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One thing is clear. Everyone who was surveyed knows what the H1N1 virus is. This is a good thing because we all need to be aware of new health issues as they arise. What is probably not a surprise is that 60% of surveyors learned about the swine flue from a television news broadcasts (TVB) and feels this media outlet distributes the most information about the swine flu and 73.3% of surveyors trust this outlet to provide accurate information. Even though 60% of surveyors learned about the swine flu through TVB, 66.7% prefer to get their information about health related issues from the same source. With 40%, of the surveyors preferring the internet, 13.3% choosing a periodical and 6.7% preferring word of mouth and/or radio, it shows how influential the media is in our knowledge of health related issues. With the fast pace of our lives and the convenience of being able to watch the news while eating or listen to radio on the way to work, it make sense as to why the media influences much of our research about any pressing issue. The questions I hoped to answer were (1) how influential is the media in our understanding of the H1N1 vaccine and (2) how accurate is the media’s portrayal of the issue.
Many of us are familiar with the “Swine Flu Pandemic” thanks to our wonderful media outlets, but what scares me is that many don’t understand that the swine flu is not a pandemic at all. Merriam-Webster defines a pandemic as “occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population” while it also defines an epidemic as “affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same” or “excessively prevalent”. So where would a virus that killed about 16,800 people as reported by the World Health Organization fall? Well, according to the WHO and Wikipedia it would be a pandemic. There have been millions of reported cases, but only about 16,800 deaths worldwide that have been confirmed as caused by swine flu. In fact, the swine flu still has yet to reach numbers like the 36,000 seasonal flu deaths each year in the US alone. What is even more disturbing is that the WHO calls the HIV/AIDS outbreak an epidemic with its total of 25 million deaths. In 2008 alone there were 35 million cases and 3 million of these were new cases. To top it off, 2 million people died in 2008 from the AIDS “epidemic”.
About 26% of surveyors thought the death toll was much higher than it really is and this makes me also wonder if the media is doing a good job of accurately distributing health related information about this disease. Many people flocked to the clinics as soon as the vaccine was available in hopes of swine flu cure that 53% of surveyors also believed was indeed a cure and for 66.7% of surveyor’s this information came directly from a media source. The reason this bothers me is because there is no cure for the swine flu. The CDC recommends that it is treated much like the seasonal flu so why is the media treating this like it’s the next small pox outbreak? Maybe they are looking for the next big story instead of doing what they were developed to do; distribute accurate information to the American people. I don’t blame the American people for trusting a media source that is supposed to report accurately. Instead, I blame the journalist and reporters who have come so far from the days when you could trust your local news reporter to give you trustworthy information. Not all have succumb to such incredibility, but if 84% of surveyors know that the common descriptive term for AIDS/HIV is “epidemic” they must be getting it from some mass news distribution source.
Still, a sigh of great relief came over me when I saw that 84% of surveyors understand that the AIDS/HIV issue is more critical than the swine flu at this time and that most were well informed about the death tolls of AIDS/HIV. With nearly 50% of surveyors also seeking out information about health related issues from health professionals it shows me that the Dynamic Virtue readers know where to get accurate information and I am glad to hear that. I can’t help, but wonder about those who are not as enlightened as my readers and those who don’t have a health professional that they can turn to. Will they rush to the clinic the moment they start to sneeze or flood emergency rooms as soon as they get seasonal flu symptoms? For the sake of the gunshot victims and heart attack patients, I hope not. I also hope that my DV readers will spread their insight to others.
What about me?
Many people have also asked me if I will be getting the H1N1 vaccine. I tell them the same thing I tell those who ask me if I celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day; “HECK NO!” Here are my reasons (for not getting the shot – Saint Patrick’s Day is a different entry!!):
· The swine flu is a different strand of the seasonal flu and every year they discover a new strand of the flu.
· If the H1N1 virus is so unique and is such a threat, then how do they already have a vaccine available? A vaccine is a dead or weak virus that is placed into your body in hopes that your body will fight it and naturally develop immunity to the virus. If we don’t know much about a virus I am not placing it into my body. We don’t know the long term mutation capabilities of this “new” virus and we don’t know that the viral latency (ability of a virus to lay dormant) of the H1N1 virus. We don’t know if it will build up immunity to our immunity system or mutate into a retrovirus that fuses with our DNA to become nearly undetectable by our immune system.
· The Dangers of Thermisoil (http://www.thimerosal-litigation.com/html/dangers.html). Enough said.
· The CDC isn’t very confident in the vaccine. When asked if the vaccine is safe their response was that it is similarly as safe as the seasonal flu vaccine and then goes on to tell how safe the seasonal flu vaccine is. When asked if the benefits outweigh the risk of the H1N1 vaccine the CDC states that vaccinations are the best way to prevent the influenza infection and healthcare providers intensively promote vaccination for the seasonal flu. They follow this by saying this is why so much work is being done to have the vaccine avail for the H1N1 virus and give more facts about the seasonal flu vaccine. So they didn’t answer the question at all and phrased it in a way that would lead the reader to think that the information they are giving about the seasonal flu being beneficial automatically extends to the H1N1 virus. If the CDC doesn’t REALLY trust the virus, then neither do I. (What were they to do with the public hysteria about the swine flu created by the media) <http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/vaccine_safety_qa.htm#g>
· I’m still waiting on the AIDS/HIV vaccine.
I could go on forever about why I, personally, am not going to get this vaccination right now, but it can all be summed up in a bit of advice a friend gave me. “Don’t be the first or the last person to try anything.”
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