Posted on 12/09/2009 3:02:14 PM PST by TennesseeGirl
A new analysis, using H1N1 deaths in the United States in the spring and projecting likely outcomes for this fall, shows that a typical -- or possibly even a milder flu season than average -- should have been expected. The finding begs the question: Has swine flu been oversold?
The new study, done by researchers at Harvard University and the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit in the U.K., says swine flu cases in the spring indicated a flu season that might be, at worst, slightly worse than normal.
"It would have been great to have that back in June," said Philip Alcabes, an associate professor in the program in urban public health at Hunter College's School of Health Sciences. "There would have been one more bit of evidence behind my assertion six months ago" that people were overreacting to H1N1.
He added, "I'm not saying they could have done that [analysis] even faster." Around the time that swine flu first started making headlines, Alcabes' book, "Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics From the Black Death to Avian Flu," was published, and he said the circumstances surrounding H1N1 provide an apt case study.
"I think that it was, from the very beginning, created as a crisis and overstated as a real threat," he said, adding that he did not want to understate the seriousness of influenza.
"Flu is a serious illness, it kills people," he said. But, he added, "It does a disservice to public health when, in the name of a preparedness crusade, people create a narrative of crisis or catastrophe before we have enough data that this is happening." excerpt
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
*ping*
Just like the bird flu and SARS, this swine flu/H1N1 was nothing but a big scare job. If we listened to these self-proclaimed “experts,” we’d all be dead by now.
FMCDH(BITS)
Never let a good crisis go to waste - especially if you had to manufacture it.
LOL! Drive to lunch today and Walgreens has signs out for swine flu vaccine.
Another scare so somebody got hundreds of millions to make a vaccine for a minor flu. What a scam.
Wow they’re almost admitting to pointless scare-mongering. I’m almost impressed.
Early mortality rates were very low. That didn’t change. Too many people were not vaccinated, came down with the H1N1 influenza, and didn’t die, to claim that ‘we stopped it’.
It was a dud from the get-go. The CDC and NIH can say whatever they like about not being able to determine definitively early enough to provide more accurate information, but the early mortality rates I’ve seen were developed by the CDC. If I could look at it and see that mortality rates were very low, couldn’t they?
Evidently not. This was clearly a situation that was hyped beyond reason from the very earliest days of this strain of influenza. It didn’t help that Mexico’s numbers were inaccurate, but when our own numbers started pouring in, the gig was up.
No way. It’s just as valid as global warming,new ice age, heterosexual AIDS epidemic, Y2K, Swine Flu I (1970s),the population bomb,cell phone brain cancer,1958 cranberry terror,2006 runaway hurricanes and Tiger Woods fidelity.
Isn’t it about time someone investigated the alarmist media and their costs on the world population.
The lack of cost benefit studies on all the alarms is real.
It bites when your plots don’t work.
And what bill was being debated???? Uh,,, Government Run Health Care..... I knew this was the case from the first time I heard of this H1N1, because I remember the last time it was tried. (back in the 70's) by a democrat administration.
Let's not forget the FUEL CRISIS of the 70's also. Sound familiar?
I have this real bad taste in my mouth when it comes to this. Let’s look at the money trail. Who benefitted from this? Pharma.
Who declares an epidemic each year for some form of the flu? CDC. Who benefits financially every year? Pharma.
Who’s in bed with Obama? Pharma. Get the picture?
Like Obama claims that his Porkulus is reducing unemployment.
"Government virus expert paid £116k by swine flu vaccine manufacturers
A scientist who advises the Government on swine flu is a paid director of a drugs firm making hundreds of millions of pounds from the pandemic.
Professor Sir Roy Anderson sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), a 20-strong task force drawing up the action plan for the virus. (excerpt)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/25/cbsnews_investigates/main4296175.shtml
" They're some of the most trusted voices in the defense of vaccine safety: the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit. But CBS News has found these three have something more in common - strong financial ties to the industry whose products they promote and defend. The vaccine industry gives millions to the Academy of Pediatrics for conferences, grants, medical education classes and even helped build their headquarters. The totals are kept secret, but public documents reveal bits and pieces. # A $342,000 payment from Wyeth, maker of the pneumococcal vaccine - which makes $2 billion a year in sales. # A $433,000 contribution from Merck, the same year the academy endorsed Merck's HPV vaccine - which made $1.5 billion a year in sales. # Another top donor: Sanofi Aventis, maker of 17 vaccines and a new five-in-one combo shot just added to the childhood vaccine schedule last month. Every Child By Two, a group that promotes early immunization for all children, admits the group takes money from the vaccine industry, too - but wouldn't tell us how much. A spokesman told CBS News: "There are simply no conflicts to be unearthed." But guess who's listed as the group's treasurers? Officials from Wyeth and a paid advisor to big pharmaceutical clients. Then there's Paul Offit, perhaps the most widely-quoted defender of vaccine safety. He's gone so far as to say babies can tolerate "10,000 vaccines at once." This is how Offit described himself in a previous interview: "I'm the chief of infectious disease at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of pediatrics at Penn's medical school," he said. Offit was not willing to be interviewed on this subject but like others in this CBS News investigation, he has strong industry ties. In fact, he's a vaccine industry insider. Offit holds in a $1.5 million dollar research chair at Children's Hospital, funded by Merck. He holds the patent on an anti-diarrhea vaccine he developed with Merck, Rotateq, which has prevented thousands of hospitalizations. And future royalties for the vaccine were just sold for $182 million cash. Dr. Offit's share of vaccine profits? Unknown." (excerpt) Yet he also holds a £116,000-a-year post on the board of GlaxoSmithKline, the company selling swine flu vaccines and anti-virals to the NHS. "
Ask the families of loved ones who have died as a result of it.
For example, 45,000 people died as a result of motor vehicle accidents in 2005 (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5807a1.htm. "In 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, 45,520 deaths in the United States were related to motor vehicles.") Motor vehicular deaths aren't being given the hype and coverage because a small (relatively) portion of the population died.
It's Obama declaring a "national disaster" and the media-assisted hype bothering us.
No offense, but I don't think you'd be saying this if one of the statistics were your child, spouse, mother, father.......in that case, the smallest number "1" becomes a very important number.
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