Over at WIRED, they seem to have disabled the comments on the article "An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All." The writer Amy Wallace hinges her pro-vaccines argument on the "herd immunity" concept. From the title, one gathers that some members of the "herd" (parents) have decided in a "panic" to decline vaccination for themselves or other "herd" members (children), therefore they bear the responsibility for risking the health of the entire animal kingdom [sic].

The concept of "herd immunity" sounds to me like a pharmaceutical industry term that is very similar to "dead peasant" insurance (Does your Boss Want You Dead?)--both terms are equally offensive and hint at a hidden agenda.

According to the CDC, "herd immunity" is "A concept of protecting a community against certain diseases by having a high percentage of the community's population immunized... even if a few members of the community are unable to be immunized, the entire community will be indirectly protected because the disease has little opportunity for an outbreak. However, with a low percentage of population immunity, the disease would have great opportunity for an outbreak."

While parents may take exception to being the animals in this metaphor, it is an effective propoganda tool that relies on guilting people into not being the "freeloaders" who allow other members of the "herd" to bear the "risk" of vaccination. If the concept is to be believed--one should get vaccinated for the common good.

One could argue that this "herd immunity" concept is "Pseudo-science [which] preys on well-intentioned people who, motivated by love for their kids, become vulnerable to one of the world’s oldest professions. Enter the snake-oil salesman." This is Ms. Wallaces charge against those who believe that vaccines damage children's health.

Ms. Wallace cautions that "For starters, the human brain has a natural tendency to pattern-match — to ignore the old dictum “correlation does not imply causation” and stubbornly persist in associating proximate phenomena." So according to Wallace, to be reasoned and logical, one should demand peer-reviewed studies and scientific data to substantiate any concept that perports to have scientific value. Does the concept of "herd immunity" have a scientific basis? One is left to wonder.

Wallace singles out two Senators for criticism for buying the "snake-oil" of "pseudo-science": Chris Dodd of CT and John Kerry of MA are "currying favor" with their constituents by linking autism to vaccines, says Wallace. Wallace is also critical of Robert Kennedy, who she says "authored a deeply flawed 2005 Rolling Stone piece called “Deadly Immunity.” In it, he accused the government of protecting drug companies from litigation by concealing evidence that mercury in vaccines may have caused autism in thousands of kids."

Two activist moms, whose kids have medical conditions that both attribute to vaccines are Jenny McCarthy and Barbara Loe Fisher. Jenny McCarty, Wallace points out, is an actress and former Playboy centerfold who is apt to go off into "stream-of-consciousness rants" and is "the anti-vaccine movement’s most popular pitchman and prettiest face." Wallace grudgingly acknowledges Barbara Loe Fisher as "the movement’s brain" and "a skilled debate" against "well informed scientists," but then goes on to call her a liar. Paul Offit (he may seem "brash") says that Fisher "makes him particularly nuts, as in “You just want to scream.” The reason? “She lies,” he says flatly." Wallace explains that that Fisher maintains that draconian laws are forcing people to get vaccinated. "That isn’t true — the swine flu vaccine, like other flu vaccines, will be administered on a voluntary basis. But no matter: Fisher’s argument turns vaccines from a public health issue into one of personal choice, an unwritten bit of the Bill of Rights" writes Wallace.

Up until recently, vaccines may not have been mandated, but they were required by most school systems in order for children to attend school. Parents should be made aware that they can refuse to comply. For the record, in most cases a parent (and sometimes a student) can sign a form stating that they are against vaccination on conscience or on religious grounds.

There is a steady progression towards instituting mandates. In 2007, Texas became the first state to "require that young girls be vaccinated against some sexually transmitted viruses." This year state legislatures are debating whether to mandate the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for girls. Also this year, Massachusets' legislature has voted to fine, jail or forceably quarantine anyone who refuses vaccination in the event of a "public health emergency." There is a concern that this reaction by the Massachusetts legislature to the "pandemic" scare of H1N1 may be replicated by other state legislatures.

As an aside, schools are now equipped with a cornocopia of pharmaceuticals for the attending students for prescribed medical conditions. While many children with serious medical conditions do need their meds--it is worthwhile to note that more and more children, particularly black kids, are being diagnosed with "disruptive behavior" or ADHD and prescribed what are described as "behavioral drugs" or "psychiatric drugs." Do pharmaceutical companies benefit from this increase in diagnosed cases of "behavioral" problems? Do these drug companies have lucrative contracts with the public school systems? Are these things related? Makes you think.

As of last week the CDC is attributing 1000 deaths to H1N1, but can this figure be trusted given that the CDC lies? An article written in 2005, which has been substantiated by the British Medical Journal titled "Annual Flu Deaths: The Big Lie" takes issue with the CDCs numbers, flatly stating that the CDC's own findings  in its National Vital Statistics Reports, are contradict the 63,000 flu deaths reported by the CDC. The real number of flu deaths is under 1000.

Reportedly, on Friday, President Barack Obama declared a “national emergency with respect to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.” Skeptics may well wonder at the hasty nature of the President's actions. Why do  1000 deaths from the H1N1 a cause for panic?

Is this H1N1 outbreak really a "pandemic?" By way of contrast, over 200,000 Americans die every year due to errors by doctors and hospitals. The CDC should be equally panicked about this issue of doctor and hospital errors which causes so many fatalities.

Just today CNN reported about an unfortunate woman who is now a quadraplegic due to a "miscommunication" at the hospital. She informed the hospital of her kidney stone, but they released her without taking care of it. The error lead to complications that caused the amputation of both of her arms and legs. Here is a link to the article: "Kids care for mom without arms, legs" By Ashley Fantz, CNN

Update 11.17.2009 -- two interesting articles that were brought to my attention...

FDA Approved H1N1 Vaccines Contain Ingredients Known to Cause Cancer and Death

"Most health experts will agree that vaccine reactions can occur. It is estimated that roughly 1 in every million people will react to their vaccine. Even then, health officials maintain that it is usually a simple case of inflammation at the injection site and/or a slight fever. On a rare occasion, anaphylactic shock may occur due to the patient reacting to a substance that they are allergic to. However, the FDA recently approved four H1N1 vaccines that not only contain very questionable ingredients, but some of those ingredients have even been proven to cause cancer and death."

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Widespread rumors of Ukraine bioterrorism

This is not H1N1 2009 pandemic swine flu, also called California flu in Ukraine. People everywhere continue to refer to it as H1N1, but according to both WHO and the Ukraine government they are different diseases. The Ukraine government still reports only a handful of deaths from H1N1 California (”swine”) flu, with just one lab-confirmed death. Meanwhile both the government and WHO have been tracking the exponential increased of illnesses from severe acute respiratory illness, which have symptoms very different from H1N1 flu.

It is expected that within the next day or so WHO will release the gene sequence from tissue samples. Meanwhile speculation is rampant about what the ‘mystery disease’ actually is. Opinions range from a mutated, recombined, or man-made H1N1 to weaponized pneumonic plague or bird flu. At this stage there is no publicly available information on the cause. However, many observers say that it cannot possibly be H1N1 unless it is a different and much more virulent strain of it.

Background

On October 29 people in Kiev and cities in western Ukraine reported that light planes and helicopters had been spraying something to protect people against swine flu. Business owners were told in advance to keep doors and windows shut and to stay inside. There were many reports to local newspapers and radio stations, but local officials would not let them be published.

Within hours people were feeling ill, some reporting red rashes on their arms. Within two days a dozen people had died of severe acute respiratory illness (reported by WHO October 30 on their website), some with their lungs full of blood, fevers up to 39C-40C, and lung temperatures as high as 55C. This severe hemorrhagic pneumonia has similar symptoms to the 1918 Spanish flu, pneumonic plague, pulmonary anthrax, SARS and avian flu (H5N1).

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