When I first heard about the swine flu I wrote it off as a fad disease like Mad Cow or Bird flu, but it is clear now that this is real and it is really affecting the general population. A coworker of mine is pregnant and she is going as far as to wearing a mask when working.
The H1N1 is a scary disease and has the whole population under its scare tactics. Of course there is a vaccination, but there is still some debate on the safety of it. But even if you do decide to get it what are the chances that you will be able to get your hands on it? According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) 11,282,200 H1N1 vaccinations where shipped out as of Oct. 21, but only 831,400 of that is going to Texas. That really isn't enough for Texas' 24,326,974 population, and as of Oct. 19 Dallas, Tarrant and Denton Counties only had a combined total of 1400 doses available which had priority to health care workers, pregnant women, young children and the elderly.
But what about the people who have the H1N1 virus, what should they do? Watch this News video and see what you think?
Watch CBS News Videos Online
I think that this drug shouldn't be put on the market to quickly just because it seems so sensational, but also you need to consider that if this works then we need to use it before the virus mutates.
By Stacie Guinn
Sources:
Brown, D. (2009). Flu Vaccine Panel Creates Priority List. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/29/AR2009072903607.html
CBS News. (2009). Life-Saving H1N1 Drug Unavailable to Most. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/19/eveningnews/main5398999.shtml
CDC. (2009). 2009 H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Supply Status. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/vaccinesupply.htm
Flu Trackers. (2009). North Texas Health Agencies Recieve H1N1 Vaccine. Retrieved http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128955
U.S. Census Bureau. (2008) State and County Quick Facts. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48000.html
I just read an article in the Texas Nurses Association's news letter that relates to this. There is a push to require health care workers to get the vaccine. It is already manditory in New York state and many other states are thinking of making it manditory. I hope that the testing that was done will be enough.
The video brings home the point that in some cases it should allow drugs to be used immediately. This drug is saving lives and has already been shown to be safe. I just hope that the government is stocking-up on this drug because we are just entering the flu season...without this drug it could be a "short winter" for many!
Interesting that there is an antiviral drug out there that has had more human testing than the vaccine the government is promoting and yet the more seriously ill have to have their physicians beg for it in order to save their patients’ lives.
Meanwhile the government says take our vaccine, especially if you are a child or pregnant and the vaccine hasn’t really been tested and it is just assumed safe because the same basic protocols have been followed in producing it as the normal seasonal flu vaccine.
I was a little wary of the H1N1 vaccine until I heard an interview on NPR with Paul Offit, an infectious disease expert. It was very informative and cleared up some of the misconceptions about the vaccine - like the rumor that it had not been tested as much as the seasonal flu vaccine. The interview is here - I would stronghly suggest taking a listen: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113734207
As for Dave's comment - everything is NOT a conspiracy
It's hard to argue with saved lives. I'm all for sufficient testing of potentially dangerous drugs (That would be all of them...), but if it works, than cut some red tape and get it to people!
It sounds like this drug is only used on patients who are on their deathbed already, why not try anything available? If I'm dieing, I don't care if the drug is FDA approved, I'll try anything.
I agree, while it is not a good thing to push these questionable, untested vaccines on into common use with patients i still feel that if it is a worst case scenario, if you are on your death bed, what could it hurt? of course i use to work for a pharmaceutical company and my opinion might be a little biased.