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Oct. 29th, 2009 02:35 pmRrrf. Stupid media is stupid. They keep reporting about the H1N1 stuff - I think the main section of the Vancouver Sun on Monday or Tuesday had half of its articles about it - but don't actually say anything useful. It's all statistics about how everyone's dying, or 'myths' they're trying to dispel (which really the media were all responsible for in the first place), or GO GET VACCINATED YOU STUPID FUCKS, caps-lock included.
Except they never actually say anything, y'know, useful.
They give reports on how many folk in Canada have died because of this flu (it's slightly past 50, I think?), but don't report on how many die of the 'seasonal' flu a year. (Apparently between 700 and 1400 people die daily worldwide of seasonal flu, but I've not been able to find any Canada-specific stats.)
They don't say anything about how many people are getting the swine flu but are not dying terribly, or even how many are just having mild cases. This would, in all sensibilities, be most of the people who get it, like it is for most cases of any kind of flu. But hey, it breeds more fear to leave that kinda thing out which leads to more newspapers being sold, or something. I dunno.
And, really, what burns me the most is they keep saying that just about everyone who's died from it has had an underlying health condition. In BC, I think it's been eight out of nine or something like that. Except... they don't actually tell anyone what those underlying health conditions are. Do people who have high blood pressure have more to worry about? What about those with asthma? Heart disease? Cancer? And the one that I in particular care about - diabetes? Fuck! No one can know! It's just apparently everyone with underlying health conditions! That can't possibly be the case, though - there's got to be some pattern to it, but damned if anyone will tell us what that pattern is.
I can understand the families of the deceased not wanting to divulge huge heaps of information about how their folk died, but c'mon. This could be actually USEFUL to those of us who DO have chronic conditions in deciding whether or not we want the vaccine.
Fuck it. I've had a bad enough history with flu vaccines, and I'm not getting this one until something says that diabetics really have something to fear from this particular variant.
(Fun fact - I've actually been home sick the past day and a half, although it's just a mild fever and certain other symptoms that are annoying, but not particularly worrisome, and it hasn't gotten any worse since noon yesterday, only better. I have a feeling I'll be back to snuff by tomorrow if I keep up my pattern of naps.)
Except they never actually say anything, y'know, useful.
They give reports on how many folk in Canada have died because of this flu (it's slightly past 50, I think?), but don't report on how many die of the 'seasonal' flu a year. (Apparently between 700 and 1400 people die daily worldwide of seasonal flu, but I've not been able to find any Canada-specific stats.)
They don't say anything about how many people are getting the swine flu but are not dying terribly, or even how many are just having mild cases. This would, in all sensibilities, be most of the people who get it, like it is for most cases of any kind of flu. But hey, it breeds more fear to leave that kinda thing out which leads to more newspapers being sold, or something. I dunno.
And, really, what burns me the most is they keep saying that just about everyone who's died from it has had an underlying health condition. In BC, I think it's been eight out of nine or something like that. Except... they don't actually tell anyone what those underlying health conditions are. Do people who have high blood pressure have more to worry about? What about those with asthma? Heart disease? Cancer? And the one that I in particular care about - diabetes? Fuck! No one can know! It's just apparently everyone with underlying health conditions! That can't possibly be the case, though - there's got to be some pattern to it, but damned if anyone will tell us what that pattern is.
I can understand the families of the deceased not wanting to divulge huge heaps of information about how their folk died, but c'mon. This could be actually USEFUL to those of us who DO have chronic conditions in deciding whether or not we want the vaccine.
Fuck it. I've had a bad enough history with flu vaccines, and I'm not getting this one until something says that diabetics really have something to fear from this particular variant.
(Fun fact - I've actually been home sick the past day and a half, although it's just a mild fever and certain other symptoms that are annoying, but not particularly worrisome, and it hasn't gotten any worse since noon yesterday, only better. I have a feeling I'll be back to snuff by tomorrow if I keep up my pattern of naps.)
