So, after a long week of harassing calls from family members I decided to look at the H1N1 Vaccine more closely. I had initially blown it off as unnecessary, but after insistence from family/coworkers I looked a little further into it.
I'm now of the position that it's would be silly and irresponsible not to get it. For
me not to get it.
I'm all for healthy debate, and after a little bit of discussion (side point - I absolute can't stand when people start to debate, and then when they have no rebuttal just say "oh, well, do what you want".)I started wondering "why" people were so adamantly against it. I had asked myself the exact same question three days ago, and realized that I have no concrete reasoning. Most of the people who I've talked about this are in the same boat, they don't want it but their reasons have no actual science behind it.
I want good reasons NOT to have this vaccine. Substantiated reasons that go further than the drug companies are making money... of course they are, they always have and they always will... that doesn't make the vaccine ineffective. Reasons beyond just following the normal influenza guidelines (fluids, no hand shaking, washing your hands etc), which are all fine and well for the normal seasonal flu (I'll let you do your own research, but the main difference here is we don't have the normal "buffer" group in the population that already have the anti-bodies, so the normal guidelines just aren't enough.
Personal/moral reasons? I'm not going to debate that, everyone has their personal reasons and thats cool. I can't argue with personal morals... you know? Science? I can argue, belief systems? tricky!
As for the rest of it (and I can't believe Im about to say this), I think there is way too much of a "damn the man!" mentality going on.
I agree - people are going to profit off of this, it's unfortunate, but in our current system it's going to happen. If this was a valid reason to boycott, we'd need to talk to the grocery stores who do markups right before a winter storm. It sucks, but it doesn't mean the vaccine is ineffective.
I agree that it's important to do what you can to ensure you don't get sick - Wash your hands, stay home if you feel ill,
take the vaccineI disagree that the potential side effects of the vaccine are greater/more harmful than what happens if you catch this virus.
I know that the current health care system in NB is not equipped to deal with even a minor outbreak. There aren't enough staff, respirators, beds etc.
I know that the vaccine development with SARS and the avian flu made major headway in the development of the H1N1 vaccine. I agree that it was fast tracked, but the legwork was already done.
This just isn't a case of over-vaccination (which is something that I normally believe is happening), it's a case of there is potential for major fan-shit-hittage, and in this case it's irresponsible to pretend that threat isn't there.
Science, bitches.
