I didn't want to blog on this topic. I did not want to open the can of proverbial worms. I did not want to engage the scary media people, the hyped up parents or the misinformed. However, due to the increasing number of emails received with concern to this subject I will in fact address the issue. The issue I speak of is H1N1.
Before I begin my verbal insults of the medical profession and your local news station I will make a disclaimer. I am the parent of two, innately healthy, unvaccinated children who have optimally functioning immune systems. Never have their arms been extended to take in a toxic soup of chemicals. Never have they cried from needle pricks. Never have I been awakened by the high pitched fever scream of a freshly vaccinated child. Never have I walked into a doctor's office asking for advice on the soreness, the fever or the wailing to be told it is "normal". Perhaps we are not "normal". I can live with that.
With that said, and a clear warning of my biased, yet extensively researched opinion on all things vaccination I will continue with the blog.
It seems that this morning Ontario citizens woke up with increased fear of the dreaded swine flu (and no, I will not further sensationalize the name with capital letters). We poured our morning coffee and either turned on the morning news or picked up the paper. Regardless of the form of media first introduced to you in the early hours of this day the result was the same. A child had died in our province. A victim, stated the media, of H1N1. Suddenly message boards everywhere were a flurry of activity and parents started to doubt their doubts about the vaccine.
Being a parent myself I can understand the hysteria many parents feel today. My heart mourns for the child who passed and more so for the family he left behind. One can not possibly imagine the grief and despair they must feel. Our imaginations at what they must be going through are not wicked or evil enough to come close to that realization. But I sincerely hope that all parents are not allowing the death of this child to cloud their view - their rationalization.
There is a blatant force of misinformation and scaremongering in this country. The only place worse on earth wherein people are made to feel fearful and doubtful of all that they know is the United States. This past weekend President Obama declared a medical state of emergency. The president himself claimed that H1N1 was responsible for 1000 deaths in the United States. From an onlookers respect this sounds plausible. After all, we all know that for the last four months the first news story on any television channel was about the swine flu and its recent victims. I dare say that with all the deaths I have seen attributed to the swine flu the number of attributable deaths should actually be more. But I am smarter than that.
I find it interesting that even the president of the United States would be so careless as to make such a big statement, foolishly forgetting that Americans (and Canadians) are smart people with computers - computers to verify or nullify the very words he speaks.
1000 deaths? Oh, Mr. President. How could you think us so stupid?
The Center for Disease Control is the end all be all, it seems, for all things statistical concerning diseases of man. The CDC's own website clearly shows it has not been tracking cases of H1N1 since August of this year. One must wonder then, where Mr. Obama got his information. And why the scare tactic of declaring an emergency if his own governing body of all risks to public health doesn't see the need to track the same virus the president thinks so harmful. Why? Because it simply is not as harmful as the media has lead us to believe.
The actual incidence rate of confirmed cases of H1N1 is a mere two per cent. Yes, TWO percent. Of all the suspected cases of H1N1 only TWO percent have been confirmed to be the actual swine flu. Two per cent. It seems to me that everyone I know seems to know someone who has contracted H1N1. Either there are a lot of doctors telling patients they have H1N1 without the benefit of a positive lab swab or the numbers are way off. Something doesn't add up. In fact if you look at more common things like cancer and heart disease you will see that the stats offered in H1N1 are far less alarming than need be. In 2007 one in every 350 Americans contracted some form of skin cancer. In 2005 heart disease was responsible for 27% (CDC website) of all deaths in the U.S. alone. Do we turn on our televisions every night and hear frantic reports of fear mongering and standing in line to put out your arm and take in that cocktail of chemicals for the benefit of skin cancer or heart disease? No, we don't.
I have had a flurry of emails from daycare providers asking me about my stance on H1N1. These ladies want to know what I am doing to prevent this epidemic from entering my home. Some providers are so bold as to ask if I will demand the parents of the children in my care to get their child vaccinated. As a parent I would be appalled at anyone other than my spouse demanding such things. When did we, as daycare providers earn the right to force medical procedures and decisions on parents? We didn't before and we don't now.
For now I will sit and wait. I'll wait for the hysteria to die down, for the next big disease process to be renamed, and for big pharma to step in and save humanity as we know it with their pills and syringes. And while I wait I will silently pray that none of the children in my care ever have to put forth their tiny little arm to take in the toxins. In fact, I would love to have a daycare full of children who have never had to extend that tiny little arm. Send me the innately, perfectly immune children and I will welcome them with open arms.
I am not afraid. I do not live in fear. I have done my research. I live a healthy life. I have faith that the power that made the body will heal the body. And that, my friends is the short answer. With that I leave you this:
Dr. Mercola and The Swine Flu
For concerns, advice or suggestions I welcome your email at judytrickett@yahoo.ca
11 comments: