French Woman Gets Crippling Illness After H1N1 Vaccine

http://republicbroadcasting.org/?p=5290

by Paul Joseph Watson

A young woman in France has been diagnosed with the crippling illness Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) after a swine flu shot, following reports yesterday about a Virginia teen who was similarly struck down by the disease hours after receiving the H1N1 vaccine.

The woman, identified only as a health worker, was diagnosed with GBS six days after she received the swine flu shot, according to the French health ministry.

Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said the case diagnosed was light and that the woman was recovering.

“News of the apparently vaccine-related illness is likely to dampen enthusiasm here for getting vaccinated against swine flu,” reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

France has been at the center of a Europe-wide resistance to getting the swine flu shot, after authorities initially announced their intention to vaccinate the entire population. Outrage peaked in central Europe following the revelation that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and government ministers, as well as the armed forces there, received a special additive-free H1N1 vaccine that didn’t contain ingredients such as mercury and squalene that were included in shots for the general public.

France’s swine flu vaccination program has barely even begun, with so-called “high risk” individuals starting to receive the vaccine from yesterday. Reports of side-effects this early will do nothing to change the minds of 83 per cent of the French public, who indicated in a Le Monde survey they they would not take the vaccine.

55 per cent indicated they would take the shot in September, but that number has now plunged to just 17 per cent, figures partly influenced by media attention on the case of nine individuals who have filed formal charges in the French courts claiming that the H1N1 mass vaccination campaign is a deliberate attempt to poison the French population.

The drop in numbers willing to take the vaccine mirrors that in Germany where just 13% now say they are willing to take the shot, down from 51% in July.

Similar resistance to taking the vaccine is widespread throughout the continent, from Scandanavia to Bulgaria to the Netherlands, there is barely a country in Europe where a majority of the population have indicated they will take the vaccine and in most countries the vast majority have indicated that they will not get inoculated due to fears of side-effects.

As we reported yesterday, a high school athlete from Virginia was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome hours after receiving a swine flu shot, but health authorities are attempting to dismiss the connection as a coincidence, precisely as they resolved to do long before the H1N1 vaccination program even started.

Despite GBS’s clear historical link with the swine flu shot after more got ill from the vaccine than got swine flu during the 1976 mass vaccination program,, allied with the fact that health officials back in August warned neurologists that they needed to look out for increases in cases of the brain disorder following the launch of the immunization program, asked about the case of McFarland, the CDC’s Dr. Claudia J. Vellozzi claimed that there was “no clear link between the new vaccine and the disease.”

Efforts on behalf of health authorities to claim that debilitating side-effects and nerve disorders such as GBS have no connection to the vaccine, despite the fact that they are clearly listed on vaccine inserts as potential dangers, is unsurprising considering this is precisely what officials resolved to do before the swine flu mass vaccination program began.

Back In September, Reuters reported on how public health officials were expecting “an avalanche of so-called adverse event reports, which are reports of death, illness or other health trauma,” in the two weeks after people receive the vaccine.

Authorities therefore resolved to dismiss any connection to the swine flu shots a host of heart attacks, strokes and miscarriages that “will be blamed on the H1N1 vaccine,” effectively performing a blanket diagnosis months in advance.

Earlier this month, the U.S. government appointed what the media ludicrously billed as an “independent” group of health advisors who were tasked with whitewashing adverse reactions to the swine flu vaccine and ‘explaining’ them to the public as mere coincidence.

The group is headed up by none other than Dr. Marie McCormick of the Harvard School of Public Health. McCormick and her affiliated organizations have routinely issued reports over the past 10 years supporting the government’s position on the link between vaccines and autism, dismissing a correlation entirely despite overwhelming evidence that contradicts this notion. McCormick has been widely criticized by other health experts for her dogged denial of the link between vaccines and autism.

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Symptoms of the Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza Virus

In this video, Dr. Joe Bresee, with CDC's Influenza Division, describes the symptoms of swine flu and warning signs to look for that indicate the need for urgent medical attention.

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100,000 H1N1 vaccines pulled after bad reactions

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091119/Flu_Reaction_091119/20091119

More than 100,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine are being withdrawn across the country, after Manitoba health officials announced Thursday they'd noticed a higher-than-usual number of allergic reactions from one batch.

Vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline has asked several provinces to set aside the 170,000 doses from the questionable batch.

GSK say the batch recall is a precaution an they will investigate to see whether there is something wrong with the batch.

"GSK is taking this cautionary action because the Public Health Agency of Canada has received a higher than expected number of reports of anaphylaxis in this lot number compared to other lots," the company said in a written statement Thursday.

One or two allergic reactions are expected in a batch that size. But health officials recorded six severe allergic reactions and alerted GSK.

Dr. Joel Kettner, Manitoba's Chief Medical Officer of Health, urged people not to be alarmed, noting the anaphylaxis reactions were short-lived and all the patients recovered.

"We've been asked by the manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline not to use this vaccine at this time, pending further investigation," said Kettner at a press conference Thursday.

"We are being cautious and following the advice... to hold onto the remaining stock until we get further information."

About 1,500 doses of the vaccine were sent to Ontario, but officials say none were administered. Officials are now shelving them until the investigation is complete.

The Alberta government has stopped giving out doses from the same batch, although it says it has not seen a jump in allergic reactions.

Health officials say the batch being investigated is fairly small, so it should not have an impact on the overall supply.

Earlier this week, the country's chief public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, noted that of the 6.6 million doses of H1N1 vaccine given so far to Canadians, there have been 36 serious adverse reactions reported.

Most involved allergic reactions that began within minutes of vaccination. All were treated promptly by medical people at the vaccination site.

Milder side effects, such as nausea, soreness, headaches and fever, have also been seen, which is not unexpected. Seasonal flu vaccines have been known to cause such reactions every year.

One person is believed to have died from an anaphylactic reaction following vaccination, but Butler-Jones stressed the death hasn't been conclusively linked to the flu shot.

"It's important to remember that just because a medical event follows vaccination, it may not have been caused by the vaccination; it may have been caused by other factors, as unfortunate events continue to occur with or without vaccine," he told a news conference Tuesday.




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Tamiflu-resistant swine flu cluster reported in NC

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091120/ap_on_he_me/us_med_swine_flu_correction

By MIKE STOBBE,
AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe,
Fri Nov 20, 2:32 pm ET

ATLANTA – Health officials say four people in North Carolina have tested positive for a type of swine flu that's resistant to the drug Tamiflu.

It's the first cluster of that many cases seen in the U.S.

Health officials said Friday the four cases were reported at Duke University Medical Center in Durham over the past six weeks.

Tamiflu is one of two medicines that help against swine flu. Health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective.

About 52 resistant cases have been reported in the world since April, including 15 in the U.S. so far. Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say almost all the U.S. cases have been isolated.

An important update: This mutated flu strainis in Wales now, as well:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8370859.stm

Tamiflu-resistant swine flu spreads 'between patients'

By Fergus Walsh
Health correspondent, BBC News

Health officials say a Tamiflu-resistant strain of swine flu has spread between hospital patients.

Five patients on a unit treating people with severe underlying health conditions at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, were infected.

Three appear to have acquired the infection in hospital.

They are thought to be the first confirmed cases of person-to-person transmission of a Tamiflu-resistant strain in the world.

There have been several dozen reports around the world of people developing resistance to Tamiflu while taking the drug - but they have not passed on the strain to others.

Just one possible cases of person-to-person transmission of a resistant strain has been recorded - between two people at a US summer camp - and this has never been confirmed.

Two of the University Hospital Wales patients have recovered and have been discharged from hospital, one is in critical care and two are being treated on the ward.

The health officials stressed there was no risk to anyone else.

They said tests were being carried out to confirm exactly what happened.

The UK has bought enough doses of Tamiflu, which can shorten the duration of swine flu and reduce the risk of complications, for half the population.

Serious concern

So any spread of a Tamiflu-resistant strain of the illness is a serious public health concern.

The H1N1 virus has been remarkably stable since it emerged in April, but virologists had been half expecting new resistant strains to emerge.

Dr Roland Salmon, director of the National Public Health Service for Wale's Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, said: "The emergence of influenza A viruses that are resistant to Tamiflu is not unexpected in patients with serious underlying conditions and suppressed immune systems, who still test positive for the virus despite treatment.

"In this case, the resistant strain of swine flu does not appear to be any more severe than the swine flu virus that has been circulating since April."

Dr Tony Jewell, Chief Medical Officer for Wales, said: "We know that people with suppressed immune systems are more susceptible to the swine flu virus, which is why they are a priority group under the first phase of the vaccination programme in Wales which is progressing at pace.

"We have stringent processes in place for monitoring for antiviral resistance in the UK so that we can spot resistance early and the causes can be investigated and the cases managed.

"Identifying these cases shows that our systems are working so patients should be reassured.

"Treatment with Tamiflu is still appropriate for swine flu and people should continue to take Tamiflu when they are prescribed it.

"It's also important that good hygiene practices are followed to further prevent the spread of the virus."

Professor Peter Openshaw, a respiratory physician at Imperial College London, said of the spread: "It's not surprising that this has happened, indeed it has always been anticipated".

Dr Ronald Cutler, deputy director of biomedical science at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "Shortening the time taken to produce new vaccines and improving the methods to control and treat the disease while vaccines are being made would be a way forward".

On Thursday it was announced that more than three million healthy children under five across the UK will be offered the swine flu jab.

Figures released on Thursday showed an estimated 53,000 new cases of swine flu in England in the last week, down from 64,000 in the week before.

In Scotland, the figure was 21,200, down from about 21,500 in the previous seven days.

The rate of flu-like illnesses diagnosed by GPs in Wales dropped to 36 cases for every 100,000 people from 65.8 the previous week.

Just wait until that fucking triple-flu combination from the Ukraine makes its way here to North America... We're long overdue, can't believe it hasn't spread here yet..Anyone out there who still thinks this is a naturally occuring virus with all of it's mutations and un-natural combination of other never before seen together flu strains is either seriously ignorant or could care less and are just pining for a wooden box to lay in



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Va. teen suffers rare illness after swine flu shot

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33845867/ns/health-cold_and_flu/

Boy diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, but CDC says no clear link

By JoNel Aleccia

Health writer

msnbc.com

updated 9:57 a.m. PT, Thurs., Nov . 12, 2009

A 14-year-old Virginia boy is weak and struggling to walk after coming down with a reported case of Guillain-Barre syndrome within hours after receiving the H1N1 vaccine for swine flu.

Jordan McFarland, a high school athlete from Alexandria, Va., left Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children Tuesday night in a wheelchair nearly a week after developing severe headaches, muscle spasms and weakness in his legs following a swine flu shot. He will likely need the assistance of a walker for four to six weeks, plus extensive physical therapy.

“The doctor said I’ll recover fully, but it’s going to take some time,” the teenager said.

Jordan is among the first people in the nation to report developing the potentially life-threatening muscle disorder after receiving the H1N1 vaccine this fall. His alarming reaction was submitted via msnbc.com's reader reporting tool, First Person, by his stepmother, Arlene Connin.

Increased cases of GBS were found in patients who received a 1976 swine flu vaccine, but government health officials say they've seen no rise in the condition associated with the current outbreak.

So far, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have received five reports of GBS in people who received the H1N1 vaccine since Oct. 6, not including Jordan’s case, said Dr. Claudia J. Vellozzi, deputy director for immunization safety.

Out of about 40 million doses of H1N1 vaccine available to date, that’s a far lower rate of GBS than the 1 case that develops in every 1 million people who receive the regular flu vaccine.

"It's much less than we'd expect," she said, adding that many cases go unreported.

In 1976, about 1 additional case of GBS developed in every 100,000 people who were vaccinated against the swine flu, according to the CDC.

Jordan's parents said doctors diagnosed the teen with GBS, a rare muscle disorder that develops when a person’s own immune system attacks the nerves, causing muscle weakness, difficulty walking and sometimes paralysis and death.

Hospital officials didn't dispute that the boy had GBS, but refused to comment on the boy's condition or treatment, even after his family granted permission.

“They don’t want to create a fear or panic in the community,” said Jordan's stepmother, Connin.

Connin and Jordan’s father, Calvin McFarland, both 38, believe the shot sparked the illness that came on 18 hours after the boy’s vaccination.

No clear link
But Vellozzi said there’s no clear link between the new vaccine and the disease.

“We know that GBS and other illnesses occur routinely in the U.S.,” Vellozzi said, noting that 80 to 120 cases are diagnosed each week in the general population.

“There are events that follow vaccination. That’s what they are, they happened to follow vaccination.

GBS is among the most severe adverse events being tracked with updated systems developed by the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the American Academy of Neurology in order to monitor the rollout of the H1N1 flu vaccine.

So far, CDC officials have received about 1,700 reports of adverse events linked to the new shot, Vellozzi said. Of those, only about 4 percent, or 68, were coded as serious. That’s on par with reports regarding seasonal vaccine.

While any harmful side effect can be devastating for an individual, when it comes to larger public health issues, the H1N1 virus is considerably riskier than the vaccine, experts say.

“The H1N1 illness is making lots of children very ill," Vellozzi said. "There’s lots of illness and lots of death."

So far, more than 4,000 people have died from H1N1 infection in the U.S., according to latest estimates by the CDC.

Since the start of the H1N1 vaccine campaign, the CDC has repeatedly warned that certain conditions, such as miscarriage, heart attack and even GBS occur regardless of immunization, and officials have urged the public not to blame the vaccine for the illnesses, but to report promptly any suspected side effects.

As of early Wednesday, CDC officials said they had received no report from Inova Fairfax about Jordan's condition. Later in the day, however, hospital spokesman Tony Raker indicated the hospital had submitted the report.

After hearing about Jordan's case from msnbc.com, CDC officials advised the family to report Jordan's case themselves.

Vaccine critic Barbara Lowe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center in Vienna, Va., said assuming all potential side effects are coincidence is a mistake. Such an attitude is likely to prevent doctors and other health workers from reporting adverse events in a timely manner, obscuring a true picture of any problems.

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Fisher said only between 1 percent and 10 percent of adverse events are reported to the government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which was set up to track problems with vaccines. A 1986 law requires reporting of certain adverse events to VAERS, but there are no sanctions for not reporting, Fisher noted. CDC officials said general reporting to VAERS is voluntary.

Potential side effects of H1N1 vaccine Like the seasonal flu shot, the H1N1 vaccine may cause minor side effects: — Soreness, redness or swelling where the shot was given — Low-grade fever — Aches — Nausea The nasal-spray version of the vaccine contains weakened virus, and side effects may include: — Runny nose — Wheezing — Headache — Vomiting — Muscle aches — Fever — Sore throat or cough On rare occasions, flu vaccination can cause serious problems, such as severe allergic reactions that include difficulty breathing, hoarseness, wheezing, swelling around the eyes or lips, weakness or a fast heart beat. If any unusual condition occurs after vaccination, you should seek immediate medical attention, tell your doctor what happened, the date and time it happened and when the vaccine was given. Ask your doctor, nurse or health department to report the reaction by filing a Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) form. Or you can file this report yourself online at www.vaers.hhs.gov. Source: CDC

Fisher said she suspects that many more cases of GBS have occurred in the wake of the H1N1 vaccines.

"We basically have people blowing it off," she said. "We need to make sure people are reporting."

Eager for protection
Like many parents across the country, Arlene Connin said she was eager to protect Jordan and his brother, Lleyton, 7, against the flu. When she took the boys to their pediatrician for seasonal flu shots on Nov. 5, the provider said H1N1 vaccine was available, too.

There was “not even a thought,” that either boy would have a reaction, Connin said. Within hours, however, Jordan developed severe headaches, chills and back spasms. The family rushed him to the closest hospital, Dewitt Army Community Hospital, where doctors conducted neurological exams, a CT scan and an EKG test.

The small hospital didn’t have the facilities to diagnose or treat Jordan’s illness, so he was transferred by ambulance on Nov. 6 to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., a spokesman said. Doctors there quickly gave Jordan intravenous immunoglobulin, a standard treatment for GBS, Connin said.

“GBS, that’s the diagnosis they gave us and that’s how they were treating him,” Connin said.

A hospital spokesman, Tony Raker, declined further comment on Jordan's case. When an msnbc.com photographer asked to view Jordan's chart, even with his father's permission, hospital officials refused.

Doctors are reluctant to discuss GBS in connection with vaccines, Connin said. Anti-vaccine groups frequently cite the disorder as evidence of vaccine dangers, which public health officials fear will discourage people from getting life-saving protection, especially in the case of H1N1.

Jordan’s experience has made his parents think hard about immunization, even though they’ve always insisted on annual flu shots. Under CDC guidelines for children 9 and younger, Lleyton should receive another booster shot of H1N1 vaccine to protect him fully against the virus.

“I have mixed emotions on that one,” Calvin McFarland, the boys’ father, said. “We’re not sure what we’re going to do about that.”

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Doctors Get Bonuses Based on Number of Swine Flu Vaccinations They Give

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1226704/GPs-bigger-bonuses-meet-swine-flu-jab-targets.html



Cash incentive: GPs will get paid £7.88 for each swine flu vaccination

Doctors are in line for huge bonuses if large numbers of their patients sign up for swine flu jabs.

Managers at a major health trust are offering extra payments on top of the £5.25 that GPs already get per injection.

If they vaccinate more than 90 per cent of those deemed at risk of the disease in their area, they will get 50 per cent more per jab - £7.88 per person.

An uptake of just 40 per cent will earn doctors an extra 10 per cent.

The extra payments are being offered by Heart of Birmingham primary care trust, according to Pulse magazine.

It is not known whether the bonuses, which would be worth thousands of pounds per practice, are available elsewhere in the country.

Last night, critics expressed outrage that GPs were getting yet more money for effectively pushing drugs on to their patients.

They said medics should not be given extra rewards simply for doing their jobs.

Doctors insist the money will go towards overtime and the extra staff needed to give the jabs.

Yet GPs have seen their pay soar since the introduction of new contracts. The average salary is now more than £106,000 - 47 per cent higher than the £72,000 they earned in 2002/03, according to the Department of Health.

Pulse reports that officials in Birmingham are worried about a second wave of swine flu over the winter.

Vaccinations are initially being offered to pregnant women and patients with underlying health problems such as asthma and diabetes.

Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: 'It is hard to justify yet more payments to GPs. There is already an agreed payment which means that substantial amounts of money will flow to GPs.

'This agreement works on the assumption that GPs aren't motivated by what is best for their patients.

'The danger is that swine flu will become a massive money-spinner for drugs companies.'

Jackie Fletcher, of vaccination support group Jabs, said: 'There are huge questions about the integrity of vaccine decisions if doctors are paid to give them.'

A spokesman for the trust said Birmingham had been badly hit by swine flu over the summer and the bonus scheme was a carefully-considered response.

The scale of the impact of swine flu on the working-age population is starting to emerge.

Figures from the NHS Information Centre show that almost a half of all those admitted to hospital after catching the disease over the summer were aged between 17 and 59.

The figures are surprising because flu usually affects the young and the old.

They show that a bigger second wave of the illness could have a devastating impact on the economy, and could put the NHS under severe pressure.

The number of bed days spent in hospital by flu patients soared from 207 in July 2008 to 3,976 in July 2009.

Last week, an estimated 84,000 new cases of the virus were reported and experts are predicting a spike over the winter months. In July the figure stood at 100,000 a week.

Health Care Scares generate big money - the more people they can con into being vaccinated by a non-existant pandemic the better the $$$$$ for them. All the while Obama creates a National Emergency to try to scare people into his Health Care plan that with any luck will die in the senate!

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Obama Declares National H1N1 Emergency - giving federal authorities dangerous new powers that can now be enforced at gunpoint

"U.S. President Barack Obama has now declared a national emergency over swine flu infections. The reasoning behind such a declaration? According to the White House, it’s designed to “allow hospitals to better handle the surge in patients” by allowing them to bypass certain federal laws.

That’s the public explanation for this, but the real agenda behind this declaration may be far more sinister. Declaring a national emergency immediately gives federal authorities dangerous new powers that can now be enforced at gunpoint, including:"