Swine Flu

By now, swine flu is rarely mentioned on the six o’clock news and is nearly never seen in the newspapers. The long lines to get an H1N1 vaccine are nonexistent, and most pharmacies now have a stockpile of supplies that are going unused. At one point, pharmacies were contacting families to come in for a flu and H1N1 vaccine – now even those calls have stopped. The fatalities from H1N1 have dropped precipitously and are much lower than deaths from seasonal flu. While there is a threat that a second or third phase of H1N1 may transpire, it is hard to imagine that this virus represents a level 6 pandemic. Admittedly, any family who has lost a child or young adult due to this infection worries that we are still vulnerable to H1N1 and strongly supports public health measures to vaccinate. Yet a large group of Americans opted not to vaccinate during the period of time when media reporting of swine flu deaths created massive fear and hysteria. Many of those individuals questioned the safety of the H1N1 vaccine and its effectiveness.

Byron Belitsos and Dr. Len Saputo reported the results of their investigation in Part 1 of the “Infection Deception” in the February/March issue of the Townsend Letter (also available at www.townsendletter.com). In this issue, Belitsos and Saputo conclude their investigation, “Deep Politics, Global Health Policy, and the Swine Flu Debacle.” They are concerned that the World Health Organization (WHO) changed the definition of a pandemic to make the labeling of a level 6 pandemic easier. In effect, the H1N1 pandemic enabled authorities to exert martial law policies to control infection. Such policies would permit enforced vaccination and quarantine if needed. The authors report that many representatives of the drug and vaccine industry are members of the WHO governing body that decides the staging of a pandemic. Clearly, drug companies benefit when a pandemic mandates the manufacturing of vaccine. Belitsos and Saputo worry that vaccines are never put through rigorous testing to demonstrate either effectiveness or safety. Of even greater concern is the possibility that a vaccine contains biological materials capable of rendering infection and/or adverse effects. Finally, the authors remind us also that public health authorities condemn any discussion of using natural health products, such as vitamin D, which may play a role in preventing infection.

Jonathan Collin, MD