H1N1 Vaccines Appear Safe for Adults, Children
via NursingCenter
Well, OK. I also saved a URL about an Atlanta hospital (I think) requiring nurses to get the vaccine, but I can’t find where I saved it. If anyone has that story, please leave it in the comments.
I hope my hospital does not require this. I have the option to receive or not receive a flu shot and do not see why this should be any different. I am, at my baseline, dubious and deeply skeptical of ANY drug pushed through the FDA. The FDA itself cannot refrain from qualifiers (“seem” and “appear”) when it discusses the safety of this vaccine, and I have not seen anywhere that it addresses the reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome being caused by it. Vaccines are inherently creepy. I’m grateful for them, and without them we would live in a far scarier world, but I think they should be used a bit more judiciously than we as a society have gotten accustomed to. New vaccine for chickenpox? Yay! Let’s do it! (Chickenpox is not a deadly disease, plus now adults are getting chickenpox when it is more serious because their immunity from the vaccine has worn off; this is shooting ourselves in the foot.) Don’t even get me STARTED on Gardasil.
I’m just urging caution against the knee-jerk fear reaction that is, no doubt, going to make hordes of people swarm out to clamor for this vaccine. I’ll be watching for more data on it and might modify my decision, but for now I’m going to just say no.
UPDATE: I found the Atlanta article at ajc.com. It’s the regular flu shot and not the H1N1 vaccine they’re requiring, but that still bugs me. How are they getting away with this?
“A health care employer probably could justify mandatory flu vaccinations based on the direct threat to safety posed in the patient care setting, especially for the seasonal flu vaccine,” said Howard Mavity, a labor lawyer and co-chairman of Fisher & Phillips Workplace Safety & Catastrophe Management Practice.
Hospitals make nurses go to work sick constantly yet get on their high horses with this. I am annoyed. It is to be hoped that I will now cease to rant on this topic.
Darra said
We’ve been mandated to get flu shots at my hospital. We have until 11/13, at which point we get a written notice in our file and have until 11/30 to remedy the situation. If we don’t get the shot by 11/30, we get terminated with NO rehire.
Wanderer said
I can understand the knee-jerk reaction to vaccines rapidly pushed through the FDA, but not wanting to get a flu shot just because of that is a little childish. Think about the populations we work with: heat disease, lung disease, cancer and chemo, old biddies and doods. It’s not so much a protection for us, but for them. I know I’m probably regurgitating some policy somewhere with that.
Besides that, considering where I live (el barrio), how I travel to work (mass transit) and the unit I work on (tele + observation), I’m counting days until I can get my shot this year. I know that I’m going to get exposed to one variety or the other and would like to be at least a little prepared.
But making the shots mandatory? That smacks of fascism to me…
notratched said
Wanderer, I’m not clear: can you clarify what is childish about fearing an untested vaccine? I get the seasonal flu shot, but I’m not going to be much help to my patients if I’m paralyzed with Guillian-Barre or any other new side effects that may turn up with the H1N1 vaccine. Perhaps my post was confusing because I mixed discussions of the two vaccines.
Candi said
I don’t think skepticism over a new and untested vaccine is childish AT ALL. I would expect most medical professionals to feel the same way. I also don’t think NNR said she wasn’t getting it “just because” it’s untested; she cited several reasons… although that should be reason enough for ANYONE, given what happened in 1976, and we all know how well THAT went.
Wanderer said
OK, I had to go look up what happened in ‘76, as I was but a growing bulge in the womb at that point. Point taken. I was probably a little rash in my statements…but GBS is rare, the numbers I could find from 1976, the incidence of GBS was a whopping 0.00125%. You have a greater risk of dying or becoming paralyzed on your drive to work (1 in 84 odds of dying) than getting GBS in relation to the flu shot(s).
“although that should be reason enough for ANYONE, given what happened in 1976, and we all know how well THAT went.”
Which brings up another point: just because it was a fizzle the time before does not mean it going to fizzle again. My theory is that it’s going to take us completely by surprise ala’ 1918, or fizzle and sputter like 1976.
But I do applaud your desire to “wait and see” with regards to getting the vaccine. And for the record, I believe that kids should get chickenpox, Gardasil is plain wrong and that those folks who choose not to get their kids vaccinated against the big ones (MMR?) are plain wrong.
And childish was the wrong word…my bad. Who knows, maybe in my glee to get (flu) shot me and iGg will become good friends.
Nurses Express Safety Concerns About H1N1 Vaccine « Off the Charts said
[...] blogger Not Nurse Ratched has written a post on her decision not to get the H1N1 vaccine shot until she is more convinced [...]
Candi said
Wanderer, I agree it *probably* won’t happen again, because one can hope they learned from their mistakes, but no harm in waiting a few months, either… JUST to make sure. Ha! I’m always happy to let other people be the guinea pigs with any new vaccine (and medication, for that matter).
Sean said
I can’t wait to get the H1N1 vaccine….assuming it’s effective.
I have seen too many healthy, young people in their 30s/40s with no comorbidities die or almost die in my ICU from H1N1.
The real changing point in my attitude was caring for a patient that was around my age, and healthier than I am. I watched him almost die. Dawning my protective gear and spending twelve hours a day trapped in a room with this person was scary. I knew that if I caught the bug he had, I could die.
I would definitely feel better being vaccinated…again…assuming it’s effective.
Sorry, that came off much more melodramatic than I intended
Not Nurse Ratched said
It IS dramatic. As I said, I may change my mind when I see what happens with the vaccine; they change the flu vaccine every year, so if this one goes through that same process I won’t hesitate. I’m just really afraid that panic is going to cause the folks responsible for testing to cut corners that shouldn’t be cut, and although I don’t want H1N1, I also don’t want strange neurological issues (now or late)!
Rosie said
In theory, vaccines are a great idea. I can see them being strongly recommended for dozens of epidemiological reasons. Then there’s my situation: I have an autoimmune dysfunction that does not impair my daily health in any way that impairs my ability to care for patients in a hospital setting. However, last year’s flu shot left me with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. There’s no way I’m going to get another one–whether seasonal flu or H1N1. My hospital is still deciding what to do with me…apparently, wearing a mask all through flu season isn’t going to be enough.
And yeah, in theory, I think mandatory vaccination smacks of fascism, too.
Christopher-Peter: Maingot said
See OFFICIALS of GOVERNMENT; voting fraudulently -
LAWMAKERS…breaking the law – 4:00 video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfhO38CPlAI
So much is going on during a vote on the “HPV” – VACCINE MANDATE; you really have to pay attention (1 minute and 11 seconds into the video). Watch the fraudulent voting; it takes place in the Texas Legislature. It continues without objection, or reprimand…what do you think would happen to you, or me, if we were caught doing this?
Christopher-Peter: Maingot said
OIL and Water Won’t Mix – ADJUVANT
The Greatest Story Never Told – Chapter Three
For the past 17 years, the U.S. Army has been working on a new anthrax vaccine that contains no anthrax, and is made with an ingredient that it does not want to name. That ingredient is called squalene. Squalene is an oil. Without it, the new vaccine will not work any better that the old one. In fact, for all intents and purposes, without squalene the new vaccine is the old one. What makes squalene so important is it’s proven ability to stimulate a strong response from the immune system.
Immunologist have a special name for substances used to boost feeble vaccines. They are called ADJUVANTS. Adjuvants are arguably the most extensively researched pharmaceutical product in the last quarter century that you NEVER HEARD OF.
I have used the word adjuvant three times in this paragraph so far and that is probably three times more than you have ever seen it in print. This is partly because the most effective adjuvants, those formulated with oils, ARE TOO DANGEROUS FOR HUMAN USE. That is squalene’s other proven ability, causing incurable disease, which is why it is such a touchy subject with the Department of Defense.
Today, only one adjuvant—an aluminum salt called alum—is licensed for human use. All the oil adjuvants are so noxious that their use are restricted to experiments with animals, and even then, governments have written strict regulations to govern how they are used.
The classic oil adjuvant, called Freund’s Complete Adjuvant can cause permanent organ damage and incurable disease. As early as the 1930s, these oil additives were notorious for inducing illness. By the 1950s, scientist knew these illnesses were specifically AUTOIMMUNE. Today that is their chief use in research—inducing disease instead of preventing it. Scientist studying autoimmune disease cannot wait around for it’s spontaneous appearance in a lab animal.
Autoimmune diseases are chronic and progressively debilitating ailments; some, like Multiple Sclerosis and Lupus, can be fatal. They occur when the immune system looses its ability to distinguish what is “self” from what is foreign. Under normal circumstances, your immune system ignores the constituents of your own body; immunologist call this “tolerance.” But, IF TOLERANCE IS BROKEN, the immune system turns relentlessly self-destructive, attacking the body it is suppose to defend.
Here is what they were not telling anyone. By 1964, the year when everyone in the military was supposed to get immunized with an OIL-BOOSTED INFLUENZA VACCINE, the Army already knew the risks this vaccine presented for a very specific type of illness. AFEB’s Colonel Abram S. Benenson had drawn up a list of diseases that investigators should watch out for in veterans injected with the oily flu vaccine at Fort Dix. Benenson’s list read like the contents of a chapter on autoimmune disease in an immunology text book. It included Multiple Sclerosis, Myelitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), Uveitis, Neuro-Dermatitis Circumscripta and Disseminata, Amyloidosis, Lupus- Erythematousus, Dematomyositis, Scleroderma, Chronic Pericarditis, Raynaud’s disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid Myositis and acute Glomerulonephritis—all of them AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES.
Epidemiologists, mainly working for the National Research Council And the American Cancer Society, reported a “significant excess of deaths” in soldiers (TROOPS) given the OIL-BOOSTED VACCINE, which the investigators related to “ill-defined vascular lesions of the central nervous system.” They attributed this fact to the greater number of autopsies performed on the soldiers given the oil-boosted vaccine.
ADJUVANTS can break TOLERANCE…read more.
VACCINE.A
The Covert Government Experiment
That’s Killing Our Soldiers
and Why GI’s Are Only the First Victims.
A free preview of the complete Chapter Three is available on line…you must read this…NOW!
http://books.google.com/books?id=Irw82Iv5nyoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Information compiled and provided by Christopher-Peter: Maingot; without prejudice, malice aforethought, ill will, vexation, or frivolity.
Christopher-Peter said
ADJUVANT – VACCINE booster or “nano-bomb”???
GARDASIL is currently, at this time, still in its testing or evaluation phase, of its trials on our children.
Already there have been numerous cases reported…serious side effects and fatalities relative to the HPV VACCINE.
One great concern with this, and other (INFLUENZA, HERPES, HPV, HIV etc) VACCINES which many overlook, and too few are willing to own up to, is the horrendous neurological attack, and self destructive or disabling ability, of an additive known as SQUALENE.
Whether this squalene formula is the MF59 or AS03 brand, it does not matter, because it has been determined to cause irreparable chaos to the immune system in both human beings and animals, as well.
Not only did squalene leave its mark on the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of DEFENSE as from the beginning of the “Gulf War Conflict,” but much more importantly, on thousand of un-suspecting and, un-informed soldiers of the UNITED STATES, the UNITED KINGDOM and CANADA.
This squalene, AKA ADJUVANT, apart from being an extremely controversial and covert subject, has been medically determined, by many expert researchers (scientists) as the leading cause of extremely debilitating and, fatal health effects, once known simply as: “Gulf War syndrome.”
This OIL & WATER mixture, “adjuvant,” SQUALENE, administered to 10s of thousands of human beings via the U.S. Army’s experimental ANTHRAX VACCINES, is strongly believed to have been the cause of every conceivable neurological autoimmune disease, and then some, to emerge.
It has also been used to increase the efficacy of influenza vaccines…since 1984 and onward.
They were intent on creating something Mother Nature had not. “Designer disease,” they would later call it.
Dr. Sergei Popov was one of the Soviet Union’s best germ warriors, and running highly classified field research projects at The State Research Center of Applied Microbiology at Obolensk, and another laboratory in Siberia, specializing in viruses called VECTOR. While at Obolensk, Popov supervised a program codenamed “FACTOR”—as in “pathogenic factors” or “virulence factors”—where he helped engineer designer germs resistant to antibiotics. That is when he got interested in U.S. research with myelin basic protein.
American molecular biologist had mapped out the entire amino acid sequence for myelin—one of the chief components of the insulation surrounding nerve endings. Now they were hard at work trying to identify the epitopes on viruses that would cross-react with a special site on the myelin molecule to which an antibody might react and, cause experimental allergic encephalomyelitis—the animal version of multiple sclerosis. As the California-based scientists Robert Fujinami and Michael Oldstone explained in a landmark paper in Science: “during the cross-reacting immune response, virus may be cleared, but the components of the immune attack continues to assault self elements. The autoimmune response leads to tissue injury that, in turn, releases more self antigen, and the cycle continues.” Fujinami and Oldstone called the initial infection a “hit and run event.” By this they meant the virus attacked, and though it didn’t stick around, it left behind lasting damage. That is because the immune system continues to attack the molecule in the body that resembles the one in the germ, long after the immune system has gotten rid of the germ. Once this self-destructive process begins, it never stops; our bodies continue making the molecule the immune system is now trained to attack. If this new target for the immune system happened to be myelin, for example, the body would continue making this protein in order to replenish and repair the sheath around it’s nerve endings. But in the act of doing so, the body immunizes itself against itself, administering over and over again what amounts to a booster dose of something that the immune system now wants to get rid of. This vital constituent of your own body is now the enemy, and the immune system is now programmed to obliterate it in an endless loop of self-destruction [italics mine]. Dr. Sergei Popov saw real potential here.
He would not bother looking for a naturally occurring molecule that could trigger this process. He would make one. Popov spliced a fragment of myelin basic protein into legionella—the bacterium that causes Legionnaire’s Disease—creating a “chimera,” named for the mythical creature with a lion’s head, goat’s body and serpent’s tail. Inside Popov’s new constructed chimera was what amounted to a living “nano-bomb”—molecular contraband that could theoretically cause MS. When Popov infected guinea pigs with his chimera, the immune system cleared the legionella, and, just as he predicted, the myelin molecule smuggled into the guinea pigs inside of his microbial Trojan horse germ initiated a second wave of disease. This stealth germ caused experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, the animal version of MS. Popov felt as proud as a new parent. He could not wait to show “the client.”
“The client” is what VECTOR scientists called the Soviet Army officers who commissioned their biological warfare research projects. “Their initial response was rather discouraging,” says Popov, “because they did not see the fast onset of symptoms.” What the generals were accustomed to seeing was a germ with an immediate and catastrophic effect, but when they came back a few weeks later and saw the guinea pigs crippled MS, they recognized Popov’s creation for what it was—a biological time bomb. Soviet scientists then constructed another one of these time bombs with a virus. They chose vaccinia, the non-lethal cousin of smallpox. Popov, who is now living in America, believes the “final construct” for this viral time bomb was not vaccinia, but smallpox itself. In any case, it worked. “The client” had seen enough. The generals were sold on the idea. “The Russian Ministry of Defense wanted us to construct these designer germs, using myelin basic protein from monkeys and humans,” says Popov. “That would create a human version of the disease.”
Molecular mimicry, seen for its diabolical potential as a weapon by the Soviets as far back as the 1980s, also applies to SQUALENE [caps mine]. But the real problem with using squalene, of course, is not that it mimics a molecule found in the body; it is the same molecule. So what American scientists conceived as a vaccine booster was another “nano-bomb,” instigating chronic, unpredictable and debilitating disease [italics mine]. When the National Institutes of Health (NIH), argued that squalene would be safe because it is native to the body, just the opposite was true. Squalene’s natural presence in the body made it one of the most dangerous molecules injected into human beings [italics mine]. When UCLA Medical School’s Michael Whitehouse and Frances Beck injected squalene combined with other materials into rats and guinea pigs back in the 1970s, few oils were more effective at causing the animal versions of ARTHRITIS, and MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS [caps mine]. By the late 1990s, Sweden’s Karolinska Institute proved that injecting squalene all by itself could cause arthritis. The Polish Academy of Sciences proved that squalene alone could severe neurological damage. Now Tulane University Medical School and its ardent intellectual adversary—the Army’s Col. Carl Alving—have both shown that the immune system makes antibodies to squalene, but only after it is injected [italics mine].
For Squalene’s proponents in the U.S. Army and the NIH, this has been a relentless march towards an unpalatable truth. By adding squalene to their new anthrax vaccine, they did not make a better vaccine; they made a biological weapon [italics mine]. The anti-squalene antibodies in sick U.S. and British military personnel are evidence that military experiments may have caused more casualties with its new anthrax vaccine than have been caused by anthrax weapons since they were first used by the Japanese Army in the 1940s.
The above is an excerpt from Gary Matsumoto’s book (with modifications):
VACCINE.A
The Covert Government Experiment
That’s Killing Our Soldiers
and Why GI’s Are Only the First Victims
http://books.google.com/books?id=Irw82Iv5nyoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Information compiled and provided by Christopher-Peter: Maingot; without prejudice, malice aforethought, ill will, vexation, or frivolity.
Christopher-Peter said
Received 11 February 2003;
revised 12 April 2003;
accepted 2 May 2003. ;
Available online 11 June 2003.
Abstract
Exposure to the hydrocarbon oil pristane induces lupus specific autoantibodies in non-autoimmune mice. We investigated whether the capacity to induce lupus-like autoimmunity is a unique property of pristane or is shared by other adjuvant oils. Seven groups of 3-month-old female BALB/cJ mice received a single intraperitoneal injection of pristane, squalene (used in the adjuvant MF59), incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (IFA), three different medicinal mineral oils, or saline, respectively. Serum autoantibodies and peritoneal cytokine production were measured. In addition to pristane, the mineral oil Bayol F (IFA) and the endogenous hydrocarbon squalene both induced anti-nRNP/Sm and -Su autoantibodies (20% and 25% of mice, respectively). All of these hydrocarbons had prolonged effects on cytokine production by peritoneal APCs. However, high levels of IL-6, IL-12, and TNFα production 2–3 months after intraperitoneal injection appeared to be associated with the ability to induce lupus autoantibodies.
The ability to induce lupus autoantibodies is shared by several hydrocarbons and is not unique to pristane. It correlates with stimulation of the production of IL-12 and other cytokines, suggesting a relationship with a hydrocarbon’s adjuvanticity. The potential to induce autoimmunity may complicate the use of oil adjuvants in human and veterinary vaccines.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WHC-48TMCJ6-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1018959749&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=1265afaf82232cd896af7e8b4b1e928f
Information compiled and provided by Christopher-Peter: Maingot; without prejudice, malice aforethought, ill will, vexation, or frivolity.
Christopher-Peter said
Flu Vaccine Exposed: Think Twice!
Studies show that flu vaccines are unsafe and ineffective. This uncensored presentation by the Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute (www.thinktwice.com) includes a visual depiction of flu vaccine production — how the flu vaccine is made and what it contains! A natural alternative to flu vaccines is provided.
Christopher-Peter said
HPV Vaccine Exposed: Think Twice!
Studies show that the HPV vaccine is unsafe and may actually INCREASE a woman’s chance of developing cervical cancer. This uncensored presentation by the Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute (www.thinktwice.com) includes a complete explanation of HPV — the human papilloma virus — HPV risks, HPV vaccine hazards, HPV vaccine efficacy data, plus a summary of the pertinent studies. Includes a visual depiction of how the HPV vaccine may cause SEXUALLY ACTIVE FEMALES to have GREATER chances of developing cervical cancer. Natural alternatives to protect against HPV and cervical cancer are provided.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZQEUd9Nc7E
Information provided by Christopher-Peter: Maingot; without prejudice, malice aforethought, ill will, vexation, or frivolity.
The Swine Flu Vaccine: Under Fire | said
[...] medical professional’s blog states her concerns over forced vaccinations (which she opposes). Stories like this are extremely [...]