![\"HalProfile2009Mar22\"](\"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/HalProfile2009Mar22.jpg\" "\\"HalProfile2009Mar22\\"")
by Hal Newman<\/p>\nby Hal Newman<\/p>\n
The latest in a countless series of grave warnings sent by email with an \tever-changing list of signatories, this one was supposedly from a PhD MD RN \tMSc and opened with this phrase:<\/p>\n
“No \tone should take the swine flu vaccine-it is one of the most dangerous \tvaccines ever devised”<\/p>\n
In the absence of \t\tintense myth-busting information communicated by credible leaders, this \t\tkind of crapola propagates. Several times a day I find myself being \t\tcalled upon to explain why I believe it\u2019s essential that we all get \t\tvax\u2019d against H1.<\/p>\n
Here’s my response:<\/p>\n
For me, it has \t\tbecome a very serious risk v benefit model.<\/p>\n
And understand, Di \t\tand I sweat each and every time we get the kids inoculated against \t\tsomething. We wonder \u2013 just a little bit \u2013 about the safety of the vax. \t\tThere\u2019s that moment of dread that lasts from the time the needle breaks \t\tskin to the time it takes for us to be convinced of no evil and \t\tdebilitating sequelae.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s H1N1.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing abstract about this \u2013 it\u2019s not like the concept that I \t\tmight be hit by a truck. Might. Maybe. Likely never happen.<\/p>\n
H1N1 is a real threat. It has replaced the seasonal flu virus as the \t\tdominant flu bug crisscrossing the globe. Just think about that fact for \t\ta moment. Wow. H1N1 is the king of the microbe heap and it\u2019s only been \t\tin circulation since April.<\/p>\n
H1N1 has a disproportionately awful impact on the very young, on \t\tpregnant women, and on people with underlying medical conditions. How \t\tmany asthmatic kids do you know? My own daughter is still prone to croup \t\tat age 11 \u2013 when she was younger she weathered some critical moments in \t\tERs and ambulances. How many young people are medically fragile? How \t\tmany adults are medically fragile? The answer will blow you away when \t\tyou realize just how high the percentage of the population are \t\tconsidered at risk.<\/p>\n
From the CDC briefing on Oct 16<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are now a total of 86 children under 18 who died from this H1N1 \t\tinfluenza virus, the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. We had 11 more influenza \t\tpediatric deaths reported in week 40, which is the week that ends \t\tOctober 10. Ten of those are confirmed to be due to the new strain, the \t\t2009 H1N1 strain and the 11th is probably due to that but the typing \t\thasn’t been completed. About half of the deaths that we’ve seen in \t\tchildren since September 1st have been occurring in teens between the \t\tages of 12 and 17. These are very sobering statistics, unfortunately, \t\tthey are likely to increase.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the CDC briefing on Oct 20<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than half of the hospitalizations are occurring in young people \t\tunder the age of 25. We are seeing 53% in people under 25 years of age. \t\t39% of hospitalizations are in people 25 to 64 years of age. And only 7% \t\tof hospitalizations are occurring in the elderly. Almost a quarter of \t\tdeaths are occurring in young people under the age of 25. Specifically, \t\t23.6% of the deaths are in that age group. About 65% of the deaths are \t\tin people 25 to 64 years of age\u2026 With seasonal flu 90% of fatalities \t\toccur in people 65 and over. Nearly 60% of fatalities are occurring \t\tunder age of 65.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bottom-line: Get the \t\tshot.<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
I understand why it’s probably a good idea to \t\tprevent access to some websites from within the hallowed halls of \t\thospitals, however can anyone explain to me why the IT department of a \t\tmajor academic\/pediatric hospital would block access to the government’s \t\tH1N1 pandemic information website?<\/p>\n
In the absence of gravitas: crapola.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Hal Newman The latest in a countless series of grave warnings sent by email with an ever-changing list of signatories, this one was supposedly from a PhD MD RN MSc and opened with this phrase: “No one should take the swine flu vaccine-it is one of the most dangerous vaccines ever devised” In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[13,14,12,6,7,9,8],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}