It's isn't being anti-science to distrust big pharma and their wares a bit

[havocmom]

They really do have issues that make one wonder about their integrity. It ain't about science for some of us, it's the proven track record that many corporations don't always have the same enthusiasm for quality control as they have from quarterly profits and such.

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/321527.php

State health officials say 23,800 doses of recalled H1N1 vaccine were shipped to Arizona, but that there are no safety concerns.
Some of the doses came to Pima County, though health officials here don't know exactly how many. Pinal County did not receive any of the recalled doses, officials there said.

Vaccine maker Sanofi-Aventis issued a voluntary recall Tuesday of 800,000 doses of pediatric H1N1 injectable swine flu vaccine because it is not as potent as it should be.

But the medical director of the Arizona Department of Health Services' immunization program says parents don't need to worry, nor do they need to get their children revaccinated.

Dr. Karen Lewis said the vaccines were for children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years. She did not have details Tuesday about where in the state the shipments went. Medical providers who received the vaccines are being asked to send unused doses back to the manufacturer.

"It's a quality control issue," Lewis said of the recall. "In terms of how people respond to the vaccines, it should be fine. It shows just how safe the process is. ... The drop in level is so slight that it's not expected to have any effect on immunity. It's been recalled out of extra caution."
Forty-six providers in Pima County received doses of the type of vaccine that was recalled, though officials don't know how many of those doses were in the four lots that were affected, said Dr. Michelle McDonald, Pima County's chief medical officer.

...

"...it should be fine." Well, pardon my raised eyebrow. It SHOULD have been the right recipe before they gave it to very small children. Glad they caught it before it was all injected. It MIGHT make one stop and wonder about 'shoulda, woulda, coulda' in regards to Big Pharma and their quality control. Yeah, vaccinations are very important. But so is trust in the makers of same. They need to clean up their act to maintain that trust. Trusting corporations is a bit of an exercise for some of us.

Not an anti-vaccer myself, but most assuredly not very trusting of Big Pharma, or any other industry. I like regulations and oversight and lots of both when products impact people. I dislike stampeding the masses with fear and/or marketing. It isn't anti-science, it's a cynicism born of years of observing corporate ethics.

[joeybee12]

1. Whenever a company stands to make a big profit by producing any product..

....one should be cautious and question them.

[endless october]

2. the vaccines are still safe.

and according to the articles on this recall, it's still likely that the kids who got the prescribed two shots have immunity.

the real story here is that the vaccine makers left out the preservative because the woo woos went nuts over it. coincidentally, the doses lost their effectivity.

i'm not including you in this, but i've found it interesting that the anti-vaccine crowd has used this story as "proof" that vaccines are unsafe somehow. which, given the facts and the situation behind the recall, is fairly ironic.

i think the take home message is that it is probably better to ignore the hysterical anti-vaccine bloggers who have no science background.

[SidDithers]

3. +1...nt

Sid

[Lance_Boyle]

4. Vaccines are NOT a "big pharma" moneymaker, hence they CANNOT BE

a "big pharma" moneymaking scheme. Maybe you're not really the anti-science, anti-vaxxer nutjob you play on DU, but you are apparently quite ignorant of the economics of vaccine production.

[havocmom]

7. Excuse me? When have I played "the anti-science, anti-vaxxer nutjob"

Asking questions and questioning motives in ALL things makes one a nutjob?

Speaking of quite ignorant, bleating and following without question seems the epitome of the condition. One who questions is not anti-anything except being railroaded.

[david13]

5. It is not anti-science to realize that many people have been fooled

into thinking that the legal drug corporations have a pill to cure any and everything, including all the side effects that each pill has. And all at an extremely high price, including, most probably, making your health problems worse, not better.
dc

[havocmom]

8. Thank you.

Some people won't 'just swallow' ;)

[kestrel91316]

6. It IS anti-science to dispute every single word that comes out of the established

medical community. Which is what I see here - constant unremitting attacks on all medical science by certain DUers who ONLY support voodoo-style medicine.

[havocmom]

9. Broad brush? Not your usual style

Hope the rest of your day picks up.