Doctors, Public Health Experts Express Concern Over Recent H1N1 Flu Coverage
ABC News today: 1,093 words about public concerns about flu vaccine safety that doesn't include a single word addressing the validity of those concerns.
Failing to derail the fear messages with facts is going to be deleterious to the nation's health.
And failing to debunk the people spreading those fear messages also has another effect. Their credibility should be lessened. Their fearmongering should be exposed. Because their distortions and omissions haven't been exposed, they'll get more credibility than what they deserve on the other big healthcare issue facing us today.
And when one looks at it, it sure appears that the reason Rush and Beck and Hannity are attacking vaccinations for the H1N1 flu is because they want people to question our government. They want people to fear what the govt recommends so that they'll be less likely to support the 'government run' public option.
Here in the South many have bought into Becky Boy's paranoia and are saying they're not going to get vaccinated for the swine flu. What they don't seem to understand is that Becky Boy and his family will probably get the shot while he is railing against it on his daily comedy series. They're willing to take a chance with their lives and those of their children to follow the advice of a nut.
And then when their kids get sick, they'll blame Obama and the government for having secretly unleashed the virus as part of their nefarious scheme to install a communist/fascist dictatorship.
A week or so ago a doctor wrote a column talking about how he was sick for 5 days with the flu but fully recovered.
His big regret? That despite his best efforts, he infected his child. His child recovered too, after a week out of school. But who knows how many kids his child infected before the child realized he was contagious? When you get the flu, it takes a couple of days for you to get sick with symptoms, but it only takes a day or so for enough viruses to multiple in your body until you're shedding the virus with every breath you take.
If the doctor could change anything, he would have not infected his kid. The only way to insure you don't infect other people? To get vaccinated. Getting the flu and recovering only stops you from dying from the flu. Getting the vaccine stops anyone else from catching the flu from you and maybe dying.
up to 36,000 people die from the flu each year.
That is a .2% chance of dying from the flu.
The chance of dying from a flu shot is .0004% at worst,
and .00004% at best.
Do the math, make your choice. I have already had my normal flu shot. Even though I may not need it, due to my age, I will probably get the H1N1 vaccine if it is available.
Addressing the 'validity of concerns' on any issue simply isn't what corporate...ahem..."journalists" do. Unless, of course, it benefits the established interests and the...ahem..."conventional wisdom."
I am just waiting for the first reported case of a child dying because the reich wing Faux brainwashed parents refused to allow them to get vaccinations. I will be sad but we all know the reich will inevitably try to to blame 'libruuuls' for it!
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Failing to derail the fear messages with facts is going to be deleterious to the nation's health.
And failing to debunk the people spreading those fear messages also has another effect. Their credibility should be lessened. Their fearmongering should be exposed. Because their distortions and omissions haven't been exposed, they'll get more credibility than what they deserve on the other big healthcare issue facing us today.
And when one looks at it, it sure appears that the reason Rush and Beck and Hannity are attacking vaccinations for the H1N1 flu is because they want people to question our government. They want people to fear what the govt recommends so that they'll be less likely to support the 'government run' public option.
Why is fear so often their modus operandi?
His big regret? That despite his best efforts, he infected his child. His child recovered too, after a week out of school. But who knows how many kids his child infected before the child realized he was contagious? When you get the flu, it takes a couple of days for you to get sick with symptoms, but it only takes a day or so for enough viruses to multiple in your body until you're shedding the virus with every breath you take.
If the doctor could change anything, he would have not infected his kid. The only way to insure you don't infect other people? To get vaccinated. Getting the flu and recovering only stops you from dying from the flu. Getting the vaccine stops anyone else from catching the flu from you and maybe dying.
up to 36,000 people die from the flu each year.
That is a .2% chance of dying from the flu.
The chance of dying from a flu shot is .0004% at worst,
and .00004% at best.
Do the math, make your choice. I have already had my normal flu shot. Even though I may not need it, due to my age, I will probably get the H1N1 vaccine if it is available.