Avian Flu Vaccine Nonsense

The other day I turned on the news and they were busy spouting all this fear about the Avian Flu. President Bush has proposed that we spend 7.2 billion dollars to pay for stocking up on the Avian Flu Vaccine. Avian flu seems like a really big deal, right?

Do you know how much money vaccine companies make?

Do you know how effective vaccines really are?

Do you know the horrible complications/side effects related to vaccine use?

If not you might want to take a look. A good starting point is an organization called PROVE.

Back to my story.

After seeing all these stories on the news I was thinking,

"Gee, maybe I should be scared of the avian flu. I mean the media convinced me to be paranoid about getting anthrax sent to me in the mail, about getting AIDS from mosquitoes, about West Nile Virus (at least until I researched it), etc. I think I should also get scared about the avian flu."

So the first thing I did was cry out in fear,

* "Oh no, we are all doomed, doomed I say. The avian flu is going to end the world! Woe to those who eat chicken..."

After getting a grip, I decided to do a little research.

I found out that so far 62 people have died in Asia from the Avian Flu. Not exactly the scary number I was expecting.

Then I decided to look up how many people a year die from the flu on average. In the United States alone about 20,000 deaths occur each year from the flu or its complications. Well, that's a lot more than 62.

Next, I decided to look at all the facts about Avian Flu and why the media is in such a frenzy about it.

So here are the facts about Avian flu:

Since the end of 2003 avian flu has killed 62 people in Asia and infected 122 people. Avian flu is very hard for people to catch. In fact, it is spread almost exclusively through human contact with birds.

So what is all the fuss over avian flu about?

Probably the best answer is that it gives the news media a big story to talk about. The news media is great at feeding off people's fears to keep them glued to the set.

Another reason it is all over the news is pure scientific speculation. Some scientist believe that avian flu might mutate and then become easy to spread from human to human. The fact of the matter is that avain flu doesn't currently pose a big threat. MAYBE one day it MIGHT be a huge threat, but not now. I do believe in preparing for these things, but REALLY we don't need to make such a big deal about it.

Another possible reason it is all over the news is MONEY. The drug companies make TONS of money from vaccines and guess who pays for a lot of the politicians campaigns?

I have already said that if I were running for President I would not take campaign donations. That way you won't see me pay off drug companies, lawyers, etc. with our tax money. I would save the country a lot of money if I were President (I have to remember to add this fact to my list of campaign promises).

I also wouldn't cause big stirs like this in the media. We don't need to be a nation scared of things that may at some future point in time be a problem. We need to be a nation that focuses on real issues, like poverty, feeding the hugry...

That's it for now, see ya...


* I didn't really do this, but I thought it lightened up the story.