Swine Flu Shot Safety Program

Untested? No.

Rushed into production? Not really.

Full of substances that do harm? Hardly, and especially not compared to the dangers of the H1N1 flu virus.

That is the retort of researchers, scientists, federal health authorities and others familiar with how swine-flu vaccine is made, as they listen — at times with disbelief — to the debate about it unfolding around kitchen tables and over the Internet.

They hear the arguments — about what’s in the vaccine, whether it was made too quickly, whether there are side effects — all the while frustrated that decades of experience in making effective flu vaccines hasn’t resulted in more public confidence that they got this right, too.

So begins William Mullen’s photocopied press release investigative report on the safety and efficacy of the swine flu virus. While bemoaning the lack of public confidence in the vaccine, Mullen and his quoted experts carefully avoid the facts that fuel and justify public doubt.

In the absence of any such facts, judgments on vaccine effectiveness are purely a matter of trust. And who would you rather trust, Mullen implies: our senior government health officials, or some random Internet conspiracy theorist?

Rubbish. Here at the Swine Flu Shot Safety Program, we believe you are smart enough to know all the facts, and draw your own conclusions. Below, we quote Mullen’s story, along with some troubling details he failed to mention.

For all who will listen, Alexander and other experts at research facilities, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and elsewhere explain that the swine flu vaccine isn’t a completely new brew cooked up in a panic.

They argue that it’s actually the result of a 60-year-old, tried-and-true process of flu vaccine-making that was tested on thousands of people before being scheduled for distribution–including on some researchers who volunteered themselves.

Presumably, this same “60-year-old, tried-and-true process” used for the 1976 swine flu vaccine. While that expected flu epidemic never materialized, the our panicked mass vaccination response injured and killed thousands.

We knew then, as we do now, that vaccines are not completely safe. Nevertheless, a few vocal scientists were willing to risk your individual health, and cowed politicians into compliance.

It is a monthslong process, but mass production geared up in August, and the first 2 million doses were delivered to doctors and clinics two weeks ago. On Friday, CDC officials acknowledged slower production than they’d hoped but predicted “widespread availability” by the beginning of November.

That turnaround from discovery to delivery was fast enough that many Americans worried that the vaccine was rushed into production before being tested adequately for potential side effects.

Nonsense, Alexander said.

“The only difference between this one and the seasonal flu shots is the virus it is made from, so we have no reason to believe this one will be any less safe,” he said.

Attorney Jim Turner, who recently filed a federal lawsuit to stop the vaccine rollout, dismissed this argument. “Officials have said the virus is so much like the ordinary flu virus that they don’t need to do special new drug testing on it because it’s just the same old virus with a minor change to it,” he said.

“We’re saying, if that’s the case, then all the hype about this thing being a worldwide threat is misplaced and they’ve stampeded the state of New York into taking [a mandatory vaccination] action they never would have taken if it were just another flu.”

Turner insisted that “the FDA did not do the proper testing to show safety and efficacy of this vaccine, which is under the law a new drug. When I say test data, I don’t mean some professor at some medical school somewhere infected some students and said ‘I don’t see any problems.’ What I mean is carefully conducted double blind placebo controlled studies trials done in accordance with FDA regulations, and a whole series of them to look at dosing… which are then reviewed by FDA scientists. None of that has been done on this vaccination and we’re saying the law requires it to be done.”

Placebo-controlled vaccine trials are resisted by industry and government alike. Meanwhile, careful studies that seem to prove the ineffectiveness of vaccines are actively ignored.

A treatment is not proven merely because it is old, or popular; it must be tested according to modern, objective standards, and it must pass those tests. Until it has done so, it must be regarded as an experiment, by scientific reasoning.

On its Web site last week, the FDA posted the contents of the vaccines produced by the five companies, including copies of the long, multipage ingredient lists included with the doses at clinics. Schaffner said that like many everyday foods and medicines, they contain a number of vital chemical substances that could be toxic in large volume but are included in harmless, trace amounts. “If we looked at acetylsalicylic acid, (the active ingredient) in aspirin, taken in the current dosage it is an effective product that can relieve headaches and reduce fevers. Taken by the handful, it can have serious adverse events,” Schaffner said.

“So it is with vaccines. They have trace ingredients that are in the vaccine for a variety of reasons. Taken together, the vaccines have been proven safe not only in explicit clinical trials, but in demonstrated use in hundreds of millions of doses over the years.”

The ingredient that anti-vaccine activists most question is thimerosal, a preservative added in trace amounts to keep vaccine in two-shot doses from deteriorating if stored while awaiting application.

Thimerosal contains ethyl mercury, and critics allege it can cause autism and other neurological disorders. But researchers say there is so little thimerosal in the vaccine that it poses no harm.

According to Dr. Kent Holtorf, the vaccine contains 25,000 times the mercury level considered toxic in drinking water. Like many other doctors (including Dr. Oz), Holtorf has no plans to vaccinate his own children.

When 26-year-old cheerleader Desiree Jennings received her seasonal flu shot in August, she thought she was making the safe and responsible choice. A few weeks later, she began having seizures. Now she can no longer walk or talk, or even sit still properly. After a review, the FDA concluded that her dose was untainted and correctly formulated: in their view, there was nothing wrong with this vaccine.

The media is quick to assert that Desiree Jennings is an “isolated case” of an “extremely rare reaction” to a “completely safe” vaccine. One has to wonder though, how many thousands of “isolated cases” must occur before a deeper investigation is warranted?

According to retired vaccine researcher Dr. Mark Randall, “The people doing the investigation are not really interested in looking at the facts. They say, ‘This vaccine is safe,’ but what do they base those judgments on? They base them on definitions and ideas which automatically rule out a condemnation of the vaccine.”

Dr. Randall explains, “the vaccine obviously acts in the body for a long period of time after it is given. A reaction can be gradual. Deterioration can be gradual. Neurological problems can develop over time. They do in various conditions, even according to a conventional analysis. So why couldn’t that be the case with vaccines? If chemical poisoning can occur gradually, why couldn’t that be the case with a vaccine which contains mercury?”

“Long-term follow-up is not done in any careful way. Why? Because, again, the assumption is made that vaccines do not cause problems.”

“Since April this flu has caused tens of thousands of hospitalizations and more than a thousand deaths,” [pediatrician Paul] Offit said. “This is only October and influenza is a winter disease, so no telling what we are about to see.

“We should thank the Lord that we have this vaccine at this stage.”

Maybe we should instead thank the Lord for a healthy immune system, which is perfectly capable of fighting influenza without commercial assistance from Novartis or Baxter.

Otherwise, those who received mislabeled or contaminated health products from these corporations can thank the Lord in person…because they are dead.