Swine Flu Vaccination + general swine flu chat thread

Hey McDuane, welcome to the forum.

I'm going to break your post up a little for clarity, not to be penickedy about it

Just wondering if you are in the medical profession or work in the area of testing new medicines/vaccines?
Regarding your comment above please explain your thoughts on how it is proved that a vaccine can cause any adverse reactions?? Clinical trials for the new swine flu vaccines Pandemrix and Celpevan are in process not complete. I do not understand what you are basing your reasoning on...

In answer to this I'd suggest that you look a little deeper into how this, and indeed other flu, vaccines are produced. I have posted already on this subject several months ago. The "swineflu" vaccine has more or less been around for donkeys, it was just a vaccine for a different flu strain. Every year, they decide on what flu variant looks like being the predominant strain, and insert the viral material into the vaccine. In this case they have inserted the relevant bit of H1N1. Other than this the chemical basis for this vaccine is similar if not identical to many other vaccines for flu produced over the years.

With regards to Cormicar assuming that his wifes bleeding was as a result of vaccine. I would instead encourage cormicar's wife to submit a suspected adverse reaction form online at www.imb.ie

Most people are not told to do this if they suspect a reaction to a vaccine and it is only by reporting all suspicions that we can see the proper information and then make an informed decision on whether or not we chose to have a vaccine.

I'm in broad agreement with you here. Adverse reactions happen all the time, and by filling in the yellow (are they still yellow) slips in the BNF or reporting to the right authorities we do gain a very valuable insight into what are and what aren't linked reactions.

I agree that people should have all the RIGHT info before deciding what to put into their body. The key word here though is right, meaning factual and correct. I have an inherent distrust of anyone, be they anti-vaccine crackpot or the pharmaceutical industry, unless they can show me the data to back up what they are saying, and can answers the questions asked of them.

If there were not any adverse reactions to vaccines then we would not be asked to sign on the dotted line and take full responsibilty when getting these vaccines.

All medical procedures, no matter how small carry a risk. Its important that the general population are aware of this. We don't operate in an ER/Scrubs scenario. There is no magic machine to diagnose all ills and there are no magic oink tablets that make everything go away. Medicine is not an exact science. People need to realise that. Sometimes we have to do things for the good of the many, and yes, there will be people who react badly, but there is an acceptable level of risk. There are acceptable margins of error. That may be of little comfort for the family of the patient who dies on the operating table, or has an adverse reaction to a drug, but its the truth. As hard as it is to say, doctors, nurses etc cannot base every decision on the 1 in 10000 chance of something going wrong. You act in the best interests of the patient.

With regards to your comment on Jenny McCathy about link to autism. You seem to accept without question what you are told from medical profession. I hope that this continues to work for you in the future. There is a lot in medicine that cannot be proved definitively and at the end of the day people can but listen to what they are told and then make their own informed decision..

Autism is a bad example. The autism scare was a sham which has been completed discredited by pretty much everyone with a brain. The researcher who carried out the work, well, lets just say things are not looking good for him. I'll let you look into that one yourself.

Your right, lots of things can't be proven, which is why we encourage critical analysis of information. We we have journal clubs to dissect studies and claims. As moderator of this forum I wouldn't let a shill for a pharma company on here spouting unsupported evidence about a drug or treatment, the same way I won't let the conspiracy theorists hawk their half assed ideas.

Information is only as good as its source and the standards you apply to it. If i had my way, kids in secondary school would be taught how to critically analyse scientific papers, but thats another thread

mcduane_ie wrote: »

Cormicar

I would encourage your wife to fill out a suspected adverse reaction form online at www.imb.ie . By the way I hope your wife is well and not overly anxious after her experience.

Regards

Thanks mcduane_ie. My wife is better now and baby is still kicking away. I have asked her to fill out that online form that you suggested.

Dave! wrote: »

Hi mate,

Regarding the clinical trials, they're ongoing, but so far show a similar safety profile to the seasonal flu vaccine (as one might expect). The vaccine has been administered to hundreds of millions worldwide, so it's probably fair to say if there was going to be a problem, we would see some signs of it by now.

Dave, the swine flu was first detected in April 2009. Just remember that a pregnancy term lasts 40 weeks and until we see the effects on mother and baby, it is not fair to say that if there was going to be a problem, we would see some signs of it by now.

MickeyHayes wrote: »

Thankfully I never got this vaccine.

I'm thankful that I did!

locum-motion wrote: »

I'm thankful that I did!

same as!