Forums >Health and Nutrition>Swine flu vaccine and narcolepsy
Oh roo roooo!
I believe this would be a reputable news source, not some fringe "natural" site that purports to cure cancer w/grass clippings and music or the like:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-narcolepsy-vaccine-pandemrix-idUSBRE90L07H20130122
The article says that the particular formulation of the vaccine was not used in the US. I've seen discussion here and in other forums about vaccination pros and cons, and the pro-vax folks generally tend to insist that it is always best to get the vax. It doesn't seem quite so clear to me now.
Faster Than Your Couch!
Sounds alarming, and I will follow this to see what the conclusions on the vaccine will be.
However, the quick risk-benefit analysis of weighing prevented deaths from the flu against cases of narcolepsy does not include the number of people who suffer from permanent moderate or severe health problems after having had the flu, which would have to be included in an official analysis (and I am sure this will be done in the ongoing study). This is not to discount the potential health threat that this specific vaccine might pose, but for a full assessment, this number is important, too, not just the "black and white" (alive=great or dead=bad) comparison.
When I read such articles, I am just glad that most boosters and certain preservatives and adjuvants are not used in the USA.
Run for fun.
Feeling the growl again
I have not followed this, but to put the risk in context, 30 million vaccines were given and they have identified ~800 cases of narcolepsy.
That's an incidence of ~0.003%. What is the chance of dying from the flu? I haven't looked it up I'm just saying one should evaluate the risk/benefit ratio appropriately.
Also, this entire class of vaccine (adjuvant-containing) is not used in the US. However one decides to evaluate the risk/benefit in this particular situation, it should not be extrapolated to other types of vaccines.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
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