Critics are calling it a two-tier health system — one for the politically well connected, another for the hoi polloi. As Germany launched its mass-vaccination program against the H1N1 flu virus on Monday, the government found itself fending off accusations of favoritism because it was offering one vaccine believed to have fewer side effects to civil servants, politicians and soldiers, and another, potentially riskier vaccine to everyone else. The government had hoped that Germans would rush to health clinics to receive vaccinations against the rapidly spreading disease, but now rising anger over the different drugs may cause many people to shy away.
Amid growing fears of a possible global flu pandemic, the German government prepared for its mass-vaccination campaign earlier this year by ordering 50 million doses of the Pandemrix vaccine, enough for a double dose for 25 million people, about a third of the population. The vaccine, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, contains an immunity-enhancing chemical compound, known as an adjuvant, whose side effects are not yet entirely known. Then, after a report was leaked to the German media last week, the Interior Ministry confirmed that it had ordered a different vaccine, Celvapan, for government officials and the military. Celvapan, which is made by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Baxter, does not contain an adjuvant and is believed to have fewer side effects than Pandemrix.
Anger at the news was widespread in Germany. "If mass vaccination is considered to be necessary, then everyone should be treated the same way," says Birgitt Bender, health spokeswoman for the Green Party. Ulrike Mascher, head of the VdK social-welfare association, says giving government officials a vaccine that's different from that given to the rest of the population sent the "wrong signal" and gives many people "the impression that they are second-class patients." A story on the front page of the mass-circulation Bild newspaper accused the government of giving "second-class medicine" to regular Germans.
Doctors and medical experts are divided over the safety of Pandemrix. While some say it's the best vaccine available, others have serious misgivings about it. "The Pandemrix vaccine can't be recommended for pregnant women or young children because it has an increased risk of side effects. Pandemrix has an adjuvant which hasn't been tested sufficiently up until now," Alexander Kekulé, a virologist at the University of Halle, tells TIME. "Celvapan is a whole-virus vaccine, which has fewer side effects than Pandemrix, but it leads more often to fever or local swelling when compared with the normal seasonal-flu vaccine," he adds. Although Kekulé calls the government's handling of the vaccination program a "scandal," he says government officials and soldiers are not necessarily getting a better deal with Celvapan. "Neither Celvapan nor Pandemrix are ideal," he says.
The Interior Ministry hit back at suggestions of preferential treatment, saying it had ordered about 200,000 doses of the Celvapan vaccine from Baxter before the differences between the two vaccines were documented, and the government was bound by the terms of its contract. The government also points out that both Pandemrix and Celvapan have been approved by the European Union and that other countries, such as Britain and Sweden, are using the Pandemrix vaccine. In an attempt to put a lid on the simmering controversy, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Ulrich Wilhelm, said the German leader would consult with her doctor in the next few days, and if she decided to receive a jab, it would be Pandemrix.
At least 26,000 people have been infected with swine flu in Germany, resulting in three deaths. Although the majority of patients have experienced only mild flulike symptoms, a steady increase in the number of cases of H1N1 in recent months has raised alarm across the nation. In its latest report, the Robert Koch Institute, the federal agency for infectious diseases, said new cases in Germany have jumped to about 1,600 each week, double the 700 to 800 weekly cases reported in early autumn. With the onset of winter, when seasonal-flu infections typically peak, many experts are concerned that H1N1 infections will spike dramatically. Klaus Osterrieder, a virologist at the Free University of Berlin, now fears that with the worries over the possible risks associated with Pandemrix, many people will avoid getting a vaccine altogether. According to a survey conducted on Oct. 23 by the Emnid Institute, only 13% of Germans said they wanted to receive a swine-flu vaccine this winter.
(Read "Child-Care Centers and Parents Brace for Flu Season.")
"The public debate is bad because it raises questions about the whole vaccination program," Osterrieder says. If the government doesn't find some way to remedy the current public relations disaster and clear up the confusion over the different swine-flu vaccines, it could be faced with an even greater emergency, especially if the country's hospital wards start overflowing with flu patients in the coming months.
Read "Side Effects of 1918 Flu Seen Decades Later."
Researchers suggest that such distant health problems may be linked to early exposure to the flu — as early as in the womb — according to a new study that analyzed federal survey data collected from 1982 to 1996. Researchers found, for instance, that people who were born in the U.S. just after the 1918 flu pandemic (that is, people who were still in utero when the disease was at its peak) had a higher risk of a heart attack in their adulthood than those born before or long after the pandemic.
The new findings, published in the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, are based largely on survey data available on some 100,000 Americans who were born between 1915 and 1923. Overall, these populations had roughly the same rate of heart attack year to year — about 200 heart attacks per 1,000 people — when they were studied some 60 years later. But among the subset of people born between October 1918 and June 1919, when the flu pandemic was at its worst, the number of heart attacks increased more than 20%.
The study's authors, including Caleb Finch, a professor of gerontology at the University of Southern California, also combed through U.S. Army enlistment data for about 2.7 million men born between 1915 and 1922 and found other trends among flu babies. "Men born in 1919 were shorter by about 0.05 in. relative to surrounding cohorts," says Finch. That's only about a millimeter's difference, or the thickness of a credit card, but he thinks that's significant and somehow related to maternal flu exposure. "I am confident because it's only restricted to that one year," Finch says.
In the past decade, there have been several similar studies in the U.S., Britain, Brazil and elsewhere that have come to comparable conclusions. Children born just after flu pandemics have higher rates of physical disability, perform worse in academic tests and have lower income compared with babies born before or after pandemics. "The cohort [born in 1919] has shorter height and lower weight as teenagers, a higher percentage of various health issues," wrote economist Ming-Jen Lin of National Taiwan University in a soon-to-be-published paper looking at the long-term effects of the 1918 flu in Taiwan.
Perhaps the most commonly cited paper is one by researchers at Columbia University, which associated a mother's influenza with her child's risk of mental illness. In that landmark study, researchers collected blood samples from 12,000 pregnant women in Alameda County, California, between 1959 and 1966 and monitored their sons and daughters for more then three decades. Children born to women who had been infected with flu were three to seven times more likely to develop schizophrenia later in life, the study concluded.
So what is the link between a mother's influenza and her child's cardiac health, physical stature or risk of mental illness? Well, we don't really know. What we do know is that it's probably not the flu virus itself. There is no known biochemical mechanism that links heart disease or other health outcomes to prenatal exposure to flu. And the flu virus, unlike the pathogens that cause herpes, German measles and syphilis, is not teratogenic — that is, it doesn't cause malformations in the fetus, says Dr. Ellen Harrison, the director of obstetrical medicine at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y.
(Super-vaccine for the chancelor and her ministers)
http://philsbackupsite.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/in-germany-a-better-h1n1-vaccine-for-politicians/
http://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article4879744/Super-Impfstoff-fuer-die-Kanzlerin-und-ihre-Minister.htmlDie Mitglieder der Bundesregierung sollen laut "Spiegel" einen Impfstoff gegen Schweinegrippe ohne umstrittene Wirkstoffverstärker erhalten. Auch Deutschlands Soldaten werden mit einem solchen besseren Mittel geimpft. Nach Ansicht einiger Ärzte hat die Impfung ohne Wirkstoffverstärker weniger Nebenwirkungen.
DER SPIEGEL reports that members of the federal government get a vaccine contra swine flu without "boosters". Also german soldiers will be vaccinated with such a better serum. Some physicians expect these vaccines without booster to cause less side effects. Some docs warn of side effects which are more serious in sera with boosters than in sera without boosters.Die Kanzlerin, die Mitglieder ihres Kabinetts und Beamte der Ministerien sowie nachgeordneter Behörden sollen mit einem Impfstoff ohne Verstärker vor Schweinegrippe geschützt werden. „Wir haben 200.000 Dosen des nicht-adjuvantierten Impfstoffes Celvapan der Firma Baxter gekauft“, sagte Christoph Hübner, Sprecher des Bundesinnenministeriums, dem Nachrichtenmagazin „Spiegel“. Auch die Bundeswehr soll einen Impfstoff ohne Zusatz- und Konservierungsstoffe bekommen….
The chancellor, members of the cabinet and staff of their administrative bodies shall get the anti-swine-flu vaccine without booster. "We have bought 200,000 doses of Celvapan (without booster) from Baxter Company" Christoph Hübner, speaker of the secretary (minister) of interior affairs, told the news magazine DER SPIEGEL. Also soldiers.
Unlike the 50 Million doses of the vaccine of GlaxoSmitKline which will be dispensed to the people starting this week, the serum from Baxter does not contain any boosters and this will be given only to civil servants, including the staff of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute, the institute which approves all vacines and which defended their decision in favor the GSK vaccine several times last week…
"It is a scandal" the chaiman of the "Physicians’ Comission for Medicaments" Wolf Dieter Ludwig said, a scandal which we can hardly sell the people. "We are very unhappy about this vaccination-campaign." There are many problems, the risk/reward ratio is unknown. "Government authorities were misled by a campaign of big pharma, which wants to earn money by intimidating the people"Weil der GSK-Impfstoff nicht an Schwangeren getestet wurde, muss auch für sie kurzfristig nicht-adjuvantierter Impfstoff besorgt werden. Der zuständige Staatssekretär im Bundesgesundheitsministerium, Klaus Theo Schröder, sagte dem Magazin:… because the GSK-vaccine was not tested on pregnant women, a vaccine without booster has to be ordered urgently….
(Open rebellion among primary care docs and pediatricians.) The president of the society of general practitioners and family docs, advises general practitiones not to apply the vaccine. The Professor of the University of Göttingen says: Risk is higher than reward.
The chaiman of the society of paediatrics, W. Hartmann, accuses the government of giving "false scientific statement." What applies for pregnant women applies for children below 3 years of age. The vaccine is not tested on them. Therefore the risk is too high to apply the vaccine.Kinder hätten ein Immunsystem, das zu Überreaktionen neige. Genau die aber könnten durch den Zusatz von Wirkverstärkern ausgelöst werden. Zusätzlich sei dem Impfstoff auch noch ein Quecksilber-haltiger Konservierungsstoff beigefügt. „Das Zeug hat man in heutigen Impfstoffen für Kleinkinder bewusst herausgehalten“, sagte Hartmann…
Children have an immune system which tends to overreact. This may be triggered by the boosters. On top of that there is some mercury-containing preservative. "Vaccines for children are forbidden to contain such stuff" Hartmann said.
In the EU, three vaccines against swine-flu or H1N1 are approved so far: Focetria, Pandemrix und Celvapan. Focetria and Pandemrix contain boosters. Celvapan does not because it contains twice as many inactive viruses than the other two.
A scandal dating from January 2008, that is continuing to unfold, raises more disturbing questions over the safety of U.S. pharmaceutical company Baxter International’s vaccines.
Last year Baxter recalled almost all of its injections of the blood thinning heparin drug in the US after some patients experienced extreme - and in some cases fatal - allergic reactions, after being administered the products.
There were similar recalls by other manufacturers of Chinese-sourced heparin in Denmark, Italy, France Germany and Japan, but initial investigations found that only Baxter’s heparin vaccines were tainted.
Then, in January 2009 a new lawsuit was filed specifically against Baxter for it’s role in the scandal.
The allegation is that the pharmaceutical giant purposefully altered an ingredient in heparin that flowed through heparin syringes to patients, resulting in pain and suffering, and sometimes death, to those affected, reported legal website Lawyers and Settlements
Somewhat ironically, the natural ingredient in heparin that was substituted in order to cut costs was a substance extracted from cooked swine intestines.
Baxter has been chosen by the WHO to head up efforts to produce a vaccine for the Mexican swine flu that is spreading throughout the U.S. and Europe.
The decision was made despite further revelations last month that vaccines contaminated with deadly live H5N1 avian flu virus were recently distributed to 18 countries by a lab at an Austrian branch of Baxter.
Initially, the company attempted to stonewall questions by invoking “trade secrets” and refused to reveal how the vaccines were contaminated with H5N1. After increased pressure they then claimed that pure H5N1 batches were sent by accident.
However, the probability of mixing a live virus biological weapon with vaccine material by accident is virtually impossible.
It’s only a dark memory, an ancient shard, a byte lurking somewhere in the back eddies. It’s northern Alberta, winter. The little gymnasium in the elementary school is cool and damp. It smells of a thousand games of dodge ball, of old leather pommel horses, of fold-out bleachers. At one end, below the stage under the basketball hoops, are two banquet tables manned by matronly nurses in crisp white uniforms.
Some of the children in my line are crying. I was six years old. It was vaccination day — six small scratches to test for polio. A few days later, a quick jab, a faint bull’s eye that remains today.
Everything was simpler then, black and white. Communists were bad. We were the good guys. We trusted our government.
Things are different today. Political scandal heaped on political scandal has left Canadians jaded and skeptical. The House of Commons is a raucous three-ring circus.
Past prime ministers find themselves defending their actions, such as accepting bags full of cash from German businessmen, as if there is a compelling defence for such behaviour.
Last week, the largest health board in Newfoundland paid out $17.5 million to about 425 men and women in compensation for botched breast cancer tests. The ensuing public inquiry concluded there was a complete breakdown of testing accountability “at all levels” within that province’s health care system.
Out here on the West Coast we have had our share of system breakdowns in the health care system. Everyone seems to have a personal story.
Is it any wonder that in national polls, less than 50 per cent of Canadians are planning to get the vaccine for H1N1? It seems that most Canadians would rather trust their own defences than depend on our underfunded, porous health system and its officials. It isn’t that they haven’t tried. But you can only cry “Wolf!” so many times before we just get tired of running for the exits.
The World Health Organization, an official yet vaguely spurious organization has declared the H1N1 flu virus a “pandemic.” What remains underreported is that this organization actually changed its definition of “pandemic,” omitting the usual parameters of high morbidity and high mortality rates. That means you no longer have to die or even get really sick anymore for a disease to be declared a pandemic. So what have you got? Basically, you’ve got the flu.
Remember the so-called “bird flu” non-event pandemic of 2005? How about the SARS “pandemic” in 2002/2003. That one killed 774 people in the U.S., a statistical yawner. When the government says “Trust me,” more and more people are replying, “Why should I?”
In a normal round of flu, about 250,000 people worldwide succumb to garden variety flu, and this year, H1N1 or no H1N1, the numbers rolling in are consistent with past years. As of October 30, about 5,000 worldwide have died of the H1N1 strain of flu, including approximately 100 Canadians. Chances of dying of H1N1 are 250,000 to one. You are 20 times more likely to die in a car accident than you are of dying of H1N1.Still, the government and the mainstream press are doing their best to whip the population into a panic-stricken frenzy over this strain of flu, to the point where seemingly rational people are willing to stand in line for hours braving the elements, surrounded by fellow paranoids, many already sporting flu-like symptoms.
As Canadian icon Allan Fotheringham recently stated in the Globe and Mail, “No [I’m not getting the shot]. I’ve never been so healthy since I was 18. Besides, I almost died two years ago because of a [screw-up] in hospital.”
And David Suzuki, warmly embraced by our government who honoured him with the Order of Canada, responded with a resounding “Yes!” in that same Globe article, adding “Do they [Canadians] think doctors, scientists and government are out to poison them or something?” Well, no. I am not questioning the government’s motivation, just their competence. Just their medical credibility.
Just for the record, Rick Mercer says “yes,” Anne Murray says “no” and Sandra Oh is undecided, stating “I just went to Whole Foods and bought $200 worth of vitamins.” Good call. If this and all types of flu flourish in those with weak or compromised immune systems, wouldn’t it make sense to bolster one’s own natural defence systems?
The government insists that the H1N1 vaccine does this far more effectively than Vitamin C and the like. In keeping with this exhortation, the feds have ordered up over 50 million doses of the vaccine at a cost of $405 million. That’s for a population of about 33 million. Better safe than sorry. With half the people eschewing the needle, it looks like we’ll have a nice stock pile, huh?
What’s a poor boy to do? Do I trust the government or my intuition? When Doc Reznick comes at me brandishing a dripping hypodermic, I think I’ll pass. I’ll use hand sanitizers. I’ll use salt water in my nostrils.
I’ll gargle lots with Listerine. I’ll stalk the supplement aisles. If I develop symptoms, I’ll stay at home and catch up on my reading. Call it “Dr. Vincent’s Chicken Soup for the Flu” cure. Send my vaccine to Mr. Harper.
The German Medical Association has now advised against giving the adjuvant vaccine to children and pregnant women.
Concerns about the safety of H1N1 vaccine in Germany has snowballed and appears to derail the vaccination programme. Only about 12 per cent of people have expressed their willingness to be vaccinated and another 19 per cent have indicated that they would probably have the vaccine.
The controversy is about the use of adjuvant in H1N1 vaccine. Adjuvant is a substance that is added to the vaccine to improve body’s response, and its use will reduce the amount of inactivated virus needed for an effective dose.
What started as concerns expressed by a few physicians about the safety of vaccine containing an adjuvant has now become a major issue.
[sze=20pt]Michael Kochen, President of the German College of General Practitioners and Family Physicians was quoted as saying in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) that “Pandemrix [H1N1 vaccine containing an adjuvant] has not been sufficiently tested to be declared safe for millions of people, especially small children and pregnant women.”
He has apparently told BMJ that he will not take the vaccine and has also advised other doctors not to take it.Pandemrix is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.
But what made things worse was a report by Der Spiegel magazine that the Federal Interior Ministry had bought 2,00,000 doses of Celvapan, an adjuvant-free vaccine to be used by top government officials. Celvapen is manufactured by Baxter.
The Defence Ministry had later confirmed the procurement of Celvapen, and according to BMJ, it was intended for use by Bundeswehr soldiers and their families on foreign deployments or preparing for missions abroad. The German Medical Association has now advised against giving the adjuvant vaccine to children and pregnant women.
However, the World Health Organisation recommends the use of an adjuvant as it would increase the number of people who can be vaccinated. The European Medicines Agency had cleared Pandemrix and Celvapen for H1N1 vaccination.
Pandemrix was also approved for use by Germany’s Paul Ehrlich Institute, which advises the government on vaccination matters. However, the Federal Vaccination Agency, another government body, has contradicted the institute and has advised against the use of vaccines containing adjuvant.
Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, Chairman of the German Medical Association’s Drug Commission had described the swine flu vaccination programme as a “scandal.” According to BMJ, Dr. Ludwig thinks that Pandemrix has not been adequately tested. However, he thinks the same about Baxter’s adjuvant-free H1N1 vaccine Celvapan, too. [He is the CHAIRMAN of the Medical Association’s Drug Commission for all of GERMANY and not one word about his EXPLOSIVE WARNING TO THE WORLD!]GlaxoSmithKline in a press release dated October 23 announced that more than 150,000 people had received Pandemrix, as part of government initiated vaccination programmes across Europe. Additionally, over 2,000 people have received Pandemrix in clinical trials which are ongoing. The company has not raised any safety concerns about its product.
Dear Friend,
Swine flu panic and the drive to vaccinate is being orchestrated by big pharma, the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and the Obama Administration.
Real and documented science does not support the wild claims of pandemic pathology and toxicity. Renowned neurosurgeon and virology expert Dr. Russell Blaylock sets the record straight! Click the link below to read the article...
Swine Flu: Bad Science & Massive Cover-up
Also, be sure to listen to Dr. Joseph Mercola's in-depth interview with Dr. Blaylock.
This is absolutely critical information that you must have to make health decisions for yourself!
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Please forward this critical information to your friends and family, and use the social network tools at the end of the article to further publicize and discuss.
Regards,
Patrick Wood, Editor
P.S. The August Review and The August Forecast are sister publications, both edited by Patrick Wood.
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