Will the Swine Flu Vaccine Be Mandatory?

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Permalink Reply by Kalinda on July 9, 2009 at 8:49pm

Yeah I just got the email today from whitehouse.gov...there are no plans to make it mandatory but we need to be 'prepared'...what I dont understand is why they would close off the boarders to Mexico if it's been said that the swine flu originated in asia now? Or am I inaccurate? There's a thread on here I think that said that it's possible the virus was man made...in order to make an assault on the United States, which seems a bit far-fetched knowing the implication of a virus like that would spread from the U.S. to everywhere could wipe out the whole population. But I think that guy is right, we can't sacrifice our civil liberties in these 'scary situations' ....

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Permalink Reply by Flame on July 9, 2009 at 8:54pm

In watching the video, something kept jumping out at me. The expert was listing things that needed to be considered in a calm rational manner. The idiot host was sensationalizing, using "hot button" words, and frenetic body language, and trying to lead the conversation toward the more sensational aspects (martial law! freedom to assemble! panicpanicpanic!).

It's not that those things don't need to be considered. It's just that hysteria about anything is counter productive. I'll say it again: When people operate from fear, it shuts down their capacity for higher reasoning, and makes them easily controlled.

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Permalink Reply by Olwynn Coyote on July 9, 2009 at 9:03pm

Fox News has a tendancy to sensationalize anything that has to do with additional 'goverment control' ... but some valid topics were brought up. Could a vaccine be made mandatory? Who gets to decide who gets quarantined? How would that be enforced? Keep in mind I am taking this whole Swine Flu thing with a grain of salt. Why isn't Influenza listed as a Pandemic every year? But with the rumblings of a vaccine on the horizon and the easily panicked public searching for answers in a sensetionalized media, I wonder what could come to pass.

Swine flu shots could begin this fall
Obama calls swine flu summit to promote ‘vigilance and preparation’
msnbc.com news services
updated 5:31 p.m. ET, Thurs., July 9, 2009WASHINGTON - U.S. swine flu vaccinations could begin in October with children at schools among the first in line, the Obama administration said Thursday as the president and his Cabinet urged states to figure out now how they'll tackle the virus' all-but-certain resurgence.

"We may end up averting a crisis. That's our hope," said President Barack Obama, who took time away from the G-8 summit in Italy to telephone another summit back home — the 500 state and local health officials meeting to prepare for swine flu's fall threat.

No final decision has been made on whether to vaccinate Americans, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stressed. That depends largely on studies with experimental batches that are set to start the first week of August — to see if they're safe and seem to work and to learn whether they require one or two doses.

But if all goes well, the federal government will buy vaccine from manufacturers and share it for free among the states, which must then "try and get this in the arms of the targeted population as soon as possible," Sebelius said.

"We have already appropriated about a billion dollars to buy the bulk ingredients," Sebelius said. She said another $7.5 billion was available from emergency preparedness funds.



First in line probably will be school-age children, young adults with risky conditions such as asthma, pregnant women and health workers, she said. Unlike regular winter flu, the swine flu seems more dangerous to these groups than to older people.

"Schools are natural places" to offer those vaccines, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.

It will be confusing, Sebelius acknowledged. Doctors' offices, clinics and even grocery stores will be in the midst of dispensing 100 million-plus doses of regular winter flu vaccine — and the swine flu vaccine, which will roll out slowly, will require at least one completely separate inoculation.

"We know a mass vaccination program of even modest scale will involve extraordinary effort on your part," Sebelius told state health workers.

She also announced $350 million in grants to help states prepare, money to be used partly to brace hospitals for a surge of demand from the truly sick and the well-but-worried.

Promoting vigilance
"We want to make sure we are not promoting panic but we are promoting vigilance and preparation," Obama told the gathering.

State officials welcomed the funds but had more practical questions for the feds, starting with what they learned from the chaos when swine flu first burst on the scene last spring and schools around the country closed because of sick students.

Since then, the virus has infected an estimated 1 million Americans and still is spreading, remarkable considering influenza usually can't tolerate summer's heat and humidity.

"What I need from all of you is an idea of when it is best to close, when it is necessary to close and when it's not," said Belinda Pustka, superintendent of Texas' Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District.

"Closing school is a last resort not a first resort," Duncan stressed, but he said schools need to plan how they'll keep students learning if they do have to close for extended periods.

Pustka's schools posted assignments online. But Sue Todey of Wisconsin's Department of Public Education said that between rural geography and poverty, many students don't have the necessary Internet access and she's exploring using public television or old-fashioned sending home of paper assignments.

Support for the infected
An even bigger problem: When schools close and working parents need to stay home — or any worker gets sick — too often, they don't get paid, said Paul Jarris of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. So they come to work, spreading infection.

"How are we going to assist people who don't have benefits?" he asked.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was working with the Labor Department to address that question, and she urged employers to allow telecommuting and make other provisions should swine flu hit their workplaces this fall.

Swine flu outbreaks in the fall are all but certain given its continued spread here — 50 outbreaks in children's summer camps so far — and abroad, with major problems in parts of the Southern Hemisphere.

What doctors can't predict is how bad it will be during the U.S. flu season, but Obama's team of heavy-hitters spent Thursday warning against complacency.

Even if swine flu proves no more deadly than regular winter flu, which kills 36,000 Americans a year, teenagers and young adults are being disproportionately hit, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And both types could very well spread at the same time this fall.

"If it doesn't happen, we'll be fortunate," Sebelius added.


The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31828836/ns/health-swine_flu/

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Permalink Reply by Flame on July 9, 2009 at 9:20pm

Thanks for the article. People definitely need to be prepared. Just not panicked.

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Permalink Reply by Kalinda on July 9, 2009 at 9:09pm

That's a good observation. You get that with fox news. I remember when watching one program, about a shooting...they would constantly use fake gun shots, make the screen flicker in black to eccentuate the sound of gunshots and overwhelm the viewer. Well it annoyed me a lot.

All this New World Order stuff seems to have an alternative motive of painting Obama as an evil dictator...too.

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Permalink Reply by Rivenfae Wolf on July 9, 2009 at 9:04pm

Scary thought is, what if the virus changes before they hand out vaccines? then it'll be pointless. What about people who get ill from the flu vaccines, I've run across a few people who have and, Goddess they would have been better off getting the flu.

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Permalink Reply by Flame on July 9, 2009 at 9:18pm

What about people who get ill from the flu vaccines,
I'm one of those types. I prefer to catch my flu the old fashioned way, as opposed to having it directly injected in my veins, thanks lol.

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Permalink Reply by WiccanVixen on July 9, 2009 at 9:19pm

I agree Flame... Better to let the body fight it off, then use the medicinal route..people don't realize the dangers of always using modern meds to fight off common bugs..it actually damages your immunity system in the long run.

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Permalink Reply by Tsiyeria on July 9, 2009 at 10:42pm

Last time the Swine Flu surfaced, back int he 70's, the US rushed development of a vaccine and handed it out to a panicked populace. 1 person died from the disease itself. More than 20 people died from the vaccine, and hundreds more were made ill from it.

There's a reason why doctors go to med school.

As to whether or not they can make vaccines mandatory, they already have. A lot of boosters and vaccines are required in order for children to attend school. The only question is how much farther we'll let them go with this.

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Permalink Reply by Olwynn Coyote on July 17, 2009 at 3:31pm

Not mandatory in my state of Vermont. We get the choice to opt out of the usual ones. I'm hoping they let us keep our ability to choose!

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Permalink Reply by Rhianynn on July 17, 2009 at 5:05pm

All states have a waiver you can sign. If you have religious or heath objection. & many (mine included WI) also have a philosophical objection waiver. All it means is that if there was a large out break of something, my child would not be allowed to attend classes. The first part of the law reads that all children are required to maintain the schedule of vacs. Its the second part people forget/ignore, about the waivers.

Makes me mad. You should know your rights & when people try to hide them from you... Well I think its criminal.

Make your own choices!!!

BB & stay healthy! Rhie

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Permalink Reply by WiccanVixen on July 9, 2009 at 9:13pm

um..no...it should not be mandatory...how ridiculous is that?? Swine Flu is actually not nearly as dangerous as the much more common flu outbreaks that we see every year..they claim tens of thousands of lives...does it get launched on every news network as a pandemic?? um no.

I find the swine flu way over sensationalized..we had an outbreak of it here in the states in the late 70's in NY/NJ areas..it was contained..it moved on. I mean if you truly want odds..you have a better chance of dying of the Chicken Pox then u do the swine flu..

State of Florida...right now..has 7 swine flu deaths for the year...our cases of encephalitis fatalities make that number look like child's play.. and yet..you do not see encephalitis epidemic blasted all over the news!... OH WAIT!! THAT'S Because there is NO Vaccine for encephalitis!! MY BAD! (lol..not so much!) I wonder if there were no vaccine for Swine Flu....if it would have gotten so much attention??

IDK..i find the timing very convenient for a push for Nationalized Health Care... I also find it very convenient that only last year, the maker of the vaccine for Swine Flu tried to have it passed as a necessic vaccine..BEFORE this outbreak occurred. I am nowhere close to a conspiracy theorist..but i find it just way too talked about to not suspect a hidden agenda. (note the remark made above about vaccines lol)

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