Government swine flu vaccination fiasco

MandarkMandark Posts: 47,948
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Disgraceful!!
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has been blamed for an explosion in the number of children contracting flu after his decision to cancel a vaccination programme for under-fives.

Last night Labour demanded a rethink after the Coalition ditched an immunisation programme for those aged between six months and five years old, which was brought in last year to combat the spread of swine flu.

The Health Secretary also faced calls to reinstate a £1.5million advertising campaign to encourage the vulnerable to get immunised as figures revealed that take-up for children has dropped.

Doctors have expressed alarm that the two decisions have left thousands of children at risk of contracting deadly strains of the virus.

Nine of the 27 people who have died of flu this winter are children, while 26 of the 460 patients now in intensive care with flu are aged under five.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1342070/Ditching-flu-vaccination-campaign-fives-risk.html
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Comments

  • alanr74alanr74 Posts: 4,684
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    Mandark wrote: »

    Perhaps they could cancer screen them too while they're at it.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,672
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    I don't really think is is anybody's fault or any sort of fiasco

    The problem is the big hoohaa last year about swine flu - everybody got vaccinated and it all amounted to "not that much" (in epidemic terms - people still died)

    This year we look back and think "what's the point? Nothing much happened last year!"

    If Lansley is guilty of anything it could be not getting the message across - but I've seen plenty of info and we can't force people to be vaccinated

    Bugs love us to be complacent! :(
  • PoliticoRNPoliticoRN Posts: 5,519
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    The while immunisation policy implemented by labour was the fiasco.

    By 2x more vaccines they need, from a supplier who managed to kill more people with their vaccine than the Swine-Flu actually managed to kill.

    The best defence against Swine Flu is a healthy immune system allowed to have low-level exposure. That means a lot less processed foods, a lot more natural foods and a lot more sunshine.

    Instead of buying ineffective and poorly tested vaccines why not look at the role modern food production techniques have in weakening our immune system.
  • alanr74alanr74 Posts: 4,684
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    PoliticoRN wrote: »
    The while immunisation policy implemented by labour was the fiasco.

    By 2x more vaccines they need, from a supplier who managed to kill more people with their vaccine than the Swine-Flu actually managed to kill.

    The best defence against Swine Flu is a healthy immune system allowed to have low-level exposure. That means a lot less processed foods, a lot more natural foods and a lot more sunshine.

    Instead of buying ineffective and poorly tested vaccines why not look at the role modern food production techniques have in weakening our immune system.

    not often I agree with what you say, but you're bang on.

    A healthy immune system is far sadder than a flu jab. People should just be healthy and eat healthy.

    As for the article, just a piece for the real minority of outraged Labour supporters. those who will find anything to be outraged about, over the coalition.

    luckily those type are few and far between.
  • welwynrosewelwynrose Posts: 33,666
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    So people need to be told that it's winter so you may get flu:confused:
  • MesostimMesostim Posts: 52,864
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    I think it's Lib Dem and Conservative penny pinching that has caused this problem... Naturally I don;t expect such ideological driven parties such as them to give a toss... sooner they all die and decrease the surplas population I imagine is their view.
  • AnnsyreAnnsyre Posts: 109,504
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    Mandark wrote: »

    My doctor provides flu jabs but is against swine flu jabs and advised me not to have one. There has been no long term research into the efficacy and long term effects of the swine flu jabs.
  • AnnsyreAnnsyre Posts: 109,504
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    Mandark wrote: »

    Compared with the two children per week who die at the hands of parents and carers the risk of death from swine flu is minimal and most of those affected have underlying health issues anyway.

    People die from flu every single year.
  • welwynrosewelwynrose Posts: 33,666
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    Mesostim wrote: »
    I think it's Lib Dem and Conservative penny pinching that has caused this problem... Naturally I don;t expect such ideological driven parties such as them to give a toss... sooner they all die and decrease the surplas population I imagine is their view.

    Surely people should know that winter is the flu season and if you are vulnerable you should get vaccinated against it or do people suffer from annual memory loss as well unless the government remind them
  • AnnsyreAnnsyre Posts: 109,504
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    Mesostim wrote: »
    I think it's Lib Dem and Conservative penny pinching that has caused this problem... Naturally I don;t expect such ideological driven parties such as them to give a toss... sooner they all die and decrease the surplas population I imagine is their view.

    Lansley has just been on tv and says that there never has been a scheme for immunising under fives and that he has not withdrawn anything.
  • alanr74alanr74 Posts: 4,684
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    welwynrose wrote: »
    Surely people should know that winter is the flu season and if you are vulnerable you should get vaccinated against it or do people suffer from annual memory loss as well unless the government remind them

    I sure the next article will be about super-flu, due to over use of inoculations.
  • BagpipesBagpipes Posts: 5,443
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    Flu vaccines don't reduce mortality rates anyway (at least, not in the elderly), so blaming Lansley for a rise in deaths would be completely wrong.

    And AFAIK, no double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled studies have ever found the flu vaccine to be effective.
  • AnnsyreAnnsyre Posts: 109,504
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    Bagpipes wrote: »
    Flu vaccines don't reduce mortality rates anyway (at least, not in the elderly), so blaming Lansley for a rise in deaths would be completely wrong.

    And AFAIK, no double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled studies have ever found the flu vaccine to be effective.

    There has been some research into the efficacy of vitamin D and I take a vitamin D supplement and have done for years. I survived the 1951 and 1968 outbreaks so I guess that I have some immunity.
  • AnnsyreAnnsyre Posts: 109,504
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    Swine flu winter of 2009 - 2010 figures

    By the end of February 2010, 423 people with swine flu in the UK had died, most of whom had serious underlying health issues.

    Source BBC Health 28 December 2010

    Latest figures for deaths and hospitalisation

    So far 27 people are known to have died of flu this winter, 24 from swine flu (H1N1). Experts believe the real number could be higher, however. The latest figures show that 460 people are in intensive care.

    Source The Daily Telegraph 28 December 2010
  • jmclaughjmclaugh Posts: 63,997
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    The government have followed the advice of the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. A professor who is a virlogist has claimed this swine flu is going for the young not anyone over 60 yet the figures don't support this claim. Out of 460 who have contracted flu, 366 were aged between 16 and 64, 51 were aged 65 and over, 26 were under five and another 17 were aged between five and 15.
  • paralaxparalax Posts: 12,127
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    So swine flu is the fault of the government! I think people need to stop relying on the nanny state and take a bit of responsibility for themselves, flu happens, you can get vaccinated for free if you are in a vulnerable group and for a doctor to advise against it is an indication that maybe they should not be a doctor! There is no virus in the vaccinations so you cannot get flu from it, that is a fact that doctors should know.

    IF you are not entitled to a free one you can pay for it, £13 to £15 a shot and worth every penny.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,672
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    Bagpipes wrote: »
    Flu vaccines don't reduce mortality rates anyway (at least, not in the elderly), so blaming Lansley for a rise in deaths would be completely wrong.

    And AFAIK, no double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled studies have ever found the flu vaccine to be effective.

    Of course vaccines don't reduce mortality rates - it stops you getting the bug in the first place! If you do get the virus then you are just as likely to die from it.
  • BagpipesBagpipes Posts: 5,443
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    Windy999 wrote: »
    Of course vaccines don't reduce mortality rates - it stops you getting the bug in the first place! If you do get the virus then you are just as likely to die from it.

    People with so-called underlying health conditions are urged to get vaccinated, when in actual fact the vaccinations have no effect on the severity of their symptoms should they contract influenza. Also, there is insufficient evidence to show that flu vaccines have any effect on infection rates in the elderly.
  • AnnsyreAnnsyre Posts: 109,504
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    Windy999 wrote: »
    Of course vaccines don't reduce mortality rates - it stops you getting the bug in the first place! If you do get the virus then you are just as likely to die from it.

    But dying of flu is about as likely as winning the Lottery.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,207
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    Annsyre wrote: »
    Compared with the two children per week who die at the hands of parents and carers the risk of death from swine flu is minimal and most of those affected have underlying health issues anyway.

    People die from flu every single year.

    I'd never get one .Why would you need an annual flu jabe every single year - surely your body builds up immunity .
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,672
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    I'd never get one .Why would you need an annual flu jabe every single year - surely your body builds up immunity .

    Different virus strains pay us a visit each year - the bods over the fence from me at work are the ones who decide / guess which strains are going to hit us and so which ones should go into the vaccine.

    If they get it wrong then everybody is immunised against the wrong strain and so get infected. They have to start in the spring for the following year to allow time to build up stocks of the vaccine.

    Fascinating stuff!
  • AnnsyreAnnsyre Posts: 109,504
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    I'd never get one .Why would you need an annual flu jabe every single year - surely your body builds up immunity .

    Mine has, I lived through 1951 when about two million died and 1968 when about a million died.

    The previous doom mongers told us that there would be a pandemic of swine flu and the previous government spent millions on jabs which had a limited shelf life and were not used.

    They must all have had shares in vaccine companies.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,104
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    Mandark wrote: »

    Agreed

    However, it really isn't much of a surprise. What else did anyone except from this tory-led coalition government where the only thing important is ideology and not society ?

    Firstly, they scrap the advertising campaigns which informed people about the need for vaccinations.

    Then, they scrap the vaccination programs for under fives.

    They should be ashamed of themselves.

    This is a fiasco, it is unacceptable.

    Lansley should resign. As well as having no clue about the responsiblities of a health system and health service including assisting in the process of people protecting themselves from epidemics such as flue, his so called NHS reforms which are in reality just privatizing the NHS are opposed by most people, most medical professionals and right across the political spectrum (even a lot of tories apparently oppose this). DC is so concerned that Oliver Letwin apparently has to monitor Mr Lansley if the reports in the newspapers are to be believed.

    The whole thing is turning into a joke, yet again, not a reform, just a policy based on pure very right wing ideological dogma.

    The sooner he resigns, the better. He's running the hapless Mr Gove very close in the incompetent stakes.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,047
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    glory1986 wrote: »
    Agreed

    However, it really isn't much of a surprise. What else did anyone except from this tory-led coalition government where the only thing important is ideology and not society ?

    Firstly, they scrap the advertising campaigns which informed people about the need for vaccinations.

    Then, they scrap the vaccination programs for under fives.

    They should be ashamed of themselves.

    This is a fiasco, it is unacceptable.

    Lansley should resign. As well as having no clue about the responsiblities of a health system and health service including assisting in the process of people protecting themselves from epidemics such as flue, his so called NHS reforms which are in reality just privatizing the NHS are opposed by most people, most medical professionals and right across the political spectrum (even a lot of tories apparently oppose this). DC is so concerned that Oliver Letwin apparently has to monitor Mr Lansley if the reports in the newspapers are to be believed.

    The whole thing is turning into a joke, yet again, not a reform, just a policy based on pure very right wing ideological dogma.

    The sooner he resigns, the better. He's running the hapless Mr Gove very close in the incompetent stakes.



    the only thing that is unaceptable is the left using bullshit scare tactics to score points, even using links from the daily hail, madness!

    has anyone actually seen the detail in this situation, i suggest people actually read it again.

    point scoring of the lowest order, using children as ammunition, shame on you.
  • AnnsyreAnnsyre Posts: 109,504
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    Rosselle wrote: »
    the only thing that is unaceptable is the left using bullshit scare tactics to score points, even using links from the daily hail, madness!

    has anyone actually seen the detail in this situation, i suggest people actually read it again.

    point scoring of the lowest order, using children as ammunition, shame on you.

    I agree. Lansley has withdrawn nothing and has taken the best medical advice.

    He was quite clear in his interview today.

    Labour has created a whole generation of numpties who can't take any responsibility for themselves and need massive advertising campaigns that state the bl@@dy obvious.
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