared to be "settled," such as the certainty of manmade climate change, the effectiveness of gun control in stopping crime, the superiority of universal public health care, the wisdom of leniency towards criminals and the benality of multiculturalism -- all of which have become third rails in Canadian politics. as has abortion.'


And so on, and so forth.

In other words, a MONSTER OF PURE RIGHT-WING EVIL! And yes, it is relevant to the validity of the article posted above, as it is a commentary article, not a news report

As with a number of other people, the 'scepticism' about vaccination is all part and parcel of a 'scepticism' about public healthcare provision.

This is not to say that ALL concerns about vaccines are part of a right-libertarian (or just right-wing) opposition to government healthcare provision. I myself think that the seasonal flu vaccine in its present form is flawed, though for most people it's better than nothing; I often don't get it; but I don't regard it as 'teh evil' either. However - is it really too much to ask that people, on whichever side they are about vaccines, should not use right-wing, anti-public-healthcare articles or sites as evidecnce for their views?

[mhatrw]

24. No, I had not. But the tactic of constantly attacking the messenger gets old fast.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. He's obviously a right wing dick.

Most of his other article suck, I'm sure. IMHO, this specific one does not.

[LeftishBrit]

25. The use of right-wing messengers gets even older even faster

All politicians and journalists who oppose government provision of public health care are MONSTERS OF PURE INDESCRIBABLE EVIL. They kill more people than either the swine flu or any vaccines. When such messengers criticize government vaccine provision, it is in the context of their criticizing government healthcare provision; therefore it cannot be taken as any valid evidence for anything.

You seem to assume that I object to such people simply because I disagree with them on vaccines. On the contrary; I object to them because they are poisonous snakes. My utter HATRED for right-wing viewpoints is far more central to me than my view on any specific issue such as the flu vaccine.

My government right now are planning policies that could wreck the NHS. I am not in the mood for being tolerant of any writers who are right-wing on healthcare, or on any other issues if it comes to that.