Bay13 Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 This is not true, meant only as Humor and an example of the junk that floats around.John Kerry/John Edwards blame the Bush Administration for the lack of vaccine! Influenza vaccine is produced by growing the virus in eggs.The virus is killed and processed to create the vaccine, whichis given by injection under the skin. The body then producesantibodies to the virus over the next two to four weeks If the immunized person then comes into contact with theinfluenza virus, the antibodies attack and kill the virus beforeit has a chance to cause infection. The vaccine contains the 3 most likely strains to be activeduring the "flu season". Why the shortage: Almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be deliveredthis year. Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine, willnot be distributing any influenza vaccine this flu seasonChiron was to make 46-48 million doses vaccine for theUnited States. Chiron is a British company. Recently British health officialsstopped Chiron from distributing and making the vaccinewhen inspectors found unsanitary conditions in the labsSome lots of the vaccine were recalled and destroyed. Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US? Themajor pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost90% of the nations flu vaccine at one time. They did thisdespite a very low profit margin for the product. Basically,they were doing us a favor. In the late 80's a man from North Carolina who had receivedthe vaccine got the flu. The strain he caught was one of thestrains in that years vaccine made by a US company.What did he do? He sued and he won. He was awardedalmost $5 million! After that case was appealed and lost, most US pharmaceuticalcompanies stopped making the vaccine. The liability outweighed the profit margin. Since UK and Canadian laws prohibit such frivolous law suitsUK and Canadian companies began selling the vaccine in the US. By the way... the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law suitwas a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kashif Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 (edited) There is another way to may the flu vaccine, the process is called attenuation. A attenuated virus is one that is grown in unusual circumstances. Simply put you select the virus that grow at temp. of 25 C or ~80F. When this virus is introduced into the human body the natural body temp. of 36.5C or 99F causes the proteins of the Flu virus to partially denature or unfold. This slows the virus down and allows the body to mount an efficient immune response. The old technique is not as efficient as this new method. But the biggest problem with vaccine is that of cost. It cost more then double the orginal vaccine. Besides reforms to the court system, the government or industry should also develop better techniques to produce this form of the vaccine. Edited October 24, 2004 by Kashif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt1122 Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 Where is that from? I think it might be too convenient to be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay13 Posted October 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 Where is that from? I think it might be too convenient to be true.I don't know if you are refering to the first post or the post about new ways of making the flue shot. Either way neither one of us work for Factcheck.org so I'm just passing on e-mail stuff I've been sent. In the case of the new flue method it is more than likely really true. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt1122 Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 It was the first post I wonder about. Fact Check may get the facts straight but it is definitely biased, sorry to say. I wish people would stop looking to it as a reliable unbiased source. Then again, it's better than my Macro prof. who thought "Mother Jones" was unbiased and "pretty reliable." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay13 Posted October 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 I agree fact check is done with people never leaving there office, but they do point out in a more even keel type fashion than most sources, and they list their sources, there may be others but they didn't find them or choose to include them.I did some limited searching with the abilities I have (very limited) to find out if the post had any truth to it and I couldn't find any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay13 Posted October 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 Regarding the claim that John Edwards secured a $5 million judgment against a U.S. pharmacutical company on a flu vaccine case, while it is true he had a highly successful legal career representing individuals who had been badly harmed by malfunctioning products or the mistakes of doctors and hospitals, with some even saying he won $175 million for his clients over 12 years, at this point it's not known if he ever litigated a flu vaccine case, or if so, what the outcome of such a trial was. I found that at http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/flushot.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kashif Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 The data regarding attenuated virus came from my fourth year virology class, so if you want you can check out attenuated virus on medline. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jross Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 The data regarding attenuated virus came from my fourth year virology class, so if you want you can check out attenuated virus on medline. ←Gah! Microbiologist? Begone, Evil-Doer!!(sorry, ex-gf was Micro ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swdracr Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 Fact Check may get the facts straight but it is definitely biasedGotta hate those biased objective sources.. :monkey: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Stig Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 You know, we have lots of Americans coming up to clinics here in BC to get their flu shots. Thankfully, Canada's supply hasn't been interrupted, and in fact they're in talks with the FDA to allow our surplus of ~2 million vaccinations to make its way down south. How's that for neighbourly (yes, it should be spelled with a U) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swdracr Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 (yes, it should be spelled with a U)I thought we were vaccinating ourselves against fire places! What's this other thing?? :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Stig Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 Haha, I was referring to neighbourly, but you have a point there as well ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmetz Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 I can't remember the last time I had a flu shot. I think they are overrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kashif Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 Gah! Microbiologist? Begone, Evil-Doer!!Thats a keen eye you have there regarding course requirements of microbiology. Virology was actually one of my more difficult class, but I did well enough and now I am doing a grad. degree in micro. So I guess am even more of an evil-doer :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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