# 3478
While a number of governments around the world are working towards procuring, and delivering a swine flu vaccine to hundreds of millions of people over this fall and winter, there exists a growing and very vocal opposition to these plans.
One only needs to read a few of the comments that appear in response to mainstream media articles on vaccinations to get an idea of the fervor that these plans inspire.
In yesterday’s London Times Article Swine flu vaccine rushed through safety checks, there are dozens of comments on the `conspiracy’ behind the vaccination program. A few typical responses:
- My family and I will NOT be taking the vaccine. I hope that is the case with most of the UK families. DO NOT PRETEND THAT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON. THINK ABOUT YOUR KIDS.
- I will not be taking this potential poison, 1 person has died and its just the flu! Just look up what happened in 1977 when they last tried this (by chance 1977 was also the year of big economics down turns).
- The World Health Organisation CREATED the swine flu virus - provable! They are planning mass genocide of most of the population of the world. ALL VACCINES ARE POISON DO NOT TAKE ANY!!!!
Lest you believe these are the rantings of just a handful of people, the truth is that these notions are widely expressed on the Internet. I’ve no doubt that I could increase my readership ten-fold if only I would embrace and publish these conspiracy theories.
And it isn’t that I don’t harbor concerns over the safety of any swine flu vaccine that gets produced. I do.
But not in the way these people obviously do.
Any time you inoculate hundreds of millions of people with a vaccine – experimental or otherwise - you are bound to see a certain number of adverse reactions.
All drugs have risks, including the ones we buy over-the-counter and take without much concern.
In 1996, NSAIDS (Non-steroidal Anti-inflamatorys like Aspirin, ibuprofen & naproxen) were believe to account for an estimated 7,600 deaths and 76,000 hospitalizations in the United States alone.
Whenever we take a drug, there is a delicate balancing act between its perceived benefits and its perceived risks. The hope is that we make enlightened decisions based on the available science, but of course, that doesn’t always happen.
Much has been made over the deaths and injuries from the 1976 swine flu vaccines.
About 500 cases of GBS (Guillain-Barré syndrome), which resulted in 25 deaths, were reported among the 40 million or so people who took the shot. Other deaths occurred, but were never directly linked to the vaccine, and most were probably coincidental.
Had the swine flu hit in the fall of 1976 (it never returned after a brief appearance the previous Spring), the side-effects of the vaccine would have been considered tragic but `acceptable’.
As it was, the vaccine killed more people than the Swine flu. And in the eyes of millions of people, vaccines suddenly became a dangerous gamble.
In recent years vaccines have been blamed for autism, ADHD, and a variety of other medical maladies. Most of these charges have never been scientifically proven, but despite this, the anti-vaccine movement – spurred on by a number of celebrities – has gained traction over the past decade.
Anti-vaccine websites are practically a cottage industry on the Internet, vaccine `scare stories’ have become a staple of tabloid journalism, and a number of doctors (many with books to sell) have publicly warned against their use.
And if you ignore the good that vaccines have done, and simply focus on their downsides, it is pretty easy to demonize them.
Vaccines aren’t perfect; some people have adverse reactions to them, there have been problems reported in their manufacturing quality control, and some people have been seriously harmed by them. Some have even died.
And of course, vaccines aren’t 100% effective.
But the same could be said about the seatbelts in your automobile.
To this concern we must then add those who believe that vaccines are some sort of a plot by (fill in the blank with your favorite nemesis) to control the world.
That they are being used to implant `chips’ in our bodies, or as a mind control drug, or as a slow acting poison to `depopulate the earth’.
While it might be easy to dismiss these notions as the rantings of the lunatic fringe, a surprising number of people buy into these theories . . . at least a little.
Which brings me to my point (you knew I’d get there eventually).
Governments need to begin acknowledging and addressing these concerns now if they hope to convince the populace to line up for pandemic inoculations this fall and winter.
If they ignore this movement, or simply attempt to ridicule these fears, they risk making the problem worse.
Assurances that the vaccine is `perfectly safe’ are likely to backfire badly once the media gets wind of the first adverse reaction, and so governments would be well advised to avoid that phrase completely.
Attempts to bulldoze the public into taking a vaccine are also likely to turn out badly. That will feed directly into the conspiracy fears that are already running rampant.
To be successful, any mass vaccination program must be run in conjunction with a massive education campaign. One that is honest about the risks of taking a vaccine and the risks of remaining unvaccinated.
Attempts to exaggerate the threat from this pandemic, or minimize the risks of taking the shot, are almost certainly doomed to failure. As it is, even if delivered honestly, the government’s message will be difficult to be heard over the Internet din.
While governments try to speak with `one voice’, the Internet speaks with millions of voices, and in a shouting match, you can pretty much guess who is going to win.
That campaign must begin now, during the summer, in order to have any hope of success against what is already a massive online movement to discredit the swine flu vaccination program.
Of course the other thing governments had better do is make damn sure this vaccine is both safe and effective.
If we see a repeat (or worse) of the fiasco of the 1976, there isn’t a public relations campaign on the face of the earth that will save them from the wrath of an angry public.
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