Here I am getting the H1N1 vaccine. With a four-month-old infant I am in the high-risk group that Health Canada recommends should receive an earlier dose as flu season kicks in. After all of the concern about debilitating side effects or even getting the virus from the vaccine (which would be impossible), I can report that I only experienced a brief feeling of light headedness and a mild headache.
However, the latter may have been produced by the headline I saw that business executives on Wall Street got access to the limited supply of the vaccine ahead of many health clinics.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. are among several large New York City employers that got doses of the H1N1 vaccine, which remains in short supply as the new flu virus continues to spread and manufacturers struggle to produce ample stocks of vaccine quickly.
But wait, according to FOXNews, the H1N1 vaccine is worse than swine flu itself? What's going on here?
Why would Wall Street executives be getting the vaccine early when it's clearly going to kill them? Then it hit me, the swine flu vaccine must be Obama's secret plan to further poison the economy and I fell for it. After his first attempt to destroy capitalism actually ended up helping those very firms that caused the financial crisis in the first place, he's now orchestrated a conspiracy with the Centers for Disease Control and the communists in ACORN to poison the bankers themselves.
Truth is, it's not a bad idea.
(As a side note: the "infectious disease expert" is actually Dr. Kent Holtorf, a natural bioidentical hormone replacement specialist who focuses on "anti-aging." He has no expertise with vaccines in any way. But he has written for the Huffington Post.)
Medicine & Health
Politics
Comments
Why do you look so much bigger than the person giving the shot? That photo looks doctored.
Posted by: Monado | November 12, 2009 6:51 PM
That's just the primary muscle-growth mutations setting in. Before long, the nanobots carried in the vaccine will be activated, transforming him into a mindless super-soldier for the forces of Marxist Islam With Kenyan Characteristics.
Posted by: Valdyr | November 12, 2009 7:35 PM
I was wondering why my head touched the ceiling now. I grew out of all my clothes on the bus ride home. It was pretty embarrassing actually, I sympathize with the Hulk (though I notice how fortunate it is that he never busts out of his jeans even though his waist expands about eight sizes).
Posted by: EMJ | November 12, 2009 7:47 PM
Hey! Just bear in mind that the real name of Fox News is "Faux News" or "Fixed Noise". Take your pick, because I'm not sure which one, and the fact that I don't know is proof of this dark socialist plot. . . .
Anne G
Posted by: Anne Gilbert | November 12, 2009 10:38 PM
I was abooot to wonder aloud how you got access to the vaccine when I remembered you are from that fine northern country of Canada.
I wonder if we will ever get access down here in the states.
I have an elderly uncle who was one of the few that actually got Giunne-Barre (sorry - can't remember how to spell it) back in the 70's, so most of the relatives here are deathly afraid of getting vaccinated. I want to be the poster child for vaccination - plus, I am in a high-risk group, and I really do not want to get sick.
Congratulations, and thanks for another good post - I really enjoy reading your column.
Posted by: sjburnt | November 13, 2009 6:08 AM
Where does FOX news say in video the H1N1 vaccine is worse than swine flu itself? Isnt it your liberal friends on huffpo promoting H1N1 vaccine as dangerous? Dr. Kent Holtorf is a moron. Why dont you call out the huffington post? Biased are we?
Posted by: GKN | November 14, 2009 1:45 AM
#6, the reality-based community *regularly* call out HuffPo for spouting woo. Take a chill pill, don't be so shrill.
Posted by: Andy Gates | November 14, 2009 3:19 AM
Noooo! Vaccination is our way to weed out the crazy.... dammit all that Goldman Sachs & company were able to snag some. They should just try prayer instead and save the vaccines for other people.
Posted by: Jessica | November 14, 2009 4:32 AM
Don't read scienceblogs™ much, do we?
Posted by: how | November 14, 2009 11:35 AM
Posted by: Dr. P | November 14, 2009 12:24 PM
You know, I don't give a rats patoot about Fox News political bias, but I sat watching that wondering if it was actually real. It is such fundamentally irresponsible "journalism" that it's stunning.
Posted by: Gus Snarp | November 14, 2009 12:29 PM
Wait did that guy in the Fox video say there *was* a *PROVEN* link between Vaccines and Autism?
Did the world just go crazy?
Posted by: Dan Nolan | November 15, 2009 2:06 PM
Looks like I'm a bit late to my own party. Yes, GKN (#6) FOXNews is BOTH politically biased and sloppy. They are the Huffington Post of mainstream news. A rather large difference however is that they are the #1 rated "news" network on television. If I take on the wingnuts there instead of the moonbats at HuffPo it's not for any political bias on my part, it's because Fox promotes their idiocy even more widely.
And my mentioning that Holtorf has written for HuffPo was something of an inside joke. We sciblings take them to task quite regularly.
Posted by: EMJ | November 17, 2009 8:12 AM