Delaware Thim. ban lifted due to influenza vaccine shortage

[kathymuggle]

Props to Serenbat for finding this.

I thought it deserved its own thread, so it did not get buried:

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/health-science/item/50003-mercury-free-vaccine?Itemid=3

"Normally, Delaware law forbids doctors from giving vaccine containing mercury to pregnant women and children younger than age 8. This week pediatrician and Director of Public Health Karyl Rattay temporarily lifted the ban on vaccines made with thimerosal, a preservative that contains trace amounts of mercury."

Lovely.

Edited by kathymuggle - 1/23/13 at 6:55pm

[emmy526]

Wonder what kind of adverse events.reactions will be downplayed? Or will it come out in the news 3 yrs later like the narcolepsy story is now finally unfolding?   

[serenbat]

I wasn't aware of this until tonight (Del) but I also didn't know about this - http://globalhealth.kff.org/Daily-Reports/2013/January/02/GH-010213-Opinion-Vaccine-Progress-At-Risk.aspx

http://www.examiner.com/article/u-s-pediatricians-oppose-u-n-proposal-to-ban-thimerosal-vaccines

Quote:

Wonder what kind of adverse events.reactions will be downplayed? Or will it come out in the news 3 yrs later like the narcolepsy story is now finally unfolding?   

we always find this stuff out later! http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-narcolepsy-vaccine-pandemrix-idUSBRE90L07H20130122

[Taximom5]

Many states (including IL and WA, last I checked) have had legislation in place for some time now to allow thimerosal-preserved vaccines to be given to children "in case of a shortage."

How they expect us to believe that there's a flu shot shortage when uptake is LESS than they'd expected, and LESS than in some previous years...

Anybody remember in...was it 2004, when they announced the first flu shot shortage?  Up til then, very few people ever got flu shots unless they were encouraged to do so due to asthma or chronic illness.  But once the shortage was announced, along with the ominous words, "there may not be enough to go around, so people with chronic conditions such as asthma would be first in line;" suddenly, people were lining up around the block to get "their" flu shot.  People who had never wheezed in their life were insisting that they had asthma.

I had colleagues who told of taking their children to the pediatrician and LYING, telling the ped that the child wheezed after exercising, in order to get their child one of the few remaining flu shots. They advised the rest of us to lie, too, so that we could get "our" flu shots.

It was one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns ever dreamed of: tell people that there's not enough to go around, and human nature/greed will kick in, and eveyrone will want one.

And they're doing it again.

Funny how they don't mention that the flu shot is ineffective, or that a subgroup will have devastating reactions to it.

And because the vaccination schedule is government-recommended, nobody remembers that vaccines are a profit-making business.

[serenbat]

I just wonder how many will even be told! 

[Taximom5]

Originally Posted by serenbat 

I just wonder how many will even be told! 

Based on past history, no patient will be told that they are being given a thimerosal-preserved vaccine unless they specifically ask.  Even then, based on history, they are likely to be told, "all pediatric vaccines are thimerosal-free" or "all vaccines are thimerosal-free, didn't you know?" regardless of the shot being drawn from a multi-use vial (which, of course, means that it is thimerosal-preserved."

Unfortunately, all too often, medical personnel, including doctors and nurses, are unaware that multi-use vials are thimerosal-preserved.

[serenbat]

Quote:

Based on past history, no patient will be told that they are being given a thimerosal-preserved vaccine unless they specifically ask.  Even then, based on history, they are likely to be told, "all pediatric vaccines are thimerosal-free" or "all vaccines are thimerosal-free, didn't you know?" regardless of the shot being drawn from a multi-use vial (which, of course, means that it is thimerosal-preserved."

Unfortunately, all too often, medical personnel, including doctors and nurses, are unaware that multi-use vials are thimerosal-preserved.

exactly 

[Taximom5]

And notice how they define thimerosal as "a preservative that contains trace amounts of mercury."

Um, no, it's 49.6% mercury.