Chances of Neurological Disorder Seen in 1976 “Vanishingly Remote”
What kind of insane double-speak is this news conference? First he says that the incidence of childhood deaths are triple what they should be for this time of year (210 deaths). Then says, now that 80% of kiddies are getting Tamiflu, it is helping prevent serious illness. Correct me if I’m wrong but death is a pretty serious illness?
These guys are paid good taxpayers dollars to go out and mouth these insane statements. How can anyone with scientific pretentions put such a contradiction of “facts” into the same interview and hope nobody like me will notice? Tamiflu is NOT helping at all, if the death rate has gone up!
It’s just smoke-and-mirrors and make believe, masquerading as science.
This is Thomas Frieden MD, of the US Centers For Disease Control (CDC), giving his opinion. We’re all happy with part of his report, which is that serious reactions after receiving the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, especially Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), are rare and not significantly higher than those seen from the seasonal flu vaccine.
“The likelihood that we’ll have a 1976-like problem with this year’s H1N1 influenza vaccine is vanishingly remote,” said Frieden.
The flu is falling off dramatically in the US and most other territories. Still, 17 children died in the US last week of laboratory-confirmed H1N1 flu, bringing the number of child deaths to 210. That’s three times the number of flu deaths expected in children at this point in a normal flu season.
Frieden also saids the agency is seeing a dramatic improvement in the treatment of children who are severely ill with influenza, due to the use antivirals like Tamiflu. In most years, only one in five sick children arriving at a hospital have been started on an antiviral. This year, 80% are getting early treatment, which helps prevent severe illness.
“Vaccination is the single best thing you can do to protect yourself and your family against the flu,” Frieden said.
Not if it triples the death rate, you idiot!
During the press conference, Frieden said that a poll had been taken as to whether ‘flu would return later. About 50% said yes, 50% said no — and one expert said “flip a coin.”
That just about sums up the state of their science! Toss a coin…
SOURCE: Dec. 4, 2009, teleconference with Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Just to put this in perspective, even the wicked FDA is on the side of science here! The FDA required Roche to print the following disclaimer on Tamiflu lables: “Tamiflu has not been proven to have a positive impact on the potential consequences (such as hospitalizations, mortality, or economic impact) of seasonal, avian, or pandemic influenza.”
So what’s the point of giving it, at such vast expense?
Apparently, an FDA spokesperson told the British Medical Journal, “The clinical trials… failed to demonstrate any significant difference in rates of hospitalization, complications, or mortality in patients receiving either Tamiflu or placebo.” The UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) holds the same negative view of Tamiflu.
Roche claims there are ten studies providing Tamiflu is both safe and effective. According to the company, Tamiflu has all sorts of benefits, including a 61% reduction in hospital admissions by people who catch the flu and then get put on Tamiflu.
The problem with these claims is that they aren’t true. They were simply invented by Roche.
A groundbreaking article recently published in the British Medical Journal accuses Roche of misleading governments and physicians over the benefits of Tamiflu. Out of the ten studies cited by Roche, it turns out, only two were ever published in science journals. And where is the original data from those two studies? Lost.
The data has disappeared. Files were discarded. The “researcher” of one study says he never even saw the data. Roche took care of all that, he explains.
I suppose he got his 30 pieces of silver; meanwhile triple the normal rate of kids are dead?!
This is sicker than disease itself.
Right on , Al Doc. The world needs more outspoken real MD’s like you, partly to bring more credibility to alternative (scratch that) REAL medicine and also to have more MDs jumping from the Medical Mafia to make it more difficult for the AMA and FDA and FTC to persecute MDs with integrity and conscience instead of CON SCIENCE!