Don't put an outdated religious ceremony taken way too far in the same universe as one of the 3 biggest developments in modern medicine alongside running water and antibiotics.
I really don't see how you can bitch about government intervention in healthcare when you've already got a government-run healthcare system that sucks dick.
The government dictates every part of the medical establishment from cradle to grave. You guys don't have a free market system. Quit pretending you do.
Extrapolating from 50 years ago, I think we'll be ok.
Nearly universal running water and modern plumbing changed the world, as did penicillin(which also helps reduce fatalities from viral infections like bad flus by eliminating the risk of opportunistic bacterial infections killing a patient who could have survived the flu alone).
The deaths caused by millions of cases of H1N1 around the world are a scant 4000, which is an insignificant number, especially compared to the 250,000 people who die annually from the flu around the world regardless.
Officials are projecting a nationwide shortage of H1N1 vaccine.
The majority of people are far outside of risk groups for contracting the disease, which by the numbers isn't terribly deadly. Even among dead children, it's mostly(66.6%) kids who had major medical conditions to begin with.
Therefore, it seems more ethical than not to ignore the vaccine and let that supply get used on the people who need it, rather than waste it on people who are perfectly capable of fighting a mild flu without the help of a vaccine.
Are you aware that getting the seasonal flu vaccine increased your chances of getting H1N1?
I agree that in your situation you should be taking every precaution, mind you. You've got a particularly at risk child at home, it's a good thing to get the vaccine for yourself and your wife. It doesn't have to be some scary pandemic, it's just what you should do given it's almost flu season.
Most of the people here, however, are knee-jerk idiots reacting to the latest thing the teevee told them to be scared of; and I've been saying so since the H1N1 hysteria first started back when there was still snow on the ground from the LAST flu season. If not for them, there wouldn't be a risk of supply shortage, in my view.
You're 15 times more likely to die of a car accident this year than from H1N1. You're 1000 times more likely to die from cancer. You're 1000 times more likely to die from heart disease.
Your co-worker was unlucky. Out of millions of confirmed cases of H1N1 that end with 14 days of bed rest untreated or two weeks of bedrest treated, you ended up knowing a fluky statistic who died.
We don't even know how many infections there are, except that there are millions of cases around the world, the vast majority of which are mild, with a grand total of 4000 deaths world-wide, which is an insignificant number next to anything you put next to it for perspective.
This is overblown, way out of proportion. H1N1 isn't a huge threat to anyone. You're 15 times more likely to die in an automobile accident, or 1000 times more likely to die of cancer or heart disease EACH. Shortage of vaccine is a minor concern.
I want to make it clear, I'm not anti-vaccine, I'm anti H1N1 panic.
We've managed to wipe out some of the most dangerous and deadly diseases on the planet with vaccines. These were diseases that had horrible outcomes, like entire hospitals of kids put into iron lungs in the darkest days of polio. Today, we can prevent deadly incurable diseases like hepatitis with a simple vaccine.
My issue is instead that H1N1 is overblown. There isn't a single fact available that justifies the insane hand-wringing over a slight mutation of a normal flu. It can be deadly, but so can a normal flu. It can spread quickly, but so can a normal flu. It has infected millions, but so does the normal flu. A nationwide shortage of vaccine isn't that huge a deal, because H1N1 itself isn't that huge of a deal. Most cases are mild.
So it's not like there's a terribly high fatality rate. I mean, it's troubling if it happens, but in context it's not worth the terrified screaming and debate going on.
I know. I was driving down the highway at 110km/h, with the cold 5 degree centigrade wind rushing through my hair, so I could get a litre of pop, and then I flipped my fiat because the speed limit was 50km/h! I survived, thank God. Speed limits are a great idea. God save the Queen.
Next, let's talk about that fatality rate. 477 people. Now, that is, in fact, an order of magnitude LESS than the seasonal flu. In the unlikely event that you were to die this year, the chance it was of swine flu is one quarter of one tenth of one percent.
You're just another hysterical idiot freaking out because the teevee told you to.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't put an outdated religious ceremony taken way too far in the same universe as one of the 3 biggest developments in modern medicine alongside running water and antibiotics.
What measures are you taking to prevent auto-erotic asphyxiation and other ways you're fairly unlikely to die?
Don't be such a dick.
He could also just stick sharpened pencils into his ears until he can't hear them in there anymore.
The US dollar is shit, I don't really see why mexicans or Canadians would want to switch to it.
I really don't see how you can bitch about government intervention in healthcare when you've already got a government-run healthcare system that sucks dick.
The government dictates every part of the medical establishment from cradle to grave. You guys don't have a free market system. Quit pretending you do.
Extrapolating from 50 years ago, I think we'll be ok.
Nearly universal running water and modern plumbing changed the world, as did penicillin(which also helps reduce fatalities from viral infections like bad flus by eliminating the risk of opportunistic bacterial infections killing a patient who could have survived the flu alone).
Ooh, let me throw a different argument out there.
The deaths caused by millions of cases of H1N1 around the world are a scant 4000, which is an insignificant number, especially compared to the 250,000 people who die annually from the flu around the world regardless.
Officials are projecting a nationwide shortage of H1N1 vaccine.
The majority of people are far outside of risk groups for contracting the disease, which by the numbers isn't terribly deadly. Even among dead children, it's mostly(66.6%) kids who had major medical conditions to begin with.
Therefore, it seems more ethical than not to ignore the vaccine and let that supply get used on the people who need it, rather than waste it on people who are perfectly capable of fighting a mild flu without the help of a vaccine.
Please be a little less generous with the F-word.
Flu?
Are you aware that getting the seasonal flu vaccine increased your chances of getting H1N1?
I agree that in your situation you should be taking every precaution, mind you. You've got a particularly at risk child at home, it's a good thing to get the vaccine for yourself and your wife. It doesn't have to be some scary pandemic, it's just what you should do given it's almost flu season.
Most of the people here, however, are knee-jerk idiots reacting to the latest thing the teevee told them to be scared of; and I've been saying so since the H1N1 hysteria first started back when there was still snow on the ground from the LAST flu season. If not for them, there wouldn't be a risk of supply shortage, in my view.
Some alternative views from a doctor who doesn't have crazy old man duct tape on his windows.
Contributing to a shortage of swine flu vaccine seems to be a public health issue in the opposite way from what you're implying.
You have a poor definition of "lucky".
You're 15 times more likely to die of a car accident this year than from H1N1. You're 1000 times more likely to die from cancer. You're 1000 times more likely to die from heart disease.
Your co-worker was unlucky. Out of millions of confirmed cases of H1N1 that end with 14 days of bed rest untreated or two weeks of bedrest treated, you ended up knowing a fluky statistic who died.
Hey, do you remember anything happening in 1918?
Say, something involving millions of people hanging around in pits filled with lots of rats and rotting corpses?
I'd swear that sounds familiar, 1918...
I don't think I'll ever get polio or smallpox.
The good geeks don't need MBAs to have money and power.
Nothing. It's a viral infection. That's the point.
We don't even know how many infections there are, except that there are millions of cases around the world, the vast majority of which are mild, with a grand total of 4000 deaths world-wide, which is an insignificant number next to anything you put next to it for perspective.
This is overblown, way out of proportion. H1N1 isn't a huge threat to anyone. You're 15 times more likely to die in an automobile accident, or 1000 times more likely to die of cancer or heart disease EACH. Shortage of vaccine is a minor concern.
I want to make it clear, I'm not anti-vaccine, I'm anti H1N1 panic.
We've managed to wipe out some of the most dangerous and deadly diseases on the planet with vaccines. These were diseases that had horrible outcomes, like entire hospitals of kids put into iron lungs in the darkest days of polio. Today, we can prevent deadly incurable diseases like hepatitis with a simple vaccine.
My issue is instead that H1N1 is overblown. There isn't a single fact available that justifies the insane hand-wringing over a slight mutation of a normal flu. It can be deadly, but so can a normal flu. It can spread quickly, but so can a normal flu. It has infected millions, but so does the normal flu. A nationwide shortage of vaccine isn't that huge a deal, because H1N1 itself isn't that huge of a deal. Most cases are mild.
You're right! Quickly, divorce your wife and go find 30 inexpensive prostitutes, and hire no more than 15 of them!
WHY? Why are you still typing? Don't you realise we have to PANIC?!
Well, there are millions of cases of H1N1[1]
So it's not like there's a terribly high fatality rate. I mean, it's troubling if it happens, but in context it's not worth the terrified screaming and debate going on.
I know. I was driving down the highway at 110km/h, with the cold 5 degree centigrade wind rushing through my hair, so I could get a litre of pop, and then I flipped my fiat because the speed limit was 50km/h! I survived, thank God. Speed limits are a great idea. God save the Queen.
Here's the problem: You're lying. Nothing you just said is the truth.
First, let's talk about those dead kids. 2/3rds of them had 'high risk' medical conditions, "24 of the 36 children".
Next, let's talk about that fatality rate. 477 people. Now, that is, in fact, an order of magnitude LESS than the seasonal flu. In the unlikely event that you were to die this year, the chance it was of swine flu is one quarter of one tenth of one percent.
You're just another hysterical idiot freaking out because the teevee told you to.
Actually, it's not a very high mortality rate at all.
Among the top 10 killers(responsible for 1,855,660 deaths in 2006), influenza is responsible for about 3% of deaths.
Sense of scale. We're lacking it here.
Head to a college website, jackass. Hell, the college I went to has hundreds of billboards showing the successful career folks who came from it.