The swine flu has been defeated. Hooray!
We’ve been giving Purell way too much business. We’ve been too terrified to give our friends bites of our sandwiches. College students at Rensselaer Polytechnic in New York have even been instructed not to play beer pong because of a possible swine flu outbreak. It’s enough already.
Luckily, our prayers have been answered. Millions of doses of swine flu vaccine were made available to the public early this month, and more is on the way.
But according to a CBS News poll, only 46 percent of Americans said they were likely to get the vaccine. Why on earth, in an era filled with flu fear, are Americans planning to refuse a tiny shot that’ll keep them from getting sick?
Well, because other Americans who are not scientists are tweeting and blogging about why the swine flu vaccine is more dangerous than the disease.
And now, because people with no background in healthcare feel they should put in their 2 cents and spread fear around America, exacerbated doctors and health officials are forced to spend time and effort convincing the public that this vaccine is OK to use.
The swine flu vaccine was developed way too quickly and wasn’t clinically tested, speculate the masses. Not true. Brief clinical trials were run to determine proper dosage, and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vaccine is “made using the same processes and facilities that are used to make the currently licensed seasonal influenza vaccines.”
The vaccine should not be administered to young children and pregnant women, say the skeptics. Wrong. Young children and pregnant women are among the most likely to contract the disease, says the CDC, and this vaccine is especially important for them.
Saad B. Omer, assistant professor of global health at Emory University, told The New York Times these false notions “could have serious impacts, because pregnant women have high risk of complication if they get the swine flu.”
Are we crazy? True, most people who contract swine flu are blessed with mild cases. But still, 76 children have died of swine flu since April, according to The New York Times.
The doctors are all assuring us that they see no serious risks or health concerns associated with the vaccine, and it is in our best interests to get the shot.
And yet, check out Bill Maher’s tweet from Sept. 28: “If u get a swine flu shot ur an idiot.”
Glenn Beck even manages to take a shot at the current administration via the anti-swine-flu vaccine position. He asked his watchers to seriously reconsider giving the vaccine to their children, because after all, “How much do you trust your government?”
This unscientific speculation and fear mongering about the swine flu vaccine is dangerous.
“I wonder if the people disseminating this false information about this vaccine realize that what they are doing could result in some people losing their lives,” said public health department director for Los Angeles County, Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, to The New York Times.
As Jon Stewart wisely cracked, “We finally contained the swine flu outbreak … but can we contain the doubt-break?”
Seriously, whose medical advice are you going to listen to, Glenn Beck and Bill Maher or just about every health official in the U.S.?
Happy poking!
Reach Hannah at hannah.wasserman@asu.edu.
