If You’re Healthy, Getting the H1N1 Vaccine is Immoral
You may think getting the H1N1 vaccine is a good idea. If you’re a kid, elderly, pregnant, or have a vulnerable immune system, sure. But otherwise, you’re being immoral.
This is a pretty simple and obvious reality. The fact on the ground is that, despite dire warnings of mandatory vaccines from one group of Internet crazies and overpromises from the typical government perspective, there is a shortage of swine flu vaccines. And given that they just created the thing, there will be all year.
In fact, they’ve pretty much never had enough flu vaccines to go around in history, seasonal or otherwise. This year, because of the demand for H1N1, they’re actually close to having enough regular flu shots.
At the point at which not everyone can get an H1N1 vaccine, then if you’re happy and healthy and between a certain age range (let’s say 20-50), you’re taking the vaccine out of someone else’s arm and into yours and chances are that other person is more vulnerable than you are. You may actually be contributing to their death.
Sure, I guess if you work with such vulnerable populations there’s a chance that you’ll get it and be contagious, so you could make a mitigative argument there. Although the solution may actually just be for you to stop being a workaholic and stay home when you feel even slightly sick.
This reality may change when either (A) there are 300 million doses of swine flu vaccine available domestically, perfectly distributed throughout the states, and/or (B) people who are 20-50 with good immune systems start dying of this thing. Until then, chill out and let the people who could actually be impacted get in line first.
I sure hope this clears up the pandemic panic.
Another article from a very reputable source today (science/astronomy freaks The Daily Galaxy) casting aspersions on flu vaccine efficacy. Amazing how many sane people are coming out of the woodwork to challenge this convention:
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/10/-the-h1n1-flu-vaccine-debate-should-you-or-shouldnt-you.html
the H1N1 or Swine Flu virus did put our country in disarray for quite sometime, it is good to know that at least it did not cause so many deaths.
One of my sisters got infected with H1N1 or more commonly known as Swine Flu. Fortunately, she did not have very high fever and she was able to recover fast .
*
My brother got infected with H1N1 or Swine Flu in Mexico. He got a mild fever and luckily he did not die.
If you look at the pandemic of 1977, when H1N1 or Swine Flu re-emerged after a 20 year absence, there is no shift in age-related mortality pattern. The 1977 “pandemic” is, of course, not considered a true pandemic by experts today, for reasons that are not entierely consistent. It certainly was an antigenic shift and not an antigenic drift. As far as I have been able to follow the current events, the most significant factor seems to have been that most people, who were severely affected, were people with other medical conditions.
during the height of the H1N1 or Swine Flu epidemic, i was very afraid to get infected with this disease and i wore face mask whenever i got into heavily populated areas.
i remember being scared of getting infected by H1N1 during the height of the pandemic. at least two of my classmates got infected by H1N1.