The above headline comes from an October 8, 2009 story on the “Fox8Live” news show and on their website. This news story along with many others warn of the potential dangers of the H1N1 vaccine in contrast to the seriousness of the disease itself.
In the above story, Dr. Akili Graham, a family practice expert says that he and his family will not be getting the vaccine. He warns, “People are going to take the vaccine based on fear and ignorance.” He warns that a more serious problem could develop, “When you start mixing the vaccine with the swine flu, when they co-join and change, they have the potential to cause major problems because of the combination of the two.”
A similar story on the same day in the Virginia Beach Conservative Examiner carried the headline, “Infectious disease doctor says swine flu vaccine too risky”. In this story infectious disease expert Dr. Kent Holtorf stated, “I have more concern about the vaccine than I do about the swine flu. It’s been rushed to market.” Dr. Holtorf, speaking about the fact that the controversial substance Thimerosal is being used as an adjuvant, added, “It’s been shown to cause autism in children with mitochondrial dysfunction.” When asked if he would give the shot to his kids, Dr. Holtorf answered: “I definitely would not.”
On September 11, 2009, an interview appeared on the Financial Times health blog website with Dr. Tom Jefferson, a medically trained epidemiologist and Cochrane reviewer who has a special research interest in the effectiveness of vaccinations. Dr. Jefferson started his comments by answering the question of how effective are seasonal vaccines? He responded, “Our reviews either show no effect or limited effect, and poor data.”
Another article on the website, Center for Medical Consumers, on September 24, 2009, Dr. Jefferson noted that the World Health Organization changed their definition of the word “pandemic” in May, 2009, just prior to classifying the “Swine Flu” as a pandemic. The earlier definition of pandemic was: “An influenza pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity, resulting in epidemics worldwide with enormous numbers of deaths and illness [emphasis in the original document].” The NEW definition of pandemic was changed to: “A disease epidemic occurs when there are more cases of that disease than normal. A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic of a disease. An influenza pandemic may occur when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity.”
In an October 9, 2009 story on USA Today’s website is a headline that says, “One-third of parents oppose H1N1 vaccines.” This story reports on a poll by the Associated Press showing that parents are concerned about the safety and effectiveness of the H1N1 vaccine. The AP poll found that 38% of parents said they were unlikely to give permission for their kids to be vaccinated at school. In that same AP poll, conducted Oct. 1-5, they found that 72% of those surveyed are worried about side effects.