Swine Flu Vaccination + general swine flu chat thread

tallaght01

KarenWatson wrote: »

No vaccine is 100% safe, as todays article in the Irish Times will tell you. T

Swine flu itself seems to have been hyped out of all proportion. .

what type of medical profession are you??

KarenWatson

tallaght01 wrote: »

what type of medical profession are you??

What do you want a reference to some obscure journal, this is an internet forum, though I might as well point out something that would be deemed relevant to other posters.

Why would legal immunity be granted if the vaccine makers had "nothing to fear" ?

tallaght01

Well, some kind of reference would be nice. It is a science forum. Despite you being unwilling to tell us what type of medical professional you are, people may take your word as being authoritative.

I don't see how any of the figures back up the claim that swine flu is over hyped.

Immunity for drug/vaccine manufactureres is standard in most national pandemic plans. It's because we are asking drug companies to give us a new vaccine. If they give 1 million vaccines at 5 euro each, then one big side effect will wipe out their profits. So, standard pandemic procedure is to offer immunity from prosecution to the drug companies. The government have no other incentive to do it. If anyone genuinely believed that the vaccine was dangerous, the govt sure as hell wouldn't be offering immunity in the current climate!!

scanlant

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KarenWatson

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tallaght01

Well, a reference to say that this is over-hyped....so some figures to show the figures for mortality/ventilation/hospital admission/R0 are lower than have been claimed.



What vaccine side effects are you talking about? Presumably the standard side effects? And are you seriously publishing a news link to a BMJ article on Tamiflu (an influenza DRUG) to tell us we shouldn't vaccinate people? Seriously?

The reality is that lots of healthcare workers get he seasonal flu vaccine every year. There has never been an outcry about that. I'd love to know what you think the difference here is.

tallaght01

KarenWatson wrote: »

Well when you consdier that the seasonal flu is still responsible for many more deaths, something is amiss.

.

You understand the concept of mortality rates, as opposed to crude numbers, don't you? We haven;t had a swine flu winter here yet.

tallaght01

KarenWatson has been sitebanned. But, I can assure you it's not because of her opposition to the swine flu jab :P She was a re-reg of a previous site banned troll. I don't think that's a huge surprise. Just so yiz know I'm not arranging to have dissenters banned :P

Though I won't rule it out

Turtwig

tallaght01 wrote: »

KarenWatson has been sitebanned. But, I can assure you it's not because of her opposition to the swine flu jab :P She was a re-reg of a previous site banned troll. I don't think that's a huge surprise. Just so yiz know I'm not arranging to have dissenters banned :P

Though I won't rule it out

Not meaning to sound pushy or anything, but can you delete his/her posts, as there is no evidence or anything given in them and I just think they may mislead others.

tallaght01

I was thinking about that. BUt I'm not really supposed to moderate this thread, as I help test the vaccine, so there's a conflict of interest there ( I didn't site ban the user. One of the site admins did). But DrIndy or Sam34 might delete the whole exchange. But they might not. It's up to them. I'm not pushed either way, as it's been established (as much as it can be) that the poster isn't a doctor.

PhysiologyRocks

When will GPs be able to give them to people?
Will med students be getting them along with the other vaccines?
I really want it...

tallaght01

PhysiologyRocks wrote: »

When will GPs be able to give them to people?
Will med students be getting them along with the other vaccines?
I really want it...

It's just taking a while for them to put the autism into the vaccine. But once that's sorted, they'll be ready to go :P

CathyMoran

I am in at least 2 high risk groups and my husband is in one so the sooner the better...

El_Dangeroso

Australia is just coming out of their 'flu season now, and the predictions of the scale of the outbreak was a little off the mark. Three months ago, public health experts and the President of the Australian Medical Association were warning that one-third of the population would get swine flu. The Australian government had ordered 21 million doses of swine flu vaccine, enough to vaccinate the entire population.

Today, the Australian Department of Health and Ageing reports that Australia has had 35,775 confirmed cases of H1N1. The experts had overstated the numbers to a multiple of over 200. There have been 162 deaths from Swine flu in total, a fraction of the 3,000 Australians who typically die from the seasonal flu each year.

So perhaps this has been blown slightly out of proportion by our government too?

LiNgWiStIkZ

Am I right to be slightly scared about this, seeing as my mother may have it? She could fight it but my 1 year old brother would be in a more dangerous situation //

sam34

if you think a relative may have it, you should consult a doctor

9wetfckx43j5rg

Had Orentation for first year of college today.

Was given a long letter explaining swine flu, informed about it by the co-ordinaters and realised that the futher education college was fitted with dispensers of very medical smelling hand sanitisers.

Turtwig

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

So perhaps this has been blown slightly out of proportion by our government too?

Well now, would you rather if the Irish Government blew under or out of proportion??

El_Dangeroso

Malty_T wrote: »

Well now, would you rather if the Irish Government blew under or out of proportion??

Good point, I think over-reaction probably served us well in the foot and mouth scare. One of the only thing that the government has ever done well.

The_Conductor

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Good point, I think over-reaction probably served us well in the foot and mouth scare. One of the only thing that the government has ever done well.

Totally offtopic- but the net benefit of the Foot and Mouth scare- was discovering farmers had hundreds of thousands of phantom sheep they were claiming subsidies for........ We did not keep Foot and Mouth out, we have not kept BSE out, we've even had TB and a single rabies case........ We are just lucky that we're a small island that exports rather than imports animals (for the most part).

gary the great

Im sure its probably been discussed already, but this is a very long thread

But are there many concerns about the side effects of the vaccine? My job have offered it.

tallaght01

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Australia is just coming out of their 'flu season now, and the predictions of the scale of the outbreak was a little off the mark. Three months ago, public health experts and the President of the Australian Medical Association were warning that one-third of the population would get swine flu. The Australian government had ordered 21 million doses of swine flu vaccine, enough to vaccinate the entire population.

Today, the Australian Department of Health and Ageing reports that Australia has had 35,775 confirmed cases of H1N1. The experts had overstated the numbers to a multiple of over 200. There have been 162 deaths from Swine flu in total, a fraction of the 3,000 Australians who typically die from the seasonal flu each year.

So perhaps this has been blown slightly out of proportion by our government too?

I think you're misrepresenting the situation significantly. That worst case scenario was advised to the govt by us on the basis of a reproductive rate of 1.4 and a mortality rate of 0.1% if no action was taken. We worked night and day getting tamiflu out to masses of people, closing schools, putting people in quarantine, to help slow the spread.
The increased potential mortality rate was advised before it was realised that the elderly seem to have a decent degree of immunity against this virus.
70% of flu in oz this winter has been swine. We've had a lot of deaths, and a lot of people ventilated. But we had a mild winter, and we have a better health service than Ireland.

I don't know how it will pan out in this coming winter. But the numbers A) speak for themselves and are amenable to good public health interventions.

Dr Galen

Looks like we're about to find out how ready for H1N1 we really are. It's been relatively chilly recently, and schools and colleges are back. Worryingly is the rise in numbers needing hospital care.

From RTE.ie

Mass swine flu vaccinations in October
Thursday, 24 September 2009 18:35

Dr Pat Doorley of the HSE said it is hoped mass swine flu vaccinations will start at clinics in October.

A number of sites have been identified for the clinics, which will require a significant redeployment of nursing, medical and other staff.

Meanwhile, Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has said the number of cases of the H1N1 virus are expected to increase from now on.
Advertisement

In the last week, there have been six outbreaks in schools but there has been no need to close any school.

The number of new cases diagnosed by GPs has doubled to around 3,300 a week, according to new figures released this evening.

The Department of Health and Children says, to date, 147 people have been hospitalised.

Of the 23 patients who remain in hospital, eight are in intensive care.

The HSE has also asked people in at risk groups to also get the normal seasonal flu vaccine.

Read the HSE's information on swine flu

The HSE's 24-hour flu information line is available on freephone 1800 94 11 00.

squidgey

Problem is though people who need hospital treatment for one thing, are going into hospital in a weakened state and then contracting the Swine Flu and that to me is just not good enough. Hospitals are like public parks, anyone can just waltz in and out - even right up and into ICU without so much as washing their hands - it's nuts.

Dr Galen

any ICU I know in this country has very strict policy on who, when and for long people can be in there.

I'm also in lots of different hospitals on a weekly basis, and visiting hours etc have been cut right back.

For example in St James, there are now 2 visiting periods for the day. Unfortunatley, I still see many members of the public apparently disregarding the numerous signs around the place informing everyone of this, and continuing to come up to wards to see patients. The general public has a role to play in this too.

The_Conductor

I've had enough unfortunate reasons to visit ICU- and if you imagine people are waltzing in and out without a plastic gown, hibiscrub or alcohol gel up their elbows- and in many cases facial masks- you're very much mistaken.

As for HDU and regular wards- its easier to get through US immigration than to wander into most hospitals.

SomeDose

smccarrick wrote: »

I've had enough unfortunate reasons to visit ICU- and if you imagine people are waltzing in and out without a plastic gown, hibiscrub or alcohol gel up their elbows- and in many cases facial masks- you're very much mistaken.

As for HDU and regular wards- its easier to get through US immigration than to wander into most hospitals.

I don't think that's typical of ITUs in general. I've spent time and worked on several different ITUs (both adult and paeds) and there's usually no requirement for that level of PPE unless there are immunocompromised patients on the unit, and they'd be in isolation rooms anyway. Hand hygiene is mandatory but that's applicable to all wards. If there are confirmed swine flu cases on an ITU, then certainly you'll see full gowns, masks, respirators etc.

tallaght01

Good hand hygiene and good respiratory etiquette (particularly not attending if you have an URTI) should be enough to stop swine flu being brought into hospital. I would imagine that, realistically, the amount of in-hospital transmission of swine flu has been minimal.

The_Conductor

SomeDose wrote: »

I don't think that's typical of ITUs in general. I've spent time and worked on several different ITUs (both adult and paeds) and there's usually no requirement for that level of PPE unless there are immunocompromised patients on the unit, and they'd be in isolation rooms anyway. Hand hygiene is mandatory but that's applicable to all wards. If there are confirmed swine flu cases on an ITU, then certainly you'll see full gowns, masks, respirators etc.

Yes- there would have been immunocompromised patients involved (and immunocompromised visitors- such as myself) (St. Vincents ICU). Procedures in the HDU were a lot less secure- but in the ICU- you cleaned up to your elbows, hibiscrubbed, gowned and masked- and then phoned to the desk for permission to enter.

sicguy

I hope this isn't breaking any rules, I've read the sticky and don't think it is.

I'm going slightly off-topic but as you're on the topic of immunocompromised people.
Are there any specific measures (in relation to flu/swine flu) in place for people with lowered immune systems? what I mean is would someone on a high dose of immune suppressors be supposed to have two doses of a flu vaccine? as I believe there is a significantly lower chance that the immune system will have a strong enough reaction for to give immunity.

Also would all people that they are in regular contact with be supposed to get both flu jabs too?

Also any other info for people with lowered immune systems would be welcome.

And lastly this is off topic but is someone with a compromised immune system supposed to be put in a single room in an Irish hospital or is it on a case by case basis.


Apologies if any of these break the rules but I'm not really asking advice more just enquiring as to whether there are specific guideline in place.


Thank you.