The threat from A/H1N1, a subtype
influenza virus commonly referred to as swine flu, drove people who have not
contracted the virus to contact the National Health Service Direct (NHS Direct)
helpline in England.
In July, 52,000 calls were fielded from people frantic about reports that the latest victims to succumb to
the new subtype virus were healthy.
Chloe Buckley, six, died July 9th 48 hours after arriving at St Mary's
Hospital in Paddington.
That very same day a 64-year-old
general practitioner, Dr. Michael Day, who was treating swine flu victims,
died.
Several United Kingdom (UK) media
sources proclaimed that these cases were the first to die without having
underlying health conditions. However, further details that were later released
suggested otherwise.
Chloe originally went to the
hospital because of a sore throat. MailOnline.com reported that she was
misdiagnosed with tonsillitis. The Sun reported that her
distraught parents believed that if she received anti-flu medicine at the time
she arrived to the hospital she would still be alive.
The comment that The
Sun attributed to Chloe’s parents is out of sequence with how the event
actually occurred. TimesOnline later put the episode
in its proper order.
Three days after their
daughter Chloe died, Michael and Jacinta Buckley were told their daughter contracted
the A/H1N1 virus on Sunday. As for the claim that she was misdiagnosed, the
results of post-mortem investigation listed the official cause of death as
“septic shock” due to a tonsillitis infection caused by streptococcus A bacterium, also called
strep throat.
The omitted facts
didn’t end there. The media was claiming
that the virus was killing healthy victims. Dr. Day, who was one of those
“healthy” victims, had actually suffered a blood clot to the lungs and was known to have heart disease and high blood pressure.
The hasty reporting by
the news media that is absent of crucial facts, like the ones just illustrated,
is fueling hysteria around the world over a relatively innocuous virus by
comparison. The dubious precautions taken by governments raise questions about
what people should fear more: the “deadly” pandemic or the deadly propaganda?
“We do have to remain
cautious,” England's
chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson told BBC
News. “The
virus may change or mutate, but as it stands at the moment, it's not a severe
illness for most people but some people can get it very severely.”
A regular Influenza
virus worldwide is responsible for between 250,000 and 500,000 deaths. The new subtype
influenza virus has a 0.5% death rate. Nevertheless, the UK government
has organized and equipped itself for a toe-to-toe showdown schedule for this
fall to fend off possible mass illnesses that they believe will be caused by the virus.
All this despite the
fact that no irrefutable proof has been verified that the subtype influenza A
virus causes death. The so-called Swine flu, when it is reported on, is either
“known”
to have killed or “linked” to killing
more than 700 people. All of them had underlying health conditions.
When a patient died in the greater Glasgow
area, a Scottish government spokesman
stated that the patient had died from underlying health conditions and said the
parents requested that no details be released, not even the gender and age.
The UK Ministry of Justice even
blocked an inquest into the deaths of two victims alleged to have died from the
new H1N1 virus. A spokeswoman stated that, “There’s no requirement to
hold an inquest into a natural death. Deaths from swine flu would be regarded
by coroners as natural.” [emphasis added]
In spite of having insufficient
information about the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) is fast-tracking an A/H1N1 vaccine and making it available in Europe at
least two months before the US.
The UK is gearing
up to vaccinate 60 million people against the virus including health-care workers,
children and pregnant women. The European Medicines Agency approved GlaxoSmithKline PLC and the controversial
Baxter International Inc. to supply Britain with vaccines.
Enlisting Baxter’s
help, by some, would come as an alarm. Especially after the
situation that took place in February when a subcontractor in the Czech Republic
inoculated ferrets with what was believed to be human H3N2 flu viruses. To their surprise, the ferrets died. The vaccine, as it turns out, was laced with
live H5N1—avian flu viruses.
The contaminants were
released by Baxter’s Austrian firm Avir Green Hills Biotechnology. It was
then distributed to three sub-contractors in Czech
Republic, Slovenia
and Germany.
The Toronto Sun reported
that the mixing process, called reassortment, is one of two ways pandemics are
spread. The combination of H3N2 and H5N1 would serve as an incubator for a
hybrid virus if a person was infected, the Toronto Sun reported. Then,
the virus would be able to transmit easily to and among people.
Three months later, Baxter began working with WHO on a vaccine for the new influenza
virus. The vaccine “mix-up” was not the first time Baxter became a name mired
in shoddy health procedures that put other people’s lives in danger.
During the 1970’s and
early 1980’s an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 hemophiliacs in the United States
and Japan
became infected with H.I.V. when they
received tainted clotting substance made by Baxter.
But Baxter is not the only
pharmaceutical company standing to make a profit from the sales of anti-flu medicines
that will be distributed in Western countries.
Industry analysts are predicting
that companies like UK’s own
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will
make £1 billion ($1.6 billion) from the sales of A/H1N1 vaccines.
“Swine flu is going to
be positive for the performance [of the company], but only because we have put
ourselves in a position to do it,” Andrew Witty, GSK’s chief executive, said.
“And we have done that
by taking very significant risks over a long time, diverting a huge amount of
resources to it and doing the research that nobody else has done, so I'm not
going to apologize for the fact that the company is going to make a return.”
GSK has 195 million
vaccine doses under contract that are scheduled to sell at £6 ($10) a dose in
Western countries. One of the analysts at WestLB, Simon Mather, believes GSK
will generate sales of at least £500 million ($842 million) by next January
then climb to £1 billion ($1.6 billion).
GSK is getting plenty
of promotion from government officials in the UK who are advocating for the
distribution of anti-flu vaccines from Relenza inhaler to Tamiflu. The exposure
would contribute heavily to spurring profits for the company.
The power to promote
vaccine sales then financially benefit from them is a scenario where Professor Sir Roy Anderson finds himself. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies
and on the board of GSK and makes £116,000-a-year ($195,000-a-year) from the
company.
The United States (US)
government is also gearing-up and making provisions to tackle the threat of the
new influenza A virus. It is a familiar road once travelled before; with
any luck, past mistakes won’t be repeated.
The US government
in the past mobilized a mass of people to be vaccinated against swine flu with disastrous consequences. In October 1976, under Ford Administration 40 million people were vaccinated when 19-year-old
Pvt. David Lewis stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, became ill earlier that same year. Two months later, after the vaccine campaign began, more than 30 people died and 500 people developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a paralyzing neuromuscular disorder possibly link to swine flu vaccine.
The demographic most
at risk will receive the vaccine first. The elderly had extra immunity to the
new virus. According to Reuters, in a
study published in the journal Nature
confirmed that the H1N1 virus is similar to the 1918 influenza strain that
killed 50 million to 100 million people. Those born before 1920 still carry
antibodies to the strain in their blood and their immune system remembered the
childhood infection.
Dr. Chan with WHO said children were the most vulnerable along with pregnant women and those with severe
asthma, diabetes and obesity.
British researchers Matt Keeling and Thomas House used a computer model to
predict the spread of the virus and said that vaccinating children would help
control the spread of the pandemic.
In the US, 12,000 children will be
the first to receive the vaccine for the human trial. Followed by them will be pregnant women, adults with chronic illnesses, and
health-care workers according to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius.
The US government has spent around $1 billion
on flu vaccines and has $7 billion available to purchase more vaccines or
develop other pandemic countermeasures.
Five companies, including Baxter and
GSK, plan to have 100 million doses of vaccine ready by mid-October and 120
million for worldwide use.
The vaccine will
contain a live weakened version of the virus. The vaccine will also
contain an antibacterial additive called thimerosal, which according to the National
Toxicological Program causes central nervous system injury including coma
and death. The study also found “statistically-significant associations between exposure to thimerosal-containing
vaccines before the age of 6 months and tic disorders, attention deficit disorders (ADD), and speech and
language disorders.”
In another research
paper titled Thimerosal VSD Study Phase I, it contended that the
risk of neurological development disorders increased with more exposure.
A new drug is supposed
to be tested on animals and monitored carefully before it is then used on
humans. The process is intended to avoid human casualties like what happened in
Poland. 21
people from a homeless centre were paid £1-£2 ($1.70-$3.40) to be tested with a conventional
flu vaccine. The hapless victims were really given an anti bird-flu drug to
combat H5N1 bird-flu virus. The 21 unwitting “trial subjects” later died.
The three Polish
doctors and six nurses now face criminal prosecution.
The scenario described
would mean legal liability could have pharmaceutical companies battling it out
in court and would cause a potential loss in profits from lawsuits as a result
of the possible harmful effects from the vaccines. Fortunately, for big-pharma
this will not be an issue.
In July, it was
announced that in a document signed by (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius that vaccine
makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits.
Under Executive Orders
already signed it would make refusal
to take the vaccine result in a one-year prison term and $250,000 fine.
Executive Order 13295 HHS Kathleen Sebelius would assume the functions of the president and apprehend, detain, or conditionally release
individuals to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of suspected communicable
diseases.
Once approval is
granted by HHS, the Surgeon General has the authority to issue quarantines
according to a CBS news report.
The quarantines are
limited to diseases listed in presidential executive orders. Because this new
virus has left scientists
“baffled” because it is a “never seen before
and “novel” virus, quarantines will be permitted
for this virus under Executive Order 13375 signed by former
President George W. Bush due to the Executive Order having a provision for
novel viruses.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates
is considering a proposal that would allow the military task force under direction of US
Northern Command to work along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to
set up regional teams to help civilian authorities in the event of a
significant outbreak.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. might also play a part
in helping with the vaccination campaign. Representatives from the company have
discussed with US health officials the likelihood of establishing vaccination
sites at some stores for the inoculation campaign in case of an outbreak.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, the
phones at NHS Direct will be heavily manned now
that Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam
Donaldson has announced the agency needs to prepare for 65,000 deaths based on an “assumption” calculated from
questionable arithmetic.
The callers will be able to answer
questions from operators about their illness. If their answers “suggest”
they’re stricken with swine flu, the operators will prescribe Tamiflu for them
without seeing a doctor.
The A/H1N1 threat, whether real or
imagined, has given rise to global government mobilization and requires all
citizens to comply in hope for a return to normalcy later. WHO is requesting
that governments take preventive measures and do for private citizens what they
can’t do for themselves without sufficient resources.
The measures that governments are
taking with the pharmaceutical companies are either for the good of their
respective countries—or have underlying conditions.