ABC News Australia Drops Bomb On Flu Vaccine
September 20th, 2009
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About a month ago, I ran a post about how the tragic and preventable death of an Australian infant had lead to a backlash against the Australian Vaccine Network, a group of lyars who are responsible for scaring the public away from life-saving vaccines. It seemed that the tide was turning, as the AVN had previously been a darling of the Australian News Media. Doctors, skeptics and public health officials were going on the offensive and it seemed that the media was actually starting to do some accurate reporting on the subject.
Unfortunately the ABC News Australia has shown it is still perfectly capable of and willing to distort the truth, and to hell with who dies because of it. The news outlet has run a story that quotes an AVN spokesperson as an authority and runs an extremely deceptive headline that makes things all the more misleading. The claim that ABC runs with is that the flu vaccine may be “more dangerous than the swine flu.” A claim that any legitimate doctor or vaccine researcher would laugh at – if it weren’t so dangerous and therefore not very funny.
It goes on to mention that the AVN has urged the government not to make the vaccine compulsory for children – interesting, considering it’s not compulsory and is unlikely to ever be. It also describes how the vaccine was not thoroughly tested and implies that therefore, could be unsafe.
What it does not mention is that the vaccine for the N1H1 “swine flu” is not really any different than the flu shots given out every year. These vaccines are all manufactured in the same manner and from the same components. The flu vaccine has been thoroughly tested for safety and effectiveness. Each flu season, different strains of the flu circulate amongst the population. In most cases, one of the strains stands out as the most dominant and common form of the flu for that season. Since the flu shot only protects from one strain, researchers have to determine which strain is most likely to be the dominant one for the season. That strain is selected to be used in the flu vaccine. Therefore, the vaccine carries a different strain each season. This season, N1H1, which appears to be an especially strong and easily transmitted strain is expected to dominate the flu season.
And no, you can’t get the flu from the flu shot! In some individuals, the vaccine does result in some mild irritation or even fever, but this is not influenze, but rather an immune response to the vaccine. It is almost always mild and lasts about a day or two at the most.
If you’re an Australian, I’d very much encourage you to complain to ABC over this. Feel free to demand that the reporter be fired, that often gets their attention.
If ABC continues to use such poor quality and inaccurate sources as credible material for news stories, here’s a sample of what you might see in the near future. Only slightly less ridiculous than this story:
This entry was posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Bad Science, Conspiracy Theories, Obfuscation, Quackery, media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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September 20th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
The flu takes lives each year and vaccines can save many of those. There is conflicting information on how severe the N1H1 strain is, although it is mild in most, it seems to be very easy to transmit. If enough people get the flu shot, however, the season may turn out to be pretty mild. 21 million doses will be almost enough to inoculate the entire Australian population. Even if they only use it for adults, that could be enough to collapse outbreaks by herd immunity and stopping it from ever getting a good hold of the population.
Whether or not the effort succeeds and they do manage to get enough herd immunity to cut off major outbreaks, that is going to mean the difference of hundreds of lives lost or saved. I’m talking about just Australia, of course. Include the rest of the world and it goes to tens of thousands.
This group is basically trying to stop that from happening and it just makes me wonder how anyone could actually contribute to that. Do they believe what they are saying? Do they not care and just like the attention? What?
This is one of those issues that goes beyond just scientific issues. I have a HUGE ethical problem with this. I wonder though, if there is any point in writing to ABC. I’m not Australian so I’m not their audience, although I guess they do have a global audience on their website.
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September 20th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Damn it ABC, I thought you were better than this.
You can guarantee that I’ll be both lining up for my free vaccination, and writing an angry letter to the ABC about this.
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September 21st, 2009 at 2:27 am
Okay, there is a lot of bad reporting these days but this is REALLY bad. I mean, it is this would be about what you would expect from Natural News or one of those nitch bad science websites, but not from even a low quality mainstream news outlet. Also, it clearly is not serving the public good or providing accurate information.
Isn’t ABC Australia like the BBC in that it is funded by government money? It seems to me that government funded broadcasters like ABC BBC and CBC should be expected to maintain programing that is accurate in information and does not go for cheap sensational shocks. After all, isn’t the whole reason they are publicly funded so they will serve the public good and not go into this crap due to ratings demands? Isn’t that the whole point? I mean this is a government body working against the public good! That’s outrageous!
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September 21st, 2009 at 2:43 am
Magic Donuts said:
Well, it’s not actually a government agency. This topic has come up before – these bodies, like the BBC, ABC and CBC – and to a lesser extend PBS (Public Broadcast Service) in the United States are quasi-independent organizations which are chartered by the government and receive some or all of their funding through the government but are either government owned corporations or partially government owned.
The BBC is the big one on the world level. There is a rational behind this which is that these broadcasters are supposed to provide varied programing and viewpoints and to serve the greater public good. In the case of the BBC, it’s not just the British public. The BBC is supposed to be a public service to all the worlds people and to spread British culture and good will abroad, while bringing forign culture back home to the UK and establishing closer relations around the world. (basically the UK’s gift to the world). CBC is supposed to “Promote Canadian Culure” and deliver quality information.
Anyway, these are lofty goals, to be sure. Some of these broadcasters don’t run any ads (like the BBC) and some do (Like CBC) But in all cases, the reason for government funding is to assure they create high quality programing and serve the public and don’t just go for high ratings. It’s better to have less people watch a program that serves a greater purpose.
Anyways… that is the idea. But… In nearly all cases they’ve really been… well… maybe I shouldn’t comment too much about other countries. PBS in the US has not been quite as bad, but then again, it’s a comparably small time player. Much smaller than BBC or ABC.
But yes, there is good reason for publicly funded broadcasters to be expected to deliver very good information.
There is still one place that does this, IMHO: BBC Radio. Not BBC Television or website, but the World Service Radio system from BBC is still very good – most of the time.
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September 21st, 2009 at 3:45 am
It’s really sad. Here you have a government (Australia) that is working hard to try to do something that will save lives and help avoid a public health crisis and all the problems that go with it, economically and socially. They’re trying to do the right thing and use good proven science-based medicine to quell any outbreak with a major vaccine program. They’re doing what the government should do: they are using tax money for a program to protect the safety of their people and serve the greater good of their citizens.
It’s sad because despite this important public health issue, there are people who are throwing themselves in front of it and saying and doing anything to try to stop it from being successful. What kind of a perverted person looks at an effort to immunize the population from a disease that claims many lives and thinks they should try to stop it? What goes on in these people’s minds?
It’s so hard for me to believe they honestly are of the opinion that the vaccine does not work and is going to cause harm. Maybe they’re deluded or something. I hope they are, because it’s chilling to think anyone would be so downright evil as to think there’s any good in helping the flu spread.
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September 21st, 2009 at 3:45 am
Russ said:
This is the part that confuses me. At least the nuclear power protesters can be understood, what do the anti-vaccination idiots gain from their noise?
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September 21st, 2009 at 3:52 am
[Other] Matthew said:
All I can think of is they like the attention, like getting their mug on TV and like pretending they’re some kind of crusader against the big bad companies.
Is it any coincidence that Jenny McCarthy turned into the big anti-vaccine bimbo when she was starting to get to that age where she couldn’t compete with the 18 year old playboy bunnies anymore?
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September 21st, 2009 at 6:45 am
I will be letting them know my thoughts on this issue.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/contact/
Perhaps a snail-mail complaint letter would actually be opened/read however.
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September 21st, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Surely those bottom three articles are parodies from The Onion, right? Right?
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September 21st, 2009 at 3:56 pm
skh.pcola said:
Oh, I thought that was made clear in the title above them. They’re parodies, but not from the Onion. I made them and put them in the same format as the real article as an example of what happens if you listen to any individual or group as an authority. They are slightly more over the top than the real article. Yes, they’re a parody.
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September 24th, 2009 at 4:39 am
Reports like this do a huge and potentially deadly disservice. The flu vaccine is perfectly safe and very effective. The only danger from the vaccine is to those with certain allergies and this should be made clear any time it is given out so that any problems can be avoided.
This year, due to concern over N1H1, the governments of the world are especially prepared and effort has gone into making plenty of vaccine. We do not anticipate any shortages. Of course the elderly, health workers, people with respiratory problems and other at risk health groups are the highest priority. However, everyone should consider getting the shot. It is fast, simple and safe. You do not need to go make an appointment with your doctor to have the vaccination, because it is being offered in walk-in clinics and drug stores. It’s nothing to go get it and it is doing your part.
We know the flu strain this year may be more dangerous than normal, but even if it is not, the influenza claims many lives in a mild year. Influenza is a virus and therefore it can’t reproduce on its own. It also is fragile outside the human body and will often die in the enviornment. For this reason, the flu can only take hold and spread by exploiting host organisms. The N1H1 strain should not be called the swine flu because thus far it hasn’t shown up in pigs, although similar strains have been associated with swine hosts. It is the human flu and humans are its primary host. It needs people to grow and spread.
Even if you are not concerned about the effects of the flu on yourself, when you are vaccinated you deny the virus the use of your body as a host. If enough people do this it will stop the flu dead in its tracks. Think of the flu as a wild fire and people are the dried out trees. When you vaccinate a person you take that tree away, like cutting it down. If you do it to a few, you slow the fire, but if you do it to enough you create a fire break and it can’t spread. It burns out. We can do that with viruses like the flu too.
The vaccine protects you, it protects your family and your coworkers and everyone else. It is the smart and safe thing to do.
Please consider the facts. It would be a tragedy if the opportunity to stop this virus were lost due to poor information. The above author is generally correct in assessing the report by ABC news as being very misleading and not accurate.
Things like homeopathy and so-called natural prevention or alternative medicine for prevention and treatment. You’re best off just ignoring this. By and large it is nothing but an attempt to get at your money. All evidence is that it does not work at all. Don’t bother. Stay with the vaccine.
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September 24th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Good advice, Dr. Mathews but I think you may be preaching to the choir. That is the only problem with sites like this, they are ignored by those who need a dose of common sense worst.
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September 25th, 2009 at 1:22 am
drbuzz0 said:
You made them!? They’re brilliant! You should start another website with that kinda stuff in it. Funny as!
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October 7th, 2009 at 3:05 am
An update to this story:
After sending off my complaint to the ABC, I received a reply from ABC Audience & Consumer Affairs. I wont paste the entire thing as I’m not sure it is appropriate (and it is very long), but here is the important bit:
I suspect quite a few people had something to say about the article and that’s why it was edited.
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October 7th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Yeoz said:
There were a bunch of other blogs and sites that ripped ABC over this story. Blogging and citizen journalism has it’s ups and downs, but one thing that it is pretty good at is pointing a spotlight at the mainstream media when they’ve got their pants down on a story.
Glad it made some difference.
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