Swine Flu/H1N1 Vaccination - Yes or No?

[pinhead]

Originally Posted by wickedfrags.com

Is 43 deaths significant given the number of "young people" in the US? How many young people died in the US during the same time period to give us some perspective? Also - the people who died from the curent strain have generally had underlying health issues and were often immuno-compromized prior to aquiring the flu. Asthma, diabetes, obesity, and various and other upper and lower repiratory tract concerns are common among those who died.

Not going to plow through the weekly updates from the Centre for Disease control for the statistics for the period of the 43 deaths, but I did find the information in the August 8th report

"8 of the 36 children who died of swine flu were aged 5 years and over and had no reported high risk conditions. Although two of these children were reported as obese, no data was given on their height and weight."

So for the time period in that report roughly 20% of the deaths in children were in healthy individuals.

I am not sure how many other deaths of children occured during that time period but if the vaccine were available at that time at these deaths were preventable.

If I was a parent of a child who died because of my decision not to have them or myself vaccinated, I would carry that guilt for the rest of my life.

André Picard, the health reporter for the Globe and Mail emphasizes this point:

"I am not getting the vaccine for myself, I am getting it for my grandmother"