Britain Has Swine Flu Program in Place. What's Going to Happen Here?
This seems like a pretty good system. By handling the bulk of inquiries online or over the phone, the British government is keeping swine flu sufferers where they belong: at home and in bed - which lowers the risk of contagion. Unless I've missed it, I haven't seen similar plans for the United States this fall:
More than 5,500 people received anti-viral drugs for swine flu on the first day of England's National Pandemic Flu Service, the government has said.
The telephone hotline and website were launched so patients could obtain treatment without a GP's prescription.
The system was "working well", Health Secretary Andy Burnham said.
Sufferers are advised to select a "flu friend" to pick up medicine for them. Critics say the system is open to abuse and should be staffed by experts.
And the Conservatives have argued the service should have begun earlier, when a global pandemic was declared, as it was now "too little, too late".
There are now 1,031 locations across England where the drugs can be collected, up from 330 on Thursday, when the service began.
People who think they have swine flu can complete a questionnaire online or over the telephone.
Among the symptoms listed are fever or temperature over 38C or 100.4F, coupled with two of the following: unusual tiredness, headache, runny nose, sore throat, shortness of breath or cough, loss of appetite, aching muscles, diarrhea or vomiting.
If patients are diagnosed with the virus, they are issued with a unique reference number which must be given when the drugs are collected.
However, patients are still being advised to contact GPs if they have serious underlying illnesses, are pregnant, have sick children aged under one, their condition suddenly worsens or continues to worsen after seven days - five for a child.
More than 100,000 people in the UK are estimated to have caught swine flu in the past week along, while 30 people have died after contracting the illness.
There was a huge rush to access the government website when it went online on Thursday, with reports of it receiving initially 2,600 hits a second, or 9.3m an hour.
More than 58,000 assessments were completed that day, 89% of them online.
has a swine flu contingency in place!
They're socialist!
To plan anything remotely like this in teh good ol YEW ESS and AYE, would be...un-American...and by un-American, I mean anti-corporate.
How dare some govt bureaucrat come between me and my death!
The NERVE of some folks!
Besides, if you're well enough to go see a doctor, you're damn well well enough to come to work!
And if you're too sick for either, your ass if fired if ya don't bring a doctors note!
Even if you bring a doctor's note, cause you know, they can be faked etc.
On the subject of corporatiness, seems Argentina is proposing to the Mrcosur to waiver swine flu vaccine patents so they can meet demand. How long do you think it'll take for our corporate leaders to claim Argentina is worst than Venezuela?
years ago...our health care policy was as follows.
And I quote...
"If you're working on a scaffold, ladder, etc...and you fall..........you're fired before you hit the ground."
Question...
what's Mrcosur?
I forget what the english acronym is but it's the South American trade bloc.
thanks.
And as for your question...I give our wonderful corporate leaders about 5 minutes.
I know, I'm giving up my free healthcare right now, to live the dream. How dare I care of others and allow them to care for me ......... silly me.
What kinda crazy world would THAT be? ;)
1. People will die
2. Teabaggers will blame immigrants and the illegal immigrant Obama
3. Pharma will make a "killing"
4. The stock market will rebound on the news
5. The MsM will manufacture opinion and consent
6. Katie Couric will do an in depth health series on vaginal itch
The MSM will sell it as the "end of the world" if people don't submit to half ass slapped together bulk "vaccines" loaded with up with heavy metal adjuvants and other immune system destroyers.
"We're the Government, stay tuned to your local TV station, follow orders,and obey Authority"
I'll take it if it's better than nothing. We're expecting our first child right at the beginning of flu season.
believe that!
Some stuff you can't make up!
Any vaccine produced won't be effective enough or just won't be ENOUGH to go around so there'll be rationing.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
That durn Obama. I bet he's a mooslim.
lol..
Congrats on your rugrat Old Billy!
free swine flu shots in alberta this fall
http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/calgary/Univ...
ontario has free flu shots, too.
Alberta is Canada's Texas, too btw. Our conservatives love some universal health care as mush as everybody else here. America's "conservative" is actually Corporate conservatism.
Corporate conservatism...ya might as call it by it's true name...fascism.
.
By both "mainstream" parties.
Affluent people will get vaccinations.
The rest of us will get stern lectures about boot straps and abstinence and family values.
Reserve your casket today!
.. if you show up at any of the conveniently located Solyent Green "processing" centers.
See what happens when you have SOCIALIZED medicine instead of the wonderful for profit corporate welfare system we have?
Thank goodness the republicans and bluedicks aren't allowing any guvmint takeover here. When we have our pandemic, we can all meet at the crowded drugstore and fight for the first place in line.
Free market baby! It's better, because it's privatized. Even if the facts say otherwise.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
Among the symptoms listed are fever or temperature over 38C or 100.4F, coupled with two of the following: unusual tiredness, headache, runny nose, sore throat, shortness of breath or cough, loss of appetite, aching muscles, diarrhea or vomiting.
This sounds like what most people experience everyday just from having to work the endless grind in this dumb ass country. Or side effects from eating the crap this country passes off as it's food pyramid. Or just breathing the air in big city's for that matter.
I missed almost the entire work week as well.
Well, not the runs or the vomiting...but everything else.
I lost 10 friggin pounds from that shit.
Still not convinced it was the dreaded pig sick though.
Conservatives in Britain argue that this swine flu effort is "too little, too late"? Are conservatives everywhere retarded?
they, in fact, are.
We in the UK fully understand that our Tories, BNP and BFP are just watered down versions of the GOP.
Maggie is remembered fondly only by those in the top 3%, everyone I know spits her name the same way I spit that of Bush.
And just as in the US the prime supporters of Tory idiocy are ignorant rural rubes and the monied classes.
That said, even our rubes would raise bloody hell if you tried to make them take a US style health care system. They may be rubes, but they aren't stupid.
I get a very strong feeling that this entire Swine Flu "pandemic" is nothing but a well consorted effort on behalf of Tamiflu (major shareholder is Rumsfeld et al). Does anyone feel that this thing is being rammed down the throats of people everywhere? You CANNOT take a flu shot for a virus... it simply dopes not work that way. While I do not deny (based upon odds alone) that peolpe die from this strain of flu, we cannot forget that people die from many strains of flu every day. This is nothing new, but the HYPE certainly is. There is a lot fo money backing this propaganda.
This is why I won't allow anyone to force a vaccine on me and I won't be running for Tamiflu either. More people died from regular flu this season than died from the pig stuff.
What they worry about is if it mutates and becomes a bit more wicked. The fear is another outbreak like 1918, but even then more people died of related infections (such as pneumonia) than the flu itself.
Actually, the CDC does recommend staying home so as not to spread contagion, with a phone call to your doctor to 'call-in' your Tamiflu/Relenza Rx... CDC reports 'first' symptoms as sudden high fever and cough. Runny nose is probably rhinovirus and not H1N1, and will not prompt your doctor to call in medication for you.
Just wanted to let you know I'm on the way but "cough" I'll be five minutes late.
When pigs fly.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
actually, under a microscope, the virus looks remarkably like a flying pig/duck with a mariachi mustache. This is completely true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssbu1bZzRRQ&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I bet they had a separate touring flight case for the hats alone.
One of my three daughters, my mom and I all had swine flu over the last three months. My mom got it worst but we all now look at the experience as akin to the chicken pox, better mild illness now then who knows what in the fall.
My hope is that the rest of my family had cases so mild we didn't notice they were sick.
They refused to test all but my daughter so I doubt any vaccine will be taken by my family. Maybe we'll become hermits for a fee weeks, especially during Halloween.
26 July 2009
THE UK government has been forced to accept legal liability for the swine flu vaccine amid concerns it could trigger life-threatening side-effects among the population at large.
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Drug-firm...
We saw it on TV!
(Willing to be the 'guinea-pig' without legal recourse?)
did that, too. If I'm not mistaken, I read somewhere recently that Kathleen Sebelius signed an order that the vaccine makers will have no legal liability for whatever harm they cause with their 'rush to market' solutions for this so-called pandemic.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
" By Mike Stobbe - Associated Press
ATLANTA — The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands of people filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the government has already taken steps to prevent that."
First they plan to vaccinate those who want it.
A five day trial.
I find it really fun nowdays to get on the Dart train and start coughing.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Probably get you arrested. Like making bomb jokes at the airport.
To fart in crowded elevators.
I can do it without making a sound
But a very satisfied grin.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
but sometimes, a really loud ripper is funnier than hell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6dm9rN6oTs
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
That would require a healthy national single payer healthcare first.
you have there.
.
and when a society has been set back 50 to 100 years it doesn't help either.
This is ridiculous. I got it already. It wasn't THAT bad. What was weird about it was that it faded out and returned like 3 times. So all in all I was fighting it for about 3 weeks. If someone with health problems gets this, and they will, it will wear them down. I think that is the real danger here.
Also, why do you have a picture of Michael Jackson for this article? That's just misleading.
I was working at Comic Con this weekend near the Mexican border in San Diego. 250,000 ppl per day I heard. If I don't have swine flu turbo revision 0.7b0, nobody does. I saw alot of nerdy types with dirty eyeglasses that looked like petri dishes. We all used the same set of doors too.
-Purell
looks like a 'real' woman to me.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
I do NOT trust big pharma to produce any "SAFE" vaccine for H1N1.
Look at all the side effects that occurred in 1976 with that vaccine program...Guillian-Barre syndrome for example:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/27/scien...
I'll take my chances and will NOT allow anyone to "force" me to have a needle stuck in my arm or "force" me to stick other people....especially if it's against their will.
Common sense will protect most healthy people from getting any flu. Frequently wash your hands, especially after touching cash, door handles in public, shopping carts etc., stay out of public gatherings unless it's necessary to go, keep your fingers out of your eyes!! and before you get sick stock up on plain old 7-Up for hydration (no substitutes), buy some Emetrol OTC and get anti-diarrhea medicine, Tylenol/aspirin suppositories for fever (in case of vomiting), have aspirin on hand for aches and pains and fever, veggie/chicken broth and Saltine crackers, and I love Nyquil as a night time medication to knock you out. A good night's sleep when you've been sick is a Godsend.
I haven't had a flu shot in my life and I've been around many sick people as a nurse. Maybe I've just built up a natural resistance to some of these viruses. I've had the occasional flu/sore throat once in a blue moon, but as a holistic type healer I'm just not trusting of companies like Baxter and the company that makes Tamiflu (I think Donald Rumsfeld is a major stockholder in Tamiflu).
Abbybwood, R.N.
The whole "public health" aspect of Single Payer is rarely addressed, but should be. Thank you Susie for bringing this to light.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
I actually got the 'original' swine flu shot in 1976 - I went with my elderly relatives who were very concerned about all the hype. Fortunately, I did not contract G-B syndrome, but I was very sick for almost 10 days - and I was a very healthy, 28 year-old athlete at the time.
I've never had a flu shot since and I never will again ----I've also never had the flu, though most of my family, friends and co-workers have over the years. [And, many of them had flu shots....I know they did because I used to be in charge of the free flu shot program at my workplace (but I never got a shot)].
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
...how will you go about not permitting your own forced vaccination? Do you plan to protect yourself? Would you feel justified using lethal force?
The best advise is to eat organic, exercise regularly, limit your intake of meat, see your chiropractor bi-weekly and relax. This will not guarantee that you never get sick, but the body can handle this flu on its own. This "pandemic scare" is nothing but a BRILLIANT effort by BIG PHARMA to rake in billions by creating yet another money-making crisis.
It you want to stay at the Ritz, you've got to pay for it. If you want to stay alive, you've got to pay for it! Otherwise, you're a traitor to the American way of
deathlife!Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
Getting a swine flu shot is like getting a tattoo; it is a silly fad that will soon pass.
You should not get one.
Swine flu shots look terrible as you get older.
that infectious disease (chronic, too, really) and accidents are much more of a threat to the US than Islamic terrorists. It boggles the mind what the kind of money spent and being spent on those two wars could have done with health, education, and infrastructure. A good buddy of mine contracted the current swine flu (laboratory confirmed) while on a cruise with his wife. He's a healthy 42-year old monster tennis player. He was very ill and still not back to 100%. Bad stuff, folks, seriously. Given what has happened earlier this year the concern of this year's flu season is more than justified.
I've seen some stuff, man. And some thangs...
(sorry, the accompanying photo just made me think of that)
Haven't we been here before ?
Maybe this is Obama's way of placating the pharma industry folks? He'll give Americans healthcare while doing an annual immunization for them. Sorta like we do for the war profiteers. Talk about bringing peace while perpetuating war.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
He can offer all the vaccinations he wants, but they'll be shooting that poison into me over my (and several of their) dead bodies.
And still be charging you for the service. :)
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
I don't get flu shots, not because I feel I am imune or super-human or anything like that, I simply try to live a lifestyle that promotes a strong imune system and that seems to work pretty good. I have not had a flu shot in my life and I rarely get the flu, and when I do I usually beat it in a couple days (3 or 4 days if it's a nasty one). It's so rare for me to catch it, even when other people in my office have it, that I would never even think of getting a flu shot.
The best remedy for a cold that I have found is putting extra tobbasco into everything I eat: eggs, meats, rice, etc. and that usually kicks the colds butt in less then 30 hours. - I do not take asprin, I do not take cold medications. You want to feel better find something herbal and you will see a real change. Western Medicine is only designed to keep you sick and paying.
As someone who has had his appendix removed after it ruptured, suffered from epileptic seizures and had a few head fractures as a child, I will attest to the importance of Western medicine. That said, like any good thing, it can be easily exploited when the profit motive is unrestrained.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
Yes, Git, agreed.
Like most things there is a time and a place. When I was working with the elderly I got a flu shot so as to minimize the chance of spreading and infection I might have but, being relatively young and strong, might not be aware of.
But immunizing healthy people who do not come into contact with high risk groups, well that's so far over the line it's not funny.
Only those who are getting sick or going into high risk areas on business (like Mexico and the US) are being allowed the vaccine.
Mass vaccination is never a good idea, it just helps any virus to mutate that much faster into something more dangerous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAb3pb5L8gw&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Beware of Zicam cold remedy/nasal spray! Hundreds of people have PERMANENTLY LOST THEIR SENSE OF SMELL after using the nasal spray. Here's the link, and pass it on!!!:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/16/hea...
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
one of El Rushbo's favorite sponsors.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
he shits out of both ends and still can'tr smell himself.
ZING!
weeks ago.
I'm pretty sure I caught the last outbreak of swine flu that was going around northern Illinois, along with tons of other people I know. We didn't have stomach symptoms, but a severe sore throat followed by loss of voice, and then a dry cough for several weeks. Wasn't fun, but wasn't even close to the sickest I've ever gotten. People need to get a grip on this shit. It's the same as any other flu that breaks out in areas, just that it happens to be a highly contagious strain.
that about 5 months ago...it wasn't as severe, but it didn't want to go away...I kep thinkin I was gettin better, then BAM...feelin like crap again...it lasted for over a month...
I was mainly just really tired the whole time.
but last week, I had something much more potent.
Chills, sweats, no appetite, and very very disoriented...and the classic flu symptoms..eyes real sensitive to light, and my hair hurt...
That's when ya know you got something bad.
It's the fact that this flu has been effecting otherwise healthy people in their teens, twenties, thirties and early forties, and killing some of them by triggering the bodies' immune systems.
The fact that it's so contagious, that it went to pandemic stage so quickly, is of concern because the more bodies in which the virus can breed means the higher the odds that it mutates into something much more deadly. That's what happened during the Spanish Influenza outbreak: it went around the world killing a few otherwise healthy folks, but when it mutated and made a second pass, it killed a lot more people.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Yes Great Britain has a flu plan in place please in form the RNC so they can import it and then blame the innocent make promises then do nothing then SOCIAL the CORPORATIONS that want to help, oops! that is Socialize the LSSES and PRIVATIZE the PROFITS making sure to take the high ground and talk Trash.
I actually debated with a rightwing mememe who felt his having NO health coverage was better than being on a government health plan. (I assume then he opposes VETS who get taxpayerfunded health care at the VA)
Don't expect to see the righ wing in America to favor any government plan to fight and deal with swine flu- if the swine flu sweeps the country, they will claim it's THE WILL OF JESUS.
is all over the internet. The two biggest topics of right wingnuttia over the last week and a half are that they will not be gettin' no damned vaccines from the gub'ment, and where is that damned mooslim's birf certificate. And yes, Jeebus will smote the USA for all of its evil doings.
That's a laugh. Ha ha ha.
Why is she wearing a pair of panties on her face?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
worn a ladies undergarments on your face before!
being a month since he died and all...Mabey this flu will make us look like him...
..to make sure I wasn't saying it first, haha
Nine of 10 serious cases at Michigan hospital were obese
*Dear Santa...please give lush blimpbaugh the pig sick.*
Thank you.
Let's see, an estimated 50 million souls without healthcare, many of them in low wage positions which provide services for the elite. Untold numbers more of underinsured who don't get preventative care because of outrageous deductibles. You do the math. What do you think will happen?
This country is a whisker away from a full-blown epidemic. All it will take is one aggressive, resilient supervirus to push us over the edge.
...was such a great idea, even once they're made available in Canada, even for shut-ins like me.
After reading this thread, I can easily say NO to that shot. Sorry, Nurse Michelle, but I'll opt for taking a pass on this one. In the mean, I'll buy lots of Lysol, observe clean habits and practices and just plain rough it, thank you very much :)
You have a rare form of cerebral tick. And Ebola.
You have two weeks to live. Technicians will assist
with your disposal. Thank you for using zombocomm.
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