Sale On - British Swine Flu Vaccine

The government is making plans to offload millions of doses of swine flu vaccines because it is predicted that a third wave of the 'pandemic' is unlikely to happen.

Options include selling surplus vaccine (who would buy it?) or donating it to poorer countries, but a stockpile will remain in place.

Cases of swine flu have now dropped dramatically to well below what is usually seen in winter flu outbreaks.

Last week France announced it was selling millions of doses of the vaccine after finding they had more than enough to cope with the outbreak.

The UK bought 60m doses from GSK and 30m from Baxter but the smaller contract had a break clause should the doses not be needed. An official figure for the cost of the vaccine to the UK has never been given but it is likely to run into hundreds of millions.

If the government negotiated a break clause with Baxter why wasn't the same done with GSK? Surely the WHO has some serious questions to answer as they announced the pandemic status which caused governments to rush into buying this untested material?

Or will it all be hushed up as usual. Maybe the Chief Medical Officer's comment is a clue. Sir Liam Donaldson said they would be calculating the economic costs of the pandemic at a later date.

Surely Sir Liam doesn't think we'll forget about the scaremongering stories he issued on a daily basis and the unnecessary expense of buying a vaccine which expert medics openly agreed had not been given appropriate testing. We won't forget Sir Liam, believe me we won't forget.

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WHO to be Investigated by Council of Europe

The Council of Europe member states are to launch an inquiry in January 2010 on the influence of the pharmaceutical companies on the global swine flu campaign, focussing especially on the extent of the pharma industry's in fluence on WHO, according to reports in the German media.

Wolfgang Wodarg, a former SPD member of parliament and chairman of the European parliament's health committee, initiated the inquiry. The motion was passed unanimously by his colleagues in the European parliament's health committee.

Wodarg has criticised the measures taken against the swine flu as "one of the biggest medical scandals of the century."

He said the influence of the pharamaceutical industry on scientists and government officials has resulted in "millions of healthy people being exposed unnecessarily to the risks of an inadequately tested vaccine."

That even though, the swine flu virus is "much less harmful" than last year's seasonal flu causing "not even a tenth of the usual deaths associated with flu."

Wodarg has also criticised the way pharmaceutical companies have made gigantic profits at the expense of taxpayers. He accused vaccine manufacturers of being willing even to inflict bodily harm "in their pursuit of profits, noting that the adjuvants in the swine flu jab have hardly been tested."

Wodarg has said that the role of the WHO and its pandemic emergency declaration in June needs to be the especial focus of a European parliamentary inquiry. For the first time the criteria for a pandemic was made not the actual risk of a disease but the number of cases of the disease.

By classifying the swine flu as pandemic, nations were compelled to implement pandemic plans and also the purchase of swine flu vaccines. Because WHO is not subject to any parliamentary control, Wodarg argued it is necessary for governments to insist on accountability.

What is a pandemic should not be allowed to be defined by an organisation that is clearly under the influence of the pharmaceutical companies that profit from the sales of vaccines accompanying such a pandemic. Many of the decision makers in WHO have worked for the pharma industry and go back to work there.

Well done Herr Wodarg!

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Update: One of my readers has sent this as an example of Big Pharma.

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Swine Flu Arrangements and the Vaccine

I know at least one of my readers has concerns about the treatment offered by the NHS in cases of swine flu, so when I read the following I thought it should be reported more widely. These are selected quotes from a site I find reliable and informative. The whole article is worth reading.

A high death toll is predicted without corroborating evidence.

The official report confirms government plans to set up mass graves for the victims of the swine flu pandemic:

"Plans for mass graves have been drawn up to cope with a second wave of swine flu this Autumn. The chilling proposals are spelled out in a Home Office document discussed at a meeting of Whitehall officials and council leaders last month.

It warns emergency plans may be needed in areas where there are not enough graves to cope.

The chilling proposals contained in the government report serve to intimidate the British public and create an atmosphere of panic. A public health crisis is being planned in a diabolical fashion.

Is this emergency being planned ahead of time. Are these various national emergencies (Britain, France UK) being coordinated through inter-governmental consultations, which serves to trigger a Worldwide public health emergency, based on fabricated evidence?

On the other hand, amply documented and denied by Western governments, the proposed vaccines could result in more deaths than those caused by the H1N1 influenza, as confirmed by Britain's Health Protection Agency:

A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter.

The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, has been leaked to The Mail on Sunday, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.

It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine.

GBS attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal.

The letter, sent to about 600 neurologists on July 29, is the first sign that there is concern at the highest levels that the vaccine itself could cause serious complications.

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Scotland's NHS - One to be Proud Of

In the past few weeks swine flu has no longer been a source of humour. Today it has been headlined in the MWM that a young, pregnant woman has been flown from Scotland to Sweden for a modern treatment known as extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which involves the patient's blood being circulated with oxygen in an artificial lung before being brought back into the body.

The 5 beds available for this treatment in the UK are full so our (Scotland's) health bosses, in consultation with Nicola Sturgeon, made an immediate decision to find a country which did have a bed for the procedure and fly her to Sweden.

Nicola Sturgeon stated today :

"The extreme rarity of the procedure she requires means that there are pan-European arrangements in place for sharing facilities when any one country's unit is full, as in the UK's case at present."

I wasn't aware there were pen-European arrangements for such medical emergencies, but I'm delighted to hear about them. My confidence in Scotland's NHS has increased knowing the 'people in power' will make decisions without having to do the sums first.

After listening, on radio, to a doctor at the Stockholm hospital saying they were doing everything possible for this woman and her baby, he stressed the treatment alone will not save her life, as that was 'her part of the deal'.

May she pull through and survive the intrusion of the H1N1 virus into her life. I'm sure I hear a 'And So Say All of Us' throughout the land.

Other information sources: the Herald

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Update - Swine Flu in Scotland

Scotland's most senior public health officials met behind closed doors in Edinburgh yesterday to agree how to proceed with the mass vaccination programme against swine flu. Nurses were notified of a mass training programme to help deliver the swine flu vaccine to every resident of Tayside and an email was sent out to staff informing them NHS Tayside's training will start on Monday.

The vaccine is in production and expected to be available by the end of August or start of September, but will not be made available to health boards before appropriate testing and approvals are completed. Each person requires a double dose of the vaccine, between two and four weeks apart.

So much information has been provided via the MSM with regard to swine flu treatment. Government officials are falling over themselves to assure us the country 'has the best preparation in Europe' for treating this virus.

So much has changed in my lifetime and we now have immediate access to world-wide information, so are no longer prepared just to accept the word of one health advisor without doing our own research. It's widely recorded that the vaccine being developed has yet to be tested. America is calling for thousands of volunteers, of all age groups, to test it before the expected increase in the autumn. If no immediate safety concerns, such as allergic reactions, are detected their vaccine programme will be rolled out nationally. The US say the vaccine hasn't been manufactured yet and producers are having a few problems.

I have yet to discover if there is an opt-out facility or we are to be vaccinated even against our own wishes.

This morning on radio news, the word 'testing' has been much used but no detail of what the testing involves.

Today in England a National Swine Flu Service is to go live.

So much information isn't there? Informed decisions are best of course, but just sometimes I think we can overload ourselves.

Update: I know the NHS Blog Doctor posts on English health matters but his latest post is worth a read, even though he doesn't mention the mass vaccination programme - yet.

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Tamiflu - The Truth

Dr John Crippen, the NHS blog doctor, asked the other day if Tamiflu had side effects.

Today he explains why the government are pushing Tamiflu so hard - it's nearly past its sell-by date which is in the early part of this autumn.

'He then told me why the Government were very keen for us to prescribe it to everyone who has a sniffle and a high temperature: you see, most of the stockpiled Tamiflu was for a previous flu scare, and it expires (passes its sell-by date) in the early part of this Autumn (2009) when it effectively and officially becomes useless (as opposed to being pretty useless anyway).'

After reading his posts I think I could cope with an extra day of flu symptoms, couldn't you?

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Swine Flu Hits Doctors in Scottish Hospital

I'm as guilty as many of being humorous about swine flu but should we be concerned with the rising number of cases in Scotland?

This week's diagnosed cases seem to be contained to pockets in the west but now that it has reached the front line medics I think we all ought to be aware of the symptoms.

My main reason for this post is to say there are still people who take no responsibility for the health of others and I witnessed a prime example of that when shopping today.  Because of a very heavy hail storm this afternoon I ducked into a shoe shop for shelter.  It was quiet with only one customer trying on shoes.  She was obviously in the medical profession as she was still in uniform but she continually coughed, without covering her mouth, the few minutes I was there. Was I tempted to tell her to think of others and cover her mouth?  You bet I was, but I bit my tongue and left as soon as the worst of the downpour had passed. Now I wish I had told her what I was thinking.

Perhaps it's better we all err on the side of caution rather than complacency now this virus seems to be rather more permanent than first thought, although I must add I have every confidence in Nicola Sturgeon's handling of the matter.

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Swine Flu After Effects

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Update: Swine Flu Arrives in Scotland

UPDATE

Nicola Sturgeon the Scottish government Health Secretary, has announced the couple who were being tested for the swine flu virus in Lanarkshire, have proved positive.  They are recovering well in hospital she stated.

Time to take note of  Ampers' Rants post methinks and in particular his link to a friend who lives on the outskirts of Mexico City.  She has done her research well as he says.

Also remember to wash your hands as often as possible.  This is effective against airborne spores. This may make many realise just how important hand washing is and how ineffective all these new 'anti bacterial' products are in this day and age.  Nothing like soap and hot water plus good old bleach.

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Swine Flu

It's worrying that words like 'pandemic' and 'killer virus' are being spoken rather recklessly when it appears the world health authorities have no idea how many people have actually caught the virus or even how many have sadly died from it.

Whether it is based on counter terrorism intelligence or WHO fact gathering, it appears that governments and the media are all anxious to stir up alarm and fear amongst the population before the real dangers are known and before the potential consequences can be correctly estimated.  Of course we should be advised that there is a problem but we should be given clear instructions on how best to avoid it and be given regularly updated information.  Numbers drawn out of a hat, rumour and sensationalism do nothing to help matters and can be counter-productive.

As I type the one suspected case in England has been given the all-clear and we await the test results of the couple in Scotland.

Should you wish to follow the progress of swine flu throughout the world this site offers good advice about sites which are useful.

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