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thousands of nurses and other front-line healthcare workers are fighting mandatory flu immunization policies being put in place by some U.S. hospitals. The H1N1 pandemic, which has killed about 3,900 Americans so far, has stoked tensions over the best way to safeguard medical caregivers and their patients from flu. Nurses unions have won some early battles against compulsory vaccination. data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that only about 40 percent of U.S. healthcare workers ever get shots for seasonal influenza. mandating that healthcare workers get vaccines is misguided, ineffective and ultimately counterproductive. "There is no...

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The government, which ordered 250 million doses, has recommended that the limited supply go first to high-risk groups: children and young people through age 24, people caring for infants under 6 months, pregnant women and health care workers.

New York City health officials scrambled to explain themselves Thursday following outraged media reports about bankers who got scarce H1N1 flu vaccines through their employers. Although there is a longstanding arrangement for employers to provide seasonal flu shots to workers, the city health department was bombarded with calls and television reports about Wall Street workers jumping the line ahead of pregnant women and children. "It's bad enough that Wall Street crashed our economy and is back to paying out platinum bonuses after taking trillions in taxpayer-funded bailouts and backstops," Service Employees International Union Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger said in a statement....

To the list of hundreds of schools, hospitals, and community health centers that have received limited allocations of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, you can now add some of New York's largest employers. In the past week or so 13 companies, including Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS), have begun receiving small quantities of the vaccine, according to city health authorities.

Watch American Future Fund's latest nationwide TV ad, ‘Vaccine’.The American Future Fund is established as a multi- state issues advocacy group designed to effectively communicate conservative and free market ideals.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House says detainees at Guantanamo Bay are not receiving vaccinations against the swine flu vaccine. Robert Gibbs on Tuesday said concern that terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base in Cuba were receiving vaccines was misplaced. Gibbs says no vaccines are at the naval base and none are on the way

The shortage of swine-flu vaccine results not from drug- company greed or outsize demand but almost entirely from the government's decision to pander to unfounded and unscientific fear. As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, the US government set out to have the H1N1 vaccine produced largely in single-dose syringes -- a demand that has set back production considerably, because multidose vials are far easier to make. And the only reason to seek single-dose production was to please people needlessly worried about the preservative thimerasol, which is used to provide multiple doses of the vaccine. The fear -- utterly...

School nurses mistakenly gave the swine flu vaccine to two students who didn't sign up for it - including a Brooklyn girl with epilepsy who wound up in the hospital. "I was outraged," Naomi Troy, 26, told the Daily News after her 6-year-old daughter, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, had a possible allergic reaction to the shot. Officials at Public School 335 in Crown Heights called an ambulance to take Nikiyah to SUNY Downstate Medical Center when she fell ill following the arm jab. "My stomach was hurting, and I was itching," Nikiyah said after she was released from the hospital. The snafu...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base will soon get swine flu vaccines, despite complaints that American civilians should have priority, a military spokesman said Sunday. Army Maj. James Crabtree, a spokesman for the U.S. jail facility in southeast Cuba, said the doses should start arriving this month, with guards and then inmates scheduled for inoculations. He acknowledged there may be an "emotional response" from critics who argue that terror suspects should not be allocated swine-flu medications while members of the U.S. public are still waiting due to a vaccine shortage. But he...

Officials admitted on Friday that a third student was mistakenly given the swine flu vaccine - an error the school nurses union blamed on the city. "Nurses are not getting the support they need," said Judith Arroyo, president of Local 436, District Council 37, adding that the union had warned of problems. "We don't like it when we're right, because usually when we're right someone does get hurt somewhere along the way." City officials countered that nurses have received "excellent support." "The department has been doing a tremendous job," said Dr. Jane Zucker, assistant commissioner of immunization. "Twenty-five hundred have...

A quarrel between the U.S. government and swine flu vaccine makers reached the highest level on Friday, with President Barack Obama expressing frustration at the slow pace of production.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 A reasonable assessment of the swine flu vaccine Why be skeptical? Orthodox Catholics have a strong tendency towards healthy skepticism when it comes to big government and big pharma. We've seen the democide carried out by atheistic governments against several hundred million innocent men, women, and children over the past century. We've seen the demographic winter and destruction of over a billion lives at the hands of scientism's big medicine and big pharma. Science no longer serves the God who created the laws of nature and nature itself, even if many individual scientists, doctors and biomedical...

Vaccination is central to the government’s plan for preventing deaths from swine flu. The CDC has recommended that some 159 million adults and children receive either a swine flu shot or a dose of MedImmune’s nasal vaccine this year. Shots are offered in doctors’ offices, hospitals, airports, pharmacies, schools, polling places, shopping malls, and big-box stores like Wal-Mart. In August, New York state required all health-care workers to get both seasonal and swine flu shots. To further protect the populace, the federal government has spent upwards of $3billion stockpiling millions of doses of antiviral drugs like Tamiflu—which are being used...

Health care workers in New York will no longer be forced to get the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, CBS 2 has learned. A state Supreme Court judge issued a restraining order Friday against the state from enforcing the controversial mandatory vaccination. The order came as the Public Employees Federation sued to reverse a policy requiring vaccination against the seasonal and swine flu viruses, arguing that state Health Commissioner Richard Daines overstepped his authority. Three parties – the Public Employees Federaion, New York State United Teachers, and an attorney representing four Albany nurses – challenged the order and for now the...

Saying They Should Be Given A Choice, Employees Rally In Albany, Around State, Chant "No Forced Shots!" Protesters Hold Signs That Read: "The State Doesn't Own My Body'" They're upset over an ultimatum from the health department. Workers are being told to either get the swine flu vaccine or lose their jobs. New York is the first state in the country to mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers. The first doses of swine flu vaccine will be available beginning next week. Much of it is reserved for state health care workers, but there is growing opposition to required...

Health care institutions, concerned that less than half their workers got flu shots in previous years, are moving for the first time to make the shots mandatory in the face of an expected swine flu pandemic. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures for the 2007-08 flu season, the most recent available, show that just 45.4 percent of U.S. health care workers ages 19 to 64 were immunized against seasonal flu that year. Three British surveys released in recent weeks suggest the same pattern with the novel H1N1 virus, commonly known as the "swine flu" virus. But Dr. Tom Talbot,...

The swine flu vaccine appears to work for adults with just one shot and within 10 days, a major boost to the widespread immunization campaign that officials are planning to protect people against the first influenza pandemic in 41 years, researchers reported. Preliminary data from an Australian study found that a single standard dose could produce an immune response in more than 96 percent of recipients, and U.S. studies indicate that the protection occurs within eight to 10 days, scientists reported. The vaccine also appeared safe. The eagerly awaited findings mark the first results from a flurry of studies that...

There was a local pediatrician on the local radio station today, discussing the vaccine for the swine flu. She said that rather than buying the vaccine from the manufacturer or a broker, as usual, doctors will have to get the new vaccine from the government. There is also a long list of standards to decide who can get the vaccine, it won't be the doctors decision. There is a lot of paperwork involved. There are harsh penalties proposed for any doctor who gives the vaccine to someone who doesn't meet the criteria. I reckon this is a sign of the...

New Jersey will guarantee free swine flu vaccines to the state's 1.3 million uninsured residents and will try to remove all "financial barriers" for anyone else who wants the shot, Gov. Jon S. Corzine and other officials said Thursday. The announcement comes as the state prepares for the start of school and an expected spike in swine flu cases in the coming months. "We're going to be making the H1N1 vaccine — if it's proven to be safe and effective — available to anyone who wants it," state Health Commissioner Heather Howard said. "We will be eliminating financial barriers." Shots...

"I do want everyone to be prepared," Obama said President Barack Obama said the swine flu vaccine is voluntary but the government will "strongly recommend" that citizens get it. "I don't want anybody to be alarmed, but I do want everyone to be prepared," Obama said. Obama spoke after he was briefed on the nation's preparation for swine flu by officials that included Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. A vaccine is currently being developed and will likely be available by October. A new report from the White House sho

As flu season approaches, West Virginia's largest hospital has given its employees a choice: Get a flu shot, or get another job . . . A mandatory flu shot policy like CAMC's is rare for U.S. hospitals, but it may soon become more common. A New York State law that takes effect this month requires hospitals to provide records showing all their workers have seasonal flu vaccinations or face fines, and

DON'T INJECT ME Very funny, and kind of scary at the same time ...

This VIDEO is a MUST WATCH Massachusetts state legislature voted these in... Bill # 2028 especially at the 1:40 mark on vid where fine/jail revealed:

Aug. 21, 2009 -- No safety issues have come up yet in clinical trials of the swine flu vaccine, health officials announced today. Clinical trials of the vaccine in adults began recently, and so far, there have been "no red flags" of safety concerns, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said today in a news conference. Based on those early reports, clinical trials have begun in children ages 6 months to 17 years, Fauci said. Results of the clinical trials are still several weeks away, and more trials will begin in September to...

The inoculation for the swine flu strain, officially known as H1N1, will be distributed as a separate shot from the shot designed to protect against the seasonal flu, according to Los Angeles County’s top public health official, Dr. Jonathan Fielding, at a press conference today. But, after those two shots, you then may need a third shot. Get this, according to Fielding preliminary studies have suggested the swine-flu shot does not provoke as strong an immune response as does the seasonal flu vaccine, thus, it may be necessary to administer two doses of the swine-flu inoculation for it to be...

Because H1N1 flu is a novel virus, parents are concerned as 12,000 children in Oklahoma are going to be tested with vaccinations for H1N1 to see whether there are any serious side effects. Some parents are complaining the only benefit is going to be for the vaccine manufacturers. Other parents say numerous children will die, not from the new vaccine, but from the novel virus that combines avian, swine, and human viruses. Among the parents' fears are the fear of autism, fear of children becoming paralyzed by novel reactions similar to the syndrome that occured with a different type of...

A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter. The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, has been leaked to The Mail on Sunday, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins. It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by...

Most children will be forced to wait for swine flu vaccine H1N1 swine flu virus culture (HO/Reuters) David Rose, Health Correspondent Pregnant women, children with chronic health conditions and others with weakened immune systems will be the first people to receive a swine flu vaccine as part of the national immunisation campaign this winter. Frontline NHS and social care workers, pensioners and household contacts of people with HIV or undergoing chemotherapy treatment will also be offered the vaccine from October, the Department of Health has announced, although previously healthy children and adults may have to wait until next year. Sir...

A swine flu vaccination campaign will be launched in the autumn starting with pregnant women and those with underlying health conditions. In total, 54.6 million doses of pandemic vaccine are planned to be delivered by December. Those eligible will need to have two doses of the vaccine. Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson said the vaccine was going through similar safety testing as seasonal flu vaccine. In October, people aged six months to 65-years-old in conventional at-risk groups for normal seasonal flu, such as those with diabetes or heart disease, will be first in line for the vaccine. This...

Alarmist language sparking fears of mandatory vaccinations, quarantines Alarmist language over possible outbreaks of swine flu as well as a series of moves by the federal government are fueling fears federal agents will soon be forcing citizens to be vaccinated – prompting one political party to launch a pre-emptive defense against any such effort. The Constitution Party, a fast-growing alternative to the dominant Democratic and Republican parties in many elections, has come out strongly in opposition to any "mandatory injections" of "potential toxic (H1N1) 'swine flu' vaccine." Citing the Fourth Amendment, which says, "The right of the people to be...

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is using misleading figures to rationalize the denial of life saving H1N1 flu vaccine to seniors and other older age groups. In a study in which they give infection rates and hospitalization rates for different age groups, the CDC uses meaningless share data for deaths from the flu in an attempt to give the appearance of lower (non-threatening) death rates for older age groups....

About half the US population should be vaccinated against the H1N1 virus with pregnant women and health workers the top priority, US officials have said. A US government advisory committee said health officials should prepare to vaccinate 160 million people. The vaccination campaign, which will involve two doses of vaccine per person, is due to begin in mid-October. In the event that not enough vaccine is available, a tighter group of high-risk patients will receive it. This group also includes people who care for babies, health workers and children between the age of six months and four years. 'Natural immunity'...

The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the government has already taken steps to head that off. Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday. Since the 1980s, the government has protected vaccine makers against lawsuits over the use of childhood vaccines. Instead, a federal court handles claims and decides...

Anthony Fauci.J. Reed/Reuters The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced last week that it will begin five clinical trials for two pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccines in early August. These trials will help inform a likely US mass-vaccination campaign beginning in September. NIAID director Anthony Fauci talks about what vaccines were chosen, and why.To increase the amount of flu vaccine available, the World Health Organization recommends using adjuvants, which boost the body's immune response to the drug. But the five trials you announced last week are for non-adjuvanted vaccines. Why? We have planned seven priority trials. The...

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.

LONDON – In a drive to inoculate people against swine flu before winter, many European governments say they will fast-track the testing of a new flu vaccine, arousing concern among some experts about safety issues and proper vaccine doses. The European Medicines Agency, the EU's top drug regulatory body, is accelerating the approval process for swine flu vaccine, and countries such as Britain, Greece, France and Sweden say they'll start using the vaccine after it's greenlighted — possibly within weeks. In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization's flu chief, warned about the potential...

Hundreds of thousands of Americans could die over the next two years if the vaccine and other control measures for the new H1N1 influenza are not effective, and, at the pandemic's peak, as much as 40% of the workforce could be affected, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is admittedly a worst-case scenario that the federal agency says it doesn't expect to occur. But the broad range of potential deaths highlights the unpredictability of flu viruses in general and this swine flu virus in particular because it hasn't behaved the way researchers have...

George W. Bush announced the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza at the United Nations General Assembly on September 14, 2005, placing the US under UN and WHO law in the event of a pandemic “emergency”. Earlier that year, in April, 2005, Barack Obama introduced the first comprehensive bill to deal with the bird flu threat, the Avian act. According to reports, Obama made significant investments in biotech companies involved in the development of bird and swine flu. —– Obama’s ties to Baxter in addition to Chicago HQ February 22, 2005 “Less than two months after ascending to the...

By Andrew W. Griffin Red Dirt Report, editor Posted: July 24, 2009 reddirtreporter@gmail.com OKLAHOMA CITY – The lead headline in today’s edition of The Oklahoman said it all : “State kids to get shot at swine flu vaccine.” Yes, that swine flu. The one designated last month as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Anyway, reading the story, written by Oklahoman staff writer Vallery Brown, readers are told that up to 200 Oklahoma children between the ages of 3 and 8 will be encouraged to enroll in the swine flu (H1N1) vaccine trials. These tests – which in effect...

NIH calls for thousands of volunteers to test whether new swine flu vaccine works and is safe WASHINGTON (AP) -- The race is on: The government and vaccine makers are seeking thousands of volunteers, from babies to the elderly, to roll up their sleeves for the first swine flu shots -- to test whether a new vaccine really will protect against this novel virus before its expected rebound in the fall. On Wednesday the National Institutes of Health tapped a network of medical centers around the country to begin a series of studies, with the first shots to go into...

The head of the World Health Organisation, Dr Margaret Chan, has cast doubt on the Government's claims that a reliable swine flu vaccine will be available to the public by next month. Dr Chan said that it would be several months before a safe vaccine was in mass production. “There’s no vaccine. One should be available soon, in August. But having a vaccine available is not the same as having a vaccine that has been proven safe,” she said in an interview with The Guardian. “Clinical trial data will not be available for another two to three months.” Her words...

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - The United States will spend an another $1 billion for ingredients for an H1N1 vaccination, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Sunday. "There'll be another $1 billion worth of orders placed to get the bulk ingredients for an H1N1 vaccination. Congress has agreed with the president that this is the number one priority, keeping Americans safe and secure," Sebelius said on CNN. Sebelius has said plans were on track for a mid-October vaccination program, although it was not certain Americans would be offered the vaccine for the so-called swine flu.

Murfreesboro, Tenn., Jun 17, 2009 / 12:25 am (CNA).- As the pharmacuetical companies race to produce a vaccine for the swine flu, a Catholic pro-life group has announced that the newly developed vaccine is being made using ethical cell lines. On Friday the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced it had created an experimental vaccine through a canine kidney cell-based technology that seems to be faster than the standard method, which relies on chicken eggs. Over 30 countries have reportedly requested supply of the vaccine. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services placed a $289 million order with Novartis...

The flu vaccine you get from your doctor, may or may not be effective depending on what kind of flu virus attacks your body. There is not one vaccine that protects from all kinds of flu bugs, so every year someone decides what kind of flu is going to effect the world and the annual flu vaccine is developed to attack that specific kind of virus. That might all change as the Israeli company BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is developing an universal flu (influenza) vaccine, providing a multi-season/multi-strain and long-term protection against a variety of flu viruses. The universal flu vaccine...

Some studies find it makes a huge difference. Others do not. Experts say the truth is likely to be in between. By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Posted Jan. 19, 2009. How much difference does the flu shot really make?Various studies offer wide-ranging conclusions. One, for instance, found that seasonal influenza vaccine halves elderly deaths from any cause in the winter months. But another found it has no impact at all on this age group's health. These and other conflicting findings are pushing public health officials and scientists to look for better ways to quantify the preventive's impact. Discuss on...

The influenza vaccine, which has been strongly recommended for people over 65 for more than four decades, is losing its reputation as an effective way to ward off the virus in the elderly. A growing number of immunologists and epidemiologists say the vaccine probably does not work very well for people over 70, the group that accounts for three-fourths of all flu deaths. The latest blow was a study in The Lancet last month that called into question much of the statistical evidence for the vaccine’s effectiveness. The authors said previous studies had measured the wrong thing: not any actual...

ATLANTA — All children — not just those under 5 — should get vaccinated against the flu, a federal advisory panel said Wednesday. The panel voted to expand annual flu shots to virtually all children except infants younger than 6 months and those with serious egg allergies. That means about 30 million more children could be getting vaccinated. If heeded, it would be one of the largest expansions in flu vaccination coverage in U.S. history. The flu vaccine has been available since the 1940s. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said all children should start getting vaccinated as soon as...

THURSDAY, Feb. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel on Thursday approved the inclusion of three new flu strains in next year's batch of flu vaccine, in an unusual move that health officials hope will avoid the shortcomings of this year's vaccine. --snip-- The expansion of flu strains for next year comes during a current flu season that has not been easy so far. This year's flu shot has missed its mark badly, and the end result has been widespread or regional flu activity in virtually every state. Many of the infections are being caused by...

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- New Jersey on Friday became the first state to require flu shots for preschoolers, saying their developing immune systems and likelihood of spreading germs make them as vulnerable to complications as the elderly. State Health Commissioner Dr. Fred M. Jacobs approved the requirement and three other vaccines for school children starting September 1, 2008, over the objections of some parent groups. The new requirements "will have a direct impact on reducing illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths in one of New Jersey's most vulnerable populations -- our children," Jacobs said in a statement.