The swine flu vaccine is almost ready! Millions of shots will be ready soon and millions of people are going to receive it. The pandemic flu will be controlled. There will be less outbreaks and the strain of this H1N1 virus will almost disappear. Everything sounds perfect! However more and more people are questioning, not just the efficacy of this flash-done vaccine but also the origin of the disease itself (which, despite the controversy, should not be questioned). While the common citizen is completely afraid of this infection, tenths of companies are enriching! Roche pharmaceutical company has the registration for Tamiflu (almost nobody knows that the active substance is Oseltamivir and there are other companies producing it). Millions of hand disinfectant containers are now available in the most crowdie places, face masks are being used everyday especially in Asiatic countries, making these companies richer than they ever imagine.
These prevention measures are showing to be quite effective to avoid the spreading of this new virus. But, do all these means justify the ends?! Is this infection as bad as the media tells us?! Since the first case in Portugal, 9600 people were infected. This number ascends to more than 15000 in Germany. In both countries there were no deads yet. 20000 are infected in Hong Kong and there were only 13 deceased people making a 0,065% mortality rate (and I did not forget to multiply by 100 to obtain percentage). More, most of the people die from previous conditions that complicate the H1N1 infection. Aren’t there much more lethal diseases in the world? Are the diseases that kill millions per year (tuberculosis, AIDS, malaria, pneumonia, dysentery) starting to be forgotten?
The new vaccine is being made in a record time in order to control this pandemic. Normally a new drug needs more than 7 years of strict trials before it is approved. Is this going to reduce its safety for the population? Even more, the priority groups (children and pregnant women) should be the ones to which a new drug is available later, after several studies proving its effectiveness and safety.
According to the newspaper The Mail (USA), the Health Protection Agency sent a letter to senior neurologists to evaluate the connection between the shot and the Guillain-Barré syndrome that develops within few days after the injection. It is not new that vaccine against the seasonal Influenza can cause this ascending paralyzing syndrome, but the percentage is really low and the condition has, normally, a benign course with a complete recovery in 80% of cases. 20% of people die, do not regain movement or become dependent on breathing machines. This percentage can be higher in this new vaccine. There are no studies yet.
What exactly should we be worried about?
Are we making some few people millionaires to save ‘nothing’ while others really die elsewhere in the world?
Is this new vaccine safe and should it be commercialized without following the normal clinical trials?
Is this a truth pandemic or no more than a different strain of a flu virus slightly more contagious than seasonal ones?
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