How’s The Health Care Bill Going?
Well, CNN says that Obama declares H1N1 emergency
Washington (CNN) — President Obama has declared a national emergency to deal with the “rapid increase in illness” from the H1N1 influenza virus.
“The 2009 H1N1 pandemic continues to evolve. The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities,” Obama said in a statement.
If you are wondering what communities are affected, the Weather Underground has a Flu Map based on Center for Disease Control data that shows that Hawaii has local outbreaks, and South Carolina, New Jersey, and Massachusetts Connecticut have regional out breaks.
Oh, yeah, the rest of the entire country have widespread outbreaks.
The State of New York canceled their threat of punishing health professionals who don’t get H1N1 vaccinations. They figured that the fact that there is a shortage of vaccine sort of made the threat… well, stupid.
Big pharma has once again failed to anticipate their ability to perform their primary function, providing drugs and vaccines. I guess they were busy editing their television commercials. Not much the US government can do, since vaccines are another thing that are no longer made in the US.
19 comments
There’s also some serious mumps outbreaks back east. Haven’t heard about those in quite a while. Hated having them when I was a kid
My Mother had them as an adult, and she ranks them as one of the worst things that has ever afflicted her. The so-called children’s diseases are nothing to mess around with.
People have stopped getting their kids immunized, because “those things don’t exist anymore”, forgetting that they are part of the environment in which we live, and people are arriving from all over the world these days. If you pass through an airport, you can catch all kinds of things.
Ah, well… It’s appropriate to post this then. 😉 😛
Ten Things You’re Not Supposed to Know about the Swine Flu Vaccine
Believe it… or, not! 😉 😆
BTW… In Mid-August, there was a conference in Washington about the swine flu. There is a PDF available about it that makes for curious reading. 😉
Page 1 International Swine Flu Conference brochure
Check out some of the workshops. 😉 Paranoid yet? 😆
not
😀
.-= last blog ..When I win the lottery =-.
I am in the group that has already been exposed to the Swine Flu twice, so it isn’t a personal concern, and my Mother just had it, which given all of her underlying health problems, shows that the immunity is still effective. If I had it, I didn’t really notice.
I hate to break it to the natural health guru at that link, but my Mother takes large doses of vitamin D with a calcium supplement to forestall osteoporosis, and she still got it.
People freak out over vaccines, and part of it was an outbreak of deaths attributed to the vaccine when the last swine flu outbreak occurred. What isn’t mentioned it that the majority of those deaths occurred at VA facilities among patients who were in their 80s and 90s, and already in ill health. Give me a break – life is a one-way ticket and death is the final destination, i.e. we are all going to die at some point.
I take penicillin as my first choice of antibiotics because it has always managed to work for me, and it had a lot of work to do in Southeast Asia. There are a lot of people who are allergic to penicillin. There are people who are allergic to eggs, and most vaccines are grown in eggs. We have over 6 billion people on the planet and the ability to move around quickly, so things that are common in small areas, now have an opportunity to spread that wasn’t there before. In any given large population we now have people who are allergic to almost everything.
I don’t expect miracles and assume that Pharma is a bunch of greedy criminals, so I am open to being pleasantly surprised.
Ha-ha… LOL I was wondering which of 3 would reply first, hipparchia, bryan or ladymin (though ladymin was a remote chance as she doesn’t have a chance to get here often… still) 😉
With all the hysteria over conspiracies the past decade, and it seems to be increasing since Obama became Prez (Gee… I can’t imagine why that would be!!) I thought I’d add my 2c for the tin-foil hat brigade. 😆
But yeah… no sane person would trust big pharma an inch, and certainly anyone who trusts them with their lives are insane. IMHO. 😉 However, it’s bad enough without all the hysterical crazies making things much more complicated and confusing (one might almost wonder if they are paid by big pharma, or just fed bait knowing they will scream ‘the sky is falling’). They are masters at disinformation and propaganda and are ell supported by most politicians.
Though, I did find that conference brochure, and some of the topics of discussion and workshops very interesting. 😉
The one thing all the conspiracy crazies (and BTW, there are some sane conspiricists who *DO* have some legitimate grounds for concern) seem to ignore is that, especially the past decade or so, trying to get any industry and most politicians and media outlets to all keep quiet about anything is living in dreamland! That lot take the doctrine of *self-interest* to dizzying new heights!
All that said, I do know for a fact that there are some real conspiracies out there (and in fact was involved in one in the 80’s, I plan a book when the 30-year gag order is finally removed, assuming I don’t have a tragic accident just before. If I do, you know why!) 😆 For the most part, the real conspiracies are carefully obfuscated by all the noise, and the hysteria is encouraged, and even seeded. One needs the knack of looking under or through all the noise. 😉
Oh! Almost forgot… Hipparchia, I hereby award you the coveted “smarty-pants” award! Enjoy (and no, there is no money or anything of real value involved, just a warm-fuzzy feeling)! 😉 😆
Believe it… or, not! 😉
warm fuzzies good!
.-= last blog ..When I win the lottery =-.
Your remark about “keep quiet” is at the heart of a lot of this. It’s like the belief that the CIA has actually pulled off all of these great things, but no one talks about it. If the CIA ever pulled off any great thing I would know instantly from all of the stunned looks on the faces of people in the “business”. There would be so much back chatter over a success that even the conservatives would figure out something had happened. What would never be uttered, and wouldn’t be important, just the fact there was a success.
Actually, they have pulled off some big defections, but they tend to publicize those to increase their funding. In most cases they were totally voluntary, and all the CIA did was hold a few doors open, rather than recruiting, but they have made some big scores in that area. They have even done some good work in the dull grind of collecting useful intelligence, but they are definitely not a competent “action agency”. They have too much of the military/cowboy attitude to ever be good at it.
It appears the government is attempting to panic the population into getting the flu shot to achieve herd immunity. I doubt that can work very well on a flu virus that mutates.
The local news is carrying reports of schools closing because of flu outbreaks, but more likely it’s just parents keeping their uninfected kids home because there are a few confirmed cases. And last night the news was showing long lines of people waiting up to six hours to get their shots. Personally, I avoid crowds and stress to avoid illness. But that’s me. I’ve been exposed to swine flu in the 70’s so I’ll take my chances. I’m not opposed to the vaccine but I’m not in the high risk group so I’ll let those people go first.
.-= last blog ..Autumn Colors =-.
Yeah, if you want to be treated like a leper, just sneeze.
It seems like young people and pregnant women are the ones who are most in danger, so I’ll sit back and watch while avoiding crowds. Fortunately there is no problem with crowds when you go shopping, so it is just necessary to avoid children, who are plague-carriers.
I doubt that can work very well on a flu virus that mutates.
they ALL mutate, which is why we keep having to get new flu shots every year.
being a member of one of the high-risk groups for flus in general, i do appreciate y’all hanging back and and letting me go first. now, if only the vaccines will just GET here.
Canada is going strong, but then it is manufactured in Canada, so they get first call on it.
If it was targeting my group, or my Mother’s, I would be worried about availability, but, like Lady Min, I have already been exposed a long time ago, and was exposed again when my Mother had what must have been the H1N1 a few days after her regular flu shot.
Based on the fact that my Mother had all of the symptoms, this isn’t an either/or flu, but the worst of all flu problems in one package.
You’re right about the sneezing. I have seasonal allergies and get sneezy every year when the leaves fall. People have been keeping their distance from me. I’m not sure they believe me when I say allergies.
I’ll get the seasonal flu shot this week. There’s plenty of that available and that one usually hits older people harder. So I’ll be 50% protected.
.-= last blog ..Autumn Colors =-.
The regular is $25 and available at pharmacies all over, as well as the local county health department. It has been available for weeks down here.
Actually allergies might help keep you from the H1N1, as it is a deep lung virus, and if your mucous membranes are working overtime, it isn’t going to have much of an opportunity to go deep.
it’s available here [regular flu shot] — if you can get there before they run out.
i haven’t managed that yet, in spite of trying several times, but there’s supposed to be more on the way.
My Mother’s doctors never seem to have any, so she went to KMart and got it.
Publix has had it, as well as the other supermarkets with pharmacies, but her fall back is the health department is only a few blocks from her house.
As near as I can tell the people who have real problems are those who are allergic to eggs.
ow ow ow ow !!!!
got mine today, yes, at kmart. some of the other pharmacies in town have had shots available before now, but for very restricted hours and only for a few days at a time.
i went to the health dept last year, but the place was chock full of sick people. when i called them near the beginning of flu shot season, they didn’t have any yet, or only had limited doses [i forget which]. then i got sick [non-flu] so that put a hold on things. then i got better, and everybody was running out. kmart is the first place i’ve found that’s giving shots outside of normal working hours, which is a real help. the trip to the health dept took me an entire [workday] afternoon last year.
the closest place to get swine flu vaccine is alabama right now. none here in this part of florida that i know of.
I haven’t seen anyone even talking about it in the local area, and I know some people who are really looking for it for kids and grandkids with health problems.
My Mother is on the list for shots at her doctor’s office, but her doctor hasn’t even been told if she will receive a supply when it is available. The Panhandle is obviously on the end of the supply chain.
Yeah, the health department is priced right, but here you have to go in between 1 and 3pm all but one day a week. That really sucks for working people.