Job Discussion Forums

[carlen]

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[veiledsentiments]

Of course there is the detail of when we get a finalized vaccine... that is safe enough... and how quickly they can make enough of it.

I remember the lines for blocks for the swine flu shots back in the 70s... took hours...

VS

[Zoot]

carlen, will parents have a choice about whether their children are given the vaccine or not? I saw on BBC that Australia is trialling the vaccine now. Haven't seen any follow up though.

[Afra]

Probably not, parents have no choice with regard to other inoculations.

[carlen]

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[helenl]

Usually, parents do have a choice to vaccinate or not. The state also has a choice as to whether to allow unvaccinated children into the school system (as do private schools).

[carlen]

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[anaxiforminges]

I wonder if the anti-vaccination lobby has got any foothold in the UAE. I would hope not. Thanks to celebrity endorsements (e.g. Brooke Shields) of this fringe and dangerous cause a lot of kids in NA aren't getting their shots.

[carlen]

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[anaxiforminges]

carlen, that's why it worries me when I see close friends (one in particular) actively embracing the anti-vaccination loons... and she has a young child in tow too.

[veiledsentiments]

Conspiracy theories of all types are growing insanely in the US fanned by certain people in the media. The problem is that the generation that benefited from the vaccinations and didn't have to suffer these disease and/or watch siblings die are now creating the situation where these diseases are coming back and some will end up watching their children or grandchildren die unnecessarily.

I had measles as a child... no vaccines then... but I somehow managed to avoid both chickenpox and mumps - which ran through my school numerous times... and was one of the first gang that got the polio vaccine. My mother always blamed my poor eyesight on the measles because I had to get glasses soon after in the 2nd grade. Everyone in the family already wore glasses which presumes a certain amount of genetics in there, but before I had the laser surgery, I was well beyond legally blind without the glasses.

VS

[anaxiforminges]

My father desperately wants to Lasik his eyes but is so afraid of a laser beam frying his retina that he prefers wearing the coke-bottle-bottom glasses. I myself will probably wait another decade until I'm myopic enough...

[Green Acres]

The only real difference between now and then, VS and others, is that before there were not any vaccines whereas now the vaccines we had created are not effective anymore.

It is fact that the basic livestock and poultry industries have been using excessive amounts of penicillin and tetracycline over the past 40 years to keep animals healthy, especially given their often poor living conditions. Since the animals are kept alive by the most powerful antibiotics known to man, the food chain has been offset significantly. One of the reasons that the "swine flu/H1N1" has taken hold of segments of societies is because the basic human immunity is made weaker because they have consumed so much livestock and poultry. It has been estimated that 50% of the weight of most livestock and poultry is due to the use of antibiotics.

In some ways, the conspiracy theorists are correct, and if a person has control over the food they eat, then the will be much healthier, and thus not catch the H1N1 virus. Vegetarians and vegans are generally healthier and don't run a high risk of catching a viral infection. The more at risk segments of society are those who eat large amounts of livestock and poultry, are older, or are children.

The issue of children brings up an interesting point since they need to be immunized.

The fear of any pandemic could be squarely placed upon livestock and poultry practices all over the world. It can also be said that in lesser developed countries, where access to antibiotics for livestock use is less common, the incidents of H1N1 is also less. This is also the reason that the disease is more common in the cities than in the countryside.

If one can remember well, even in the 60s and 70s when inoculations were common, people did not need to have flu shots annually. This has become very common in many developed countries, and one must wonder why there is more flu in developing countries than in poorer ones (per capita).

[veiledsentiments]

[littleoldlady]

When I lived in Iran, deaths at birth, shortly after birth and in childhood were very common. It was always put to down to "Kismet" rather than illness.