By Bronwyn Eyre, The StarPhoenix
November 14, 2009
"I refuse to issue this vaccine," says Dr. Pascale Blucher, a Swiss doctor who recently told swissinfo.ch that safety was compromised in the rush to develop the H1N1 vaccine. "It goes against the first rule of medicine, which is to do no harm."
Talk about adding to the confusion surrounding H1N1. As a believer in routine childhood vaccines and as someone who -- a month ago -- fully intended to get my four-year-old vaccinated, I found Blucher's comments arresting.
Among the major issues for Blucher is the use of adjuvants -- chemical compounds contained in all H1N1 vaccines in Canada, except those for pregnant women -- that "stretch" a vaccine's active ingredient and boost the body's immune response.
European flu vaccines commonly use adjuvants for adults and the elderly, but there's limited clinical data on how safe they are for children and pregnant women.
"The problem is, we're going to vaccinate people, then see if there are any bad effects," Blucher said.
When I initially asked my doctor about the adjuvant, he said it would be a good idea to give my son the non-adjuvanted vaccine, "just to be on the safe side."
But before any vaccines were available, my son got sick. Nothing too serious -- a slight fever, dry cough (which got worse at night) and a very runny nose.
Meanwhile, I was experiencing serial headaches, a sore throat, chills, aches, a dry cough and had some trouble focusing. Nevertheless, I could manage day-to-day and, having had influenza in the past, I didn't think it was H1N1.
Then, on the information front, I experienced another shocker: In the Wall Street Journal, I read that the U.S. wasn't administering any adjuvanted vaccine. Multi-dose vials (being used in Canada) had also been nixed in the U.S., so as to lessen exposure to mercury-containing thimerosal.
"A series of policy decisions that reflect our extreme caution when it comes to these products are to blame for the shortfall of the vaccine in the U.S.," the WSJ wrote.
But isn't "extreme caution" what we want? Let's not forget FDA inspector Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, who received an award from president John F. Kennedy in 1962 for blocking thalidomide in the U.S. because "more study was needed."
Why, I wondered, weren't Canadian and American health officials being asked to debate their respective H1N1 decisions? What lessons were learned in Australia, which came off its flu season just as ours was beginning? And is there really "more mercury in a tin of tuna than in the H1N1 vaccine," as I've heard said?
Why are we just "learning," as was reported this week, that seniors -- who were bottom of the priority list a few weeks ago -- "have less chance of getting H1N1, but if they get it, they can die?" And is it really wise for nurses at local health centres to be piggy-backing H1N1 vaccines with regular childhood boosters?
Ontario health officer Dr. Richard Schabas recently said he largely blames health officials for creating H1N1 hysteria, when "far more people die of seasonal flu" every year. He added the "pandemic" is peaking, and after going through a flu cycle of about six weeks, kids across the country are starting to go back to school -- which I've noticed at my son's pre-kindergarten.
When Saskatoon health officials finally rolled out the vaccine, I drove to Prairieland Park to ask about the availability of non-adjuvanted vaccine for young children. I was told none was available, except for pregnant women.
The next day, I learned a boy in my son's class, who'd been off sick the week before, had received the results of a nose swab, which confirmed H1N1. In other words, my son and I had probably had it, too.
So, for a range of reasons, I'll probably pass on the vaccine, which doesn't mean I don't feel let down for having been deprived of a lot of useful, comparative information along the way.
After the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) debacle and concerns over the Gardasil vaccine's side-effects on young women -- not to mention the last swine flu vaccine, which reportedly killed more people in the U.S. than actually died of swine flu -- advising Canadians to simply "trust us" and ask questions later just isn't good enough.
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/Asking+H1N1+questions+wise+strategy/2222313/story.html
November 14, 2009
"I refuse to issue this vaccine," says Dr. Pascale Blucher, a Swiss doctor who recently told swissinfo.ch that safety was compromised in the rush to develop the H1N1 vaccine. "It goes against the first rule of medicine, which is to do no harm."
Talk about adding to the confusion surrounding H1N1. As a believer in routine childhood vaccines and as someone who -- a month ago -- fully intended to get my four-year-old vaccinated, I found Blucher's comments arresting.
Among the major issues for Blucher is the use of adjuvants -- chemical compounds contained in all H1N1 vaccines in Canada, except those for pregnant women -- that "stretch" a vaccine's active ingredient and boost the body's immune response.
European flu vaccines commonly use adjuvants for adults and the elderly, but there's limited clinical data on how safe they are for children and pregnant women.
"The problem is, we're going to vaccinate people, then see if there are any bad effects," Blucher said.
When I initially asked my doctor about the adjuvant, he said it would be a good idea to give my son the non-adjuvanted vaccine, "just to be on the safe side."
But before any vaccines were available, my son got sick. Nothing too serious -- a slight fever, dry cough (which got worse at night) and a very runny nose.
Meanwhile, I was experiencing serial headaches, a sore throat, chills, aches, a dry cough and had some trouble focusing. Nevertheless, I could manage day-to-day and, having had influenza in the past, I didn't think it was H1N1.
Then, on the information front, I experienced another shocker: In the Wall Street Journal, I read that the U.S. wasn't administering any adjuvanted vaccine. Multi-dose vials (being used in Canada) had also been nixed in the U.S., so as to lessen exposure to mercury-containing thimerosal.
"A series of policy decisions that reflect our extreme caution when it comes to these products are to blame for the shortfall of the vaccine in the U.S.," the WSJ wrote.
But isn't "extreme caution" what we want? Let's not forget FDA inspector Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, who received an award from president John F. Kennedy in 1962 for blocking thalidomide in the U.S. because "more study was needed."
Why, I wondered, weren't Canadian and American health officials being asked to debate their respective H1N1 decisions? What lessons were learned in Australia, which came off its flu season just as ours was beginning? And is there really "more mercury in a tin of tuna than in the H1N1 vaccine," as I've heard said?
Why are we just "learning," as was reported this week, that seniors -- who were bottom of the priority list a few weeks ago -- "have less chance of getting H1N1, but if they get it, they can die?" And is it really wise for nurses at local health centres to be piggy-backing H1N1 vaccines with regular childhood boosters?
Ontario health officer Dr. Richard Schabas recently said he largely blames health officials for creating H1N1 hysteria, when "far more people die of seasonal flu" every year. He added the "pandemic" is peaking, and after going through a flu cycle of about six weeks, kids across the country are starting to go back to school -- which I've noticed at my son's pre-kindergarten.
When Saskatoon health officials finally rolled out the vaccine, I drove to Prairieland Park to ask about the availability of non-adjuvanted vaccine for young children. I was told none was available, except for pregnant women.
The next day, I learned a boy in my son's class, who'd been off sick the week before, had received the results of a nose swab, which confirmed H1N1. In other words, my son and I had probably had it, too.
So, for a range of reasons, I'll probably pass on the vaccine, which doesn't mean I don't feel let down for having been deprived of a lot of useful, comparative information along the way.
After the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) debacle and concerns over the Gardasil vaccine's side-effects on young women -- not to mention the last swine flu vaccine, which reportedly killed more people in the U.S. than actually died of swine flu -- advising Canadians to simply "trust us" and ask questions later just isn't good enough.
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/Asking+H1N1+questions+wise+strategy/2222313/story.html
Last edited by a moderator: