Half of GPs refuse swine flu vaccine over testing fears

[Lumi]

Half of GPs refuse swine flu vaccine over testing fears

Up to half of family doctors do not want to be vaccinated against swine flu.

GPs will be first in the line for the jabs when they become available but many will decline, even though they will be offering the vaccine to their patients.

More than two thirds of those who will turn the jab down believe it has not been tested enough. Most also believe the flu has turned out to be so mild in the vast majority of cases that the vaccine is not needed.

Last night Government experts criticised GPs who decide not to have the jab, saying they will put vulnerable patients needlessly at risk.

A week ago, a poll of nurses showed that a third would turn down the opportunity of being vaccinated against swine flu.

News that medics are unconvinced by the need for a vaccine will cause grave concern to patients who will be invited for the jab over the next few months.

A poll of doctors for Pulse magazine found that 49 per cent would reject the vaccine with 9 per cent undecided.

A separate survey for GP magazine found that 29 per cent would definitely opt out of having the jab, while a further 29 per cent were unsure. Just 41 per cent said they would definitely have the jab.

Of those who said they did not want to jab, 71 per cent said it was because of safety concerns.

Richard Hoey, editor of Pulse, said: 'The medical profession has yet to be convinced by the Government's whole approach to swine flu, with most GPs now feeling that the Department of Health overreacted in its policy on blanket use of Tamiflu.

'Inevitably, that has coloured feelings about the planned immunisation campaign.

'The view among many doctors is that the Government hasn't yet made its case for why such a huge vaccination programme needs to be rushed in for what seems to be an unusually mild illness.'

But Professor David Salisbury, the Department of Health's director of immunisation, told GP magazine that frontline health workers had a duty to themselves regarding vaccination.

'They have a duty to their patients not to infect their patients and they have a duty to their families,' he said.

The Pulse survey questioned 15 doctors, while GP spoke to 216.

The poll raised further questions over the Government's planned mass vaccination programme. The jab, currently being processed, will be fast tracked and will not be fully tested before it is administered to patients.

There are also concerns the jab can spark cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome, which can lead to paralysis and even death.

A mass swine flu vaccination programme in the U.S. in 1976 caused far more deaths than the disease it was designed to combat, and the Health Protection Agency watchdog has asked doctors to look out for cases of GBS when the vaccinations begin.

Earlier this month, Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson announced that the jab will be given to people in high-risk groups, such as those with asthma or diabetes, as well as health workers such as GPs and nurses.

Some 14million people will be covered by the first wave of the vaccination programme, with everyone else following over the next few months.

The BMA is still negotiating with doctors over how they should be paid to give out the jabs. The union is demanding ?7 for every injection.

A spokesman for the BMA said: 'The new vaccine has been thoroughly tested and we believe it should provide good protection against swine flu.

'It is important that doctors are among the first to be offered the vaccine as it will not only protect them but the patients they care for.


However, doctors like all individuals have the right to decide whether they are vaccinated or not.'

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

I will pass for same reason--I remember fiasco last time--lots of weird shit went down.

 

[Lumi]

I will pass for same reason--I remember fiasco last time--lots of weird shit went down.

There are many more articles like this one dtb

 

[Lumi]

Madsen on RT: Vaccine Creators Refuse to Take H1N1 Vaccine

Madsen on RT: Vaccine Creators Refuse to Take H1N1 Vaccine

Madsen on RT: Vaccine Creators Refuse to Take H1N1 Vaccine
Text size
Russia Today
August 28, 2009

Journalist Wayne Madsen tells Russia today scientists involved in creating previous vaccinations are telling family and friends not to take the H1N1 vaccine. Madsen also warns that the government may make the vaccination mandatory.


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[Trench]

I'm with ya on this one Lumi. I will NOT be receiving the H1N1 innoculation.

Guess I'll just pony up the $1000 a day fine instead... :142smilie

 

[Lumi]

I have 2 words for those who will be trying to collect the 1000, and they ain't "Happy Birthday"

 

[Lumi]

Flu shot or get fired

Flu shot or get fired

Flu shot or get fired
About 25,000 Capital Region hospital workers need the state-mandated shield, and the area's top sites say comply or quit

By LARRY RULISON, Business writer

First published: Saturday, August 29, 2009

ALBANY -- Workers at Capital Region hospitals are going to have to get a flu shot this year or face losing their jobs.
The requirement is part of a new emergency regulation adopted earlier this month by the State Hospital Review and Planning Council that requires that all hospital workers get the flu vaccine -- and that it be a requirement for employment.

Hospitals are quickly trying to assemble new workplace policies to comply with the regulation, and those that have been put in place threaten disciplinary action and even termination if workers, from janitors and food service workers to doctors and nurses, refuse to get the shots. The policy affects about 25,000 people in the region.

Albany Medical Center, the region's leading hospital, sent out announcements to workers earlier this week saying employees had to get flu shots by Oct. 16. Spokesman Gregory McGarry said the hospital may take "corrective action" against employees if they don't comply, although he declined to get into specifics about what type of penalties they would face.

The hospital, which will pay for the vaccine, is insisting that almost all of its 7,000 employees get the shots, even those who work at off-site buildings such as the finance center in Delmar. McGarry said that even those workers spend time at the main hospital buildings for meetings.

"It's anyone who has contact with patients or providers," McGarry said. "There may be rare exceptions."

St. Peter's Hospital in Albany is also developing a set of strict guidelines as it seeks to get all of its 4,500 employees shots by Dec. 1.

"There are very few exceptions," said spokesman Elmer Streeter. "We will be requiring it of all our employees as a condition of employment."

Workers will be suspended for five days initially if they do not get the shot. After that, they have another five days to comply before facing possible termination.

Public health officials across the world are gearing up for the flu season this year with special urgency, especially because of concerns over the H1N1 "swine" flu virus. The new state regulations do not cover the swine flu vaccine, only the seasonal flu vaccine.

The New York State Nurses Association, which represents 37,000 nurses in the state, has opposed mandatory policies, and still does, says spokesman Mark Genovese.

"We think it should not be mandatory," Genovese said. "But we of course urge them to protect themselves."

Northeast Health in Troy, the organization that owns Albany Memorial Hospital and Samaritan Hospital in Troy, is working toward new guidelines.

"We're still in the process of finalizing our policy on that," said spokeswoman Angela Yu. "Obviously, we are trying to comply with the health department rules."

 

[Lumi]

Doctors Question WHO's Severe Swine Flu Warning

Doctors Question WHO's Severe Swine Flu Warning

Doctors Question WHO's Severe Swine Flu Warning

Some Say While Severe Swine Flu Exists, Warnings May Be Overblown

Aug. 29, 2009?

The World Health Organization warned Friday that doctors around the world are now reporting a severe form of swine flu that goes straight to the lungs of otherwise healthy young people -- but some infectious disease experts said the alarm could be unwarranted.
The WHO update comes in the wake of reports from some countries that as many as 15 percent of patients infected with the new H1N1 pandemic virus require extensive -- and expensive -- hospital care.
"During the winter season in the southern hemisphere, several countries have viewed the need for intensive care as the greatest burden on health services," the report said. "Preparedness measures need to anticipate this increased demand on intensive care units, which could be overwhelmed by a sudden surge in the number of severe cases."
But infectious disease experts from both inside and outside the government say that the phrasing used by WHO raises some questions -- particularly because the existence of such a form of the disease is not a new development.
"WHO is certainly putting the fear of [God] in people with this type of release," said William Muraskin, a professor of urban studies at Queens College in New York, who is a specialist in international health. "The description by the WHO is similar to lung infections that claimed so many young people during the 1918 pandemic."
Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted, "Severe pneumonia occurred in 1918 too, but we cannot confirm the pathophysiology is the exactly the same."
And Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, one of the government's preeminent figures on swine flu, told ABC News' Brian Hartman, "The severity should not be anything near what we saw in 1918 -- again, underscoring that things can change.
"But if what we're seeing now is predictive of what we'll be seeing in the fall and the winter this looks like a mild to moderate, not a very severe, pandemic."
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Swine Flu May Not Be as Deadly as Past Pandemics

Indeed, many believe that the ultimate impact of the swine flu will not be as disastrous as that of pandemics of times past.
"The total mortality remains extremely low," said John Barry, author of "The Great Influenza." "And as far as the cases go, it's important to remember that while such [severe] cases have been seen, they are extremely rare."
But rare or not, the severe form of the illness is a deadly emergency. Dr. Jeffrey Boscamp, chair in pediatrics at the Children's Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, said that the lung infection triggers a syndrome called acute respiratory distress syndrome.
"The lung becomes a battleground: the virus versus all of the immunologic components that are recruited to the lung to fight the infection," Boscamp said. "The inflammation is so severe that it becomes impossible for the lung to put oxygen back into the blood.
"When oxygenation becomes impossible, other organs -- kidneys, heart, et cetera -- fail, and death can be the outcome."
And Dr. Greg Poland, director of the Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic, noted that the intensive care doctors he works with are in contact with other intensivists around the world who describe a bleeding, or hemorrhagic, lung infection. Poland said these doctors "are indeed seeing high viral, overwhelming viral, pneumonia, which then leads to hemorrhagic pneumonitis and severe respiratory distress syndrome; this has been requiring extraordinarily intensive therapy."
A spike in such severe cases could have big implications for hospitals, some fear.
"I have seen a number of these cases, with a number of deaths," said Dr. Christian Sandrock, medical director of the Intensive Care Unit at the University of California Davis Medical Center.
He added that while doctors can treat patients with much more specialized medical care now, if these very sick patients increase in numbers at hospitals, "These are the patients that are going to crush us."