Obama's Swine Flu Challenge
Swine flu politics is back. It helped claim the career of a president more than 30 years ago. As if Barack Obama needed any more headaches.
Gerald Ford's decision to inoculate every person in the country (including himself) resulted in a political debacle that contributed to a reputation for incompetence that scuttled his 1976 election bid. The vaccination program was plagued by delays and became a public relations nightmare as Ford was accused, perhaps unfairly, of coddling drug companies aiming to profit from the scare. By the time the program was canceled only about 24% of the population was inoculated - and the president ended up looking foolish.
The Obama Administration quickly called attention to this latest outbreak, putting pressure on itself to do something. Tread carefully, Mr. President.
Craig blogs daily at craigcrawford.com on CQ Politics
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We don't need a panic!
If you are looking for NATURAL ways to protect yourself, check out Roanne Weisman's Own Your Health blog
www.ownyourhealth.wordpress.com.
You learn about the Three P's: Prepare, Protect, Pull through
Alexa Fleckenstein M.D., physician, author.
Interesting fact: Back in '76 the swine flu killed one person but the "vaccine" allegedly killed close to 50.
Here's the warning ads that ran at the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASibLqwVbsk
"Within days, however, several people who had taken the shot fell seriously ill. On Oct. 12, three elderly people in the Pittsburgh area suffered heart attacks and died within hours of getting the shot, which led to suspension of the program in Pennsylvania.
Jersey pressed on with inoculations, however. Through the fall, even as more bad reports about the side effects of the vaccine came out, thousands of mostly older people in Greater Trenton lined up outside health centers, schools and firehouses to get the shot, sometimes waiting for an hour.
One of them was Lawrence's Mary Kent, a 45-year-old mother of two teenage boys who couldn't tie the ribbons on Christmas presents only days after she got her shot at the Trenton War Memorial in early December.
On Dec. 16, increasingly concerned about reports of the vaccine touching off neurological problems, especially rare Guillain-Barre syndrome, the government suspended the program, having inoculated 40 million people for a flu that never came."
http://www.capitalcentury.com/1976.html
I think the President and his team will take your advice seriously, Craig.
Americans have lost trust in their health agencies including the CDC
Last week, before this flu outbreak,I wrote a blog on why the CDC needs a complete overhaul- See http://medicalcrises.blogspot.com
Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa
THE CDC NEEDS A COMPLETE OVERHAUL
They have lost the trust of the American public which is both sad and dangerous
See my blog on the CDC- http://medicalcrises.blogspot.com
Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa
Wow, and I thought that I was the only one who remembered that! The fact that I was only nine at the time makes me really question the media. Why hasn't anyone else in the media mentioned that this is not the first time everybody has wigged out over the swine flu?
Iam waiting for the trolls and the GOP's to blame Barry Hussein Obama for the swine flu as well,(SNARK).
You are going to have a long wait. Swine Flu is killing off trolls & GOP types like flies. Do we have successful flu & other epidemic emergencies like successful famines?
Ahhh it feels like SARS panic all over again... Watch out!
Seriously is swine flu more dangerous than flu flu? At the risk of sounding completely ignorant.
I understand the risks are higher for the young or elderly but that is generally true with any virus or form of the flu. Why should I be panicking about this?
I think they are very concerned about this flu because it isn't just swine flu. My understanding is that it's a mixture of several different strains including swine flu and bird flu, and there is currently no vaccine.
Another reason for their concern is that it seems to be more prevalent in young people. In Mexico I think most, if not all of the deaths occurred in young otherwise healthy adults and that is unusual for flu deaths.
The good news seems to be that Tamiflu (sp?) and I believe one other drug are pretty effective at fighting the virus.
The main cause for concern with this form of influenza is the relatively high mortality rate among younger adults (around 7%). As more cases get reported, the rate may drop, and it may not be as lethal as it appears right now, but for now, it's bad.
It is correct that antivirals, such as Tamiflu, are effective in combating this, so it's not an end of the world scenario or anything. BUT, it's only effective for areas that have enough antivirals on hand. No one does. Not even the US, though we are in far better shape than most of the world. The WHO just raised the Swine Flu outbreak to level 4 (out of 6). We'll know in the next few days (by Friday was the estimate I heard), how bad it will be. Frankly, I'd rather we erred on the side of caution.
The article yesterday in one of the newspaper said in the headline that several US Germ Banks
were sloppy and I guess this is the result. When I clicked on the link it was removed however, I did
save the headline.
Watching the news last night made my skin crawl. I haven't seen reporters or newsreaders experiencing such unbridled delight in their work since - Katrina. Their excitement seemed to grow with descriptions of symptoms and details of new cases but nothing seemed to excite them more than the prospect of people dying from it. No doubt the deaths will be the most exciting part of the coverage for them. The more painful and gruesome, the better. Just sickening.
correct. the more deaths, better ratings, more advertising money.
I agree... and it all points back to a "planned" panic that has at its core the motivation to make money above all else. I go into more detail here at my blog:
http://blameblakeart.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/prove-me-wrong-on-this-one-please/
Vaccines claimed Ford's presidency? Really? Not the whole connection to the watergate/impeachment/resignation of Richard Nixon? It was the flu shots?
Talk about grasping at straws.
In addition to military/government insider investments that will benefit financially from distribution of Tamiflu, government has incentives to distract the public from growing economic woes.
Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu October 31, 2005: 10:55 AM EST
Defense Secretary, ex-chairman of flu treatment rights holder, sees portfolio value growing.
By Nelson D. Schwartz, Fortune senior writer
My first thoughts when all this broke was that Rumsfield would end up richer, and the SPP with it's policies would be slapping themselves on the back.
My latest web comic is about the whole thing:
http://bit.ly/t9R4D
I like it.
Just looking at all the comments, the powers that be ( rummy et al ) I believe are just blatantly flaunting the fact that they can just do this without fear of penalty. Your Cartoon captures their moronic thinking exactly, with humor. Thanks for that!
http://blameblakeart.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/prove-me-wrong-on-this-one-please/
Ford got hit in the head with a golf ball and fell down a lot. He didn't do much and people wanted to move on from Nixon. I couldn't even remember who was the prez during the last swine flu and don't think it was a bad thing to have everyone vaccinated.
Before you take any flu vaccine check out the dangers. Mercola.com is a good source of information.
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