Hot Topic (1/21): Was the swine flu a "false pandemic"?

[Cafe GroupAdmin]

The 'false' pandemic: Drug firms cashed in on scare over swine flu, claims Euro health chief

The swine flu outbreak was a 'false pandemic' driven by drug companies that stood to make billions of pounds from a worldwide scare, a leading health expert has claimed.

Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, accused the makers of flu drugs and vaccines of influencing the World Health Organisation's decision to declare a pandemic.

This led to the pharmaceutical firms ensuring 'enormous gains', while countries, including the UK, 'squandered' their meagre health budgets, with millions being vaccinated against a relatively mild disease.

A resolution proposed by Dr Wodarg calling for an investigation into the role of drug firms has been passed by the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based 'senate' responsible for the European Court of Human Rights.

An emergency debate on the issue will be held later this month.

Dr Wodarg's claims come as it emerged the British government is desperately trying to offload up to £1billion of swine flu vaccine, ordered at the height of the scare.

The Department of Health warned of 65,000 deaths, set up a special advice line and website, suspended normal rules so anti-flu drugs could be given out without prescription and told health and local authorities to prepare for a major pandemic.

Planners were told to get morgues ready for the sheer scale of deaths and there were warnings that the Army could be called in to prevent riots as people fought to obtain drugs.

But with fewer than 5,000 in England catching the disease last week and just 251 deaths overall, Dr Wodarg has branded the H1N1 outbreak as 'one of the greatest medical scandals of the century'.

He said: 'We have had a mild flu - and a false pandemic.'

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Do you think the H1N1 outbreak was "one of the greatest medical scandals of the century"?

Were drug companies just looking to make a profit by causing panic?

What do you think?  Was the Swine Flu pandemic hype or a real danger to us all?

[cballard29]

Well I have to say that No one in my family had that darn shot or nasal spray and guess what we are fine and never got sick at all and we supposedly had the swine flu in our school they said and were trying to force us to give our children the nasal spray and said not gonna happen...So who knows really but I think it was all hype!!! Ya people got sick and some even passed away put thank about it happens every year this time they just made it worse and made sure that it was leaked to the press that people were dying..But that is just my opinion!! LoL....

[butterfly_doll]

Hubby and I were watching Meet The Press some weeks back and they showed some archived footage where we learned that this same H1N1 "threat" was reported about 30 yrs ago! We were both surprised. Neither of us is much older than 30 so we wouldn't remember of course.  But it is something, because I thought this virus was new...  at least that's how it was reported on the news, as a new threat. Now,  it looks to me like old tricks. So yes, I do think it was a false pandemic, although I'm not sure if the reason for it was just to make money. It may also have been to experiment more with the "vaccine."

[AdkArmyMom]

There's at least one major outbreak of flu annually and there are always deaths associated with it.  I do believe that the swine flu is a manufactured threat and my family and I have not, and will not, be receiving the swine flu vaccine.  We've had the "regular" flu shot and no one has been sick.  The government creates panic and the media panders to it.

[katy_kay]

I think most of it was hyped first by the CDC who wants to enforce herd immunity and the vaccine companies jumped right up to help insure we were good and scared. 

[cagnew80]

I don't know if I believe it was the drug industry that pushed this (although I am sure they were very happy about the profits). I think it was a false pandemic, but I think it was created for darker purposes than just someone making money. Too many things fail to add up and make sense.

We did not and will not get the vaccine. We don't do the regular flu vax either.

[LuvNMyBbs]

H1N1, SARS, bird flu, MRSA, mad cow disease, the list continues.  The danger of an outbreak is always there.  That doesn't change the fact that with proper health precautions most people face a very minimal risk.  H1N1 is certainly not the only "epidemic", merely the most recent in a very long list.  I am sure there are several lobbyists in DC right now whispering "what if" in some senators ear to encourage them to be afraid and convince their constituents to be afraid.   I don't believe that the pharmaceutical industry will shy away or correct the government when they say the word epidemic because they profit from the hysteria.  On the side of the government I do think it is pretty commonly known that fear is a method of control (the terror alert colors seriously come to mind here.)  I do believe that there is the "better to cry wolf then be eaten, no matter how unlikely" thought process in America.  Though America is not alone.  In Japan a lot of the general population wear masks, it is especially prevalent in the more crowded areas like Tokyo. Vaccines come with their own risks and I do not vaccinate myself or my children unless we are asked or told we have to.  In order to travel overseas we had to have several vaccinations and our children's vacs had to be updated.  However I don't seek them out and find them mostly pointless and in some cases dangerous.  My husband had to have the vaccine because he is military, my son had to have it because we had to have a booster and they did them both at the same time, I wasn't given an option.  I was told they were giving him the shot because they had confirmed cases in his school and they were going to make it mandatory anyway.  I didn't fight them about it but they haven't made it mandatory yet.  My daughter and I will not be vaccinated unless we have to be.  Either way I don't think it is a really big deal.  With the vaccine we can still get sick.  My fear is that with the increased use of antibiotics and vaccines more common bacteria and viruses will mutate and one will develop into something that truly can't be treated with the medicines we have available. 

[PamR]

My 13 year old's school had a pretty widespread outbreak of H1N1 and she got it.  It turned into pneumonia.  I know of a couple of children who were hospitalized with it last fall, but thankfully, nothing worse than that.  I don't know that all the hype was really necessary.  We couldn't even get the vaccine until after the flu had spread around here.

[Talee]

Quoting PamR:

My 13 year old's school had a pretty widespread outbreak of H1N1 and she got it.  It turned into pneumonia.  I know of a couple of children who were hospitalized with it last fall, but thankfully, nothing worse than that.  I don't know that all the hype was really necessary.  We couldn't even get the vaccine until after the flu had spread around here.

My sister and neices all had it out in CA...they didnt get the flu shots and went to a homeopathic dr (who doesnt believe in shots) and they made it through fine. My sister who is in her 50s had a harder time than her kids...

I dont do flu shots and my kids dont either.

[Talee]

OH and I am sure the drug companies took advantage of it....why wouldnt they.

[jlizgar]

I do believe it was a manufactured false pandemic.....the regular flu kills many people every year, I dont see the "swine flu" as much different, I actually believe its killed way less than your average flu but im not exactly sure of the numbers.

I dont get flu shots and neither do my kids and we rarely get sick and so far this flu season none of us have been sick....BUT, my husband is military and was all but forced to get the regular flu shot AND the H1N1 and after getting the shot my middle son got a cold....not a full blown flu but a cold and he has not even had so much as a cold all season long, im convinced its because my hubby gave it to him somehow after having those shots. Hubby thankfully didnt get sick but did feel pretty off for a few days.

Anyways, I was never worried about it and am still not worried about it, we keep our selves healthy in many ways but vaccines is NOT one of them!