OCEAN BEACH, CA. Many of the respondents in our recent poll about the Swine Flu expressed doubts about vaccinations and believed it was much to do about nothing. 73% of those who voted either felt it was not important for them to be vaccinated or the whole thing was “a lot of hype and hysteria.”
34% stated that it was not important for them to be vaccinated. And even more, 39%, believed that the hysteria surrounding the flu and the vaccines was hype – 39%!!
In contrast, only 27% expressed interest in the vaccination. 6% said they had received the vaccine, but 8% said they had tried to be vaccinated but it was not available, and 13% did say they plan on getting vaccinated. (We had one person leave a message that they already had the Swine flu.)
Here is the poll and the responses in the order presented:
What about the swine flu (H1N1) – have you been vaccinated ?
1. Yes, I got the swine flu vaccine.
4—6% of all votes
2. I tried to get the vaccine but it was not available.
5—8% of all votes
3. I plan on getting vaccinated.
8—13% of all votes
4. Nope, it’s not that important for me to be vaccinated.
21—34% of all votes
5. It’s a lot of hype and hysteria.
24—39% of all votes
The poll was based on 62 respondents, and ran from November 9th to the 18th, 2009.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
You seem shocked that so many feel it’s hype and hysteria. Care to expand on that? I’m curious.
Huh? Not at all. I helped write the poll. It is shocking if you watch or read the local establishment media.
The 1918 flu pandemic killed somewhere between 50 and 100 MILLION people world wide. The victims tended to be healthy adults. That is a staggering figuring and the “victims” were a demographic that we normally would consider safe.
That being said, neither my husband nor I have opted for the vaccine against H1N1. I’m no medical purist. I am really really happy to have antibiotics. But I also think that the a constant barrage of news relies on stirring up the pot to see what crisis du jour will stick.
It is difficult for me to figure out what is the crisis du jour and what is a rational medical intervention. I would be tied up in knots if I had a child in the age range deemed most at risk by the Center for Disease Control. I’d be interested in hearing how parents in our blogging community have handled this…
Hype or not….the cost to the taxpayer can be pretty high. This copied and pasted from Yahoo finance news Nov. 5th:
The U.S. FDA issued BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BCRX – News) emergency use authorization for its swine flu antiviral in October, but at that point a price had not been settled. In an interview with CNBC, CEO Jon Stonehouse declined to comment on his negotiations with the government, except to say that, “clearly a premium should be charged for those drugs that help people get out of the ICU quickly.” Today BioCryst received its first government order for 10,000 courses of peramivir with a hefty $22.5 million price tag — more than $2,000 per course.
Stonehouse said, “We expect to complete production of approximately 120,000 additional courses of i.v. peramivir by the end of December, and we are prepared to produce more if required.” If the pricing remains constant that would be nearly $300 million in revenue for the less than $400 million company, though it’s not clear if that would be the case.
Larry- It’s about money. It’s about news hype. It’s about a sobering history of pandemics. Where is the real health issue buried in all this? Should I get a vaccine?
If you were given the choice of $2000.00 or the shot…which would you choose?
Of course we don’t get to make that choice. Just like we don’t get to refuse subsidizing the fructose industry with our tax dollars. It just riles me that our government overspends on vaccines at a time when they really need to tackle public healthcare. I wonder how many of those $2000.oo shots went to prisoners?
larry ob, one of the key populations susceptible to mass pandemics are those that live in really very close quarters, without much sunlight, without good medical care, and importantly without the ability to leave when someone coughs. Let’s see …. hmmmm