H1N1 vaccines “shunned,” idiots rejoice.
Others can and will explain, better than I, why you ought to get vaccinated. Doctors, scientists, and senior skeptics will forever be able to describe why homeopathic alternatives are bupkis, and why herd immunity can tolerate a small percentage who go unvaccinated.
Unfortunately, in an article posted today over at New Scientist, pollsters from the University of Michigan have found that up to 40% of parents aren’t going to have their children vaccinated against H1N1:
In the US summer outbreak, the age group most hospitalised was children under 4. Yet 40 per cent of US parents say they won’t vaccinate their kids, according to a poll by the University of Michigan.
Many parents and health workers argue that swine flu is not dangerous enough to justify the potential side effects of a vaccine, but this week there were fresh warnings that the virus can cause serious illness. In Canada and Mexico respectively, 17 per cent and 41 per cent of people admitted to intensive care with the virus have died. In Mexico, half had no underlying health problems; in Canada 70 per cent had no major illness beforehand.
That’s a major, major problem. Kids–being kids–are unhygienic, virus-spreading creatures. If 40% go unvaccinated, outbreaks among them are inevitable: herd immunity only protects the freeloaders when 90% or more are vaccinated. Children under 4 are in the highest-risk group for hospitalization, and the numbers suggest that if you get it bad enough to be hospitalized, it’s bad enough to kill you.
One thing I’ve noticed–in the comment sections in many blogs, on tv, in homeopath rants and antivax rhetoric–is how fear is affecting the decision to vaccinate. Homeopaths don’t fear H1N1 because they believe that water will save them. Antivaxers may be afraid of swine flu, but they’re even more afraid of the shots that save lives and eradicate diseases. On top of that, chances are that you’re average Joe doesn’t fear H1N1; the outbreaks haven’t been severe enough, haven’t hit close enough to home to affect them.
I suspect that’ll change this coming winter, of course. Call me a pessimist, but with idiocy as rampant as it seems to be over health issues, the US population is bound to suffer a handful of major outbreaks and many more casualties. A peek at the news shows that the deaths have already started in and around Austin.
Of course, every year thousands of people die from regular influenza. What makes H1N1 different is that it appears to have a high kill percentage, and that’s nothing to sneeze about.
I’m getting vaccinated later this week… How about you?
