Peacenik knows Punditman is sick and tired of posting about swine flu and vaccines. But Peacenik isn't. Peacenik doesn't know if the authors of the article Punditman posted are quacks or not. There is lots of bad science available to support any argument. George bush just based 8 years of his presidency on bad science. And unfortunately bad science is so entrenched in today's society that it truly is difficult to make informed decisions about some topics.
Companies obviously have agendas. As do agencies, NGO's, lobbyists, the media and bloggers. Revere at Effect Measure seems to Peacenik to be someone who is trustworthy. Reading the comments to this post by Revere though does get into the question of adjuvants being added to vaccines. This makes Peacenik queasy. And this all may be academic in any case. In Canada the vaccine may not be available in time to make a difference. Peacenik will not be at the front of the line in any case if and when vaccine becomes available. Pregnant women and children first. Bad side effects will probably be known before cowardly Peacenik does or does not line up. Will Peacenik get the shot? Will Snowman? Will Punditamn? Will Taxiguy? Will JohnnyAnon? Will Humphrey the Hippie? Will Puttyman? Will Don Cherry?
Posted on: October 11, 2009 2:00 PM, by revere
If you are hesitating to be vaccinated for swine flu this year, perhaps this post will help you make up your mind. If it does, I hope it pushes you to get vaccinated, but whatever persuasion we attempt here will only be from a recital of what we know of the epidemiology of this pandemic. Because it is the different epidemiology that is the main feature, not the clinical characteristics or the virulence of the virus. So far this looks pretty much like a standard influenza A virus -- except for the epidemiology. Since I'm an epidemiologist, you might expect me to think this is important, and I do. Epidemiology is the public health science that studies the patterns of illness in populations. One kind of pattern we study is who is getting sick. And it is a change in this pattern that is one of the big differences between a pandemic strain and a seasonal strain.
Read on...
Companies obviously have agendas. As do agencies, NGO's, lobbyists, the media and bloggers. Revere at Effect Measure seems to Peacenik to be someone who is trustworthy. Reading the comments to this post by Revere though does get into the question of adjuvants being added to vaccines. This makes Peacenik queasy. And this all may be academic in any case. In Canada the vaccine may not be available in time to make a difference. Peacenik will not be at the front of the line in any case if and when vaccine becomes available. Pregnant women and children first. Bad side effects will probably be known before cowardly Peacenik does or does not line up. Will Peacenik get the shot? Will Snowman? Will Punditamn? Will Taxiguy? Will JohnnyAnon? Will Humphrey the Hippie? Will Puttyman? Will Don Cherry?
Posted on: October 11, 2009 2:00 PM, by revere
If you are hesitating to be vaccinated for swine flu this year, perhaps this post will help you make up your mind. If it does, I hope it pushes you to get vaccinated, but whatever persuasion we attempt here will only be from a recital of what we know of the epidemiology of this pandemic. Because it is the different epidemiology that is the main feature, not the clinical characteristics or the virulence of the virus. So far this looks pretty much like a standard influenza A virus -- except for the epidemiology. Since I'm an epidemiologist, you might expect me to think this is important, and I do. Epidemiology is the public health science that studies the patterns of illness in populations. One kind of pattern we study is who is getting sick. And it is a change in this pattern that is one of the big differences between a pandemic strain and a seasonal strain.
Read on...
