So are you getting the Flu Shot in this Present Pandemic?

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Today’s Blog Post

So are you getting the Flu Shot in this Present Pandemic?
So are you getting the Shot? It seems like a silly question as hundreds of people in our community have panicked after hearing the reports that they have in the media. Who wouldn’t get the Shot?

Personally I am not sure that I qualify yet. I am a healthy 65 year old. I have no hidden secret why I can get it first… no under lying reason… other than I am human and could get sick.

As I have checked around with some folks that are in the know… it seems that not as many people are dieing from this H1N1 Flu as do from the regular kind of Flu. At least that is what we have been told by medical professionals.

In our area when the vaccine was ready and being provided in local Malls as well as some other public clinics, people flocked by the hundreds – if not thousands to stand in line for hours to get the shot.

As the news media filled our thoughts with the reports from the sickness front, we heard how a young teen died, another lady that we knew of died, and a baby over here died… We were frightened to not get it. What if…? Will we be next…?

Then the media started picking up stories about certain people in the community – like Professional Athletes and CEOs of Hospitals – getting the shot before others. Cue Jumping – UNFAIR! How could these people be before anyone else!?!? The media lapped it up for almost a week. And people went nuts.

The truth is always “almost there” when the media reports anything. They tell whatever sells their product. WE ALL KNOW THAT! But yet we believe that what is said is the absolute truth.

This morning the one report that I read stated that Canada has already spent $1.5 Billion on this drug manufactured in a chicken egg… and this amount will likely reach $2 Billion or higher before this present crisis is over.

The Globe and Mail’s writers, Paul Wadie and Caroline Alphonso, state…
“Vaccinating Canadians against H1N1 is costing the country nearly twice as much as health officials expected and the tally could easily climb above $2-billion before the pandemic has subsided.

The national inoculation program is only a few weeks in, but $1.51-billion is already being spent, according to a review of estimates from federal, provincial and territorial governments. The actual figure is likely much higher because many provinces are still revising their costs while others have yet to release total estimates.

Even at $1.51-billion, the vaccination effort is proving far more expensive than health officials estimated. In September, provincial and territorial health ministers predicted the cost of buying the vaccine and delivering it at around $16 a dose, or $806-million in total based on the 50.4 million doses ordered. The total cost is currently running at about $30 a shot and climbing.” – End quote

Down the road the Opposition Parties will love this one in our Canadian Government. “IT IS THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT’S FAULT THAT THIS HAS PLACED OUR COUNTRY IN FURTHER DEBT!” Can’t you just hear the rants that will go on?

But the news media will be able to use that screaming from Opposition Parties to sell more of their stuff. The Flu Season will be over – but the reporter season is never over!

Did you catch that? $30 a shot! If I get this shot – it is costing me $30. No I don’t mean that I will have to pay that out of my pocket when I get it… but some day I will… in taxes… and that is just from this fall’s outbreak… not the next and the next…

Drug Companies are loving this. They are having a Bumper Year to say the least!

With the Hype that has been created by the news media and the millions of reports generated – by whoever – I am guilty for not getting the shot… and I am guilty if I get the shot without a VERY GOOD REASON. I cannot win! Then I am guilty if I get the shot and it costs $30 to be pricked… but if I don’t get the shot, the shot for me will go to waste. I really cannot win.

Though I will admit that I am at a high risk to get sick!

Take this weekend for example. I am off to visit in a Prison, then visit with a group of other ministers who have all been with sick people, then some personal visits with people that don’t qualify for getting a shot…. THEN I go to Ottawa… where the Politicians Live – and they come from all over the country where a lot of their people are sick and cough on them all the time!

I am attending a National Conference where a group of people from all over Canada will join me to share their ideas with each other… and they will carry in their germs to let me sample them. And none of the Conference Attendees will be eligible for the Flu Shots…

So are you getting the Flu Shot in this pandemic?

But then if was 91 years ago that the First Great World War was over. They had stopped the war with the signing of the Armistice on November 11. It was then that the germs uncovered and brought back by returning soldiers from that War… infected huge sections of the world’s population… and thousands upon thousands died – everywhere.

After this weekend… I think I will stay in my garage by myself… with only my carvings. I won’t buy a newspaper, turn on my TV or Radio and when I come out the Flu Season will be over… Everyone will either be dead or nothing will have happened…

Wikipedia relates about the Flu Pandemic of 1918…
“The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 50 to 100 million people were killed worldwide which is from three to seven times the casualties of the First World War (15 million). An estimated 50 million people, about 3% of the world's population (approximately 1.6 billion at the time), died of the disease. An estimated 500 million, or 1/3 were infected.” End quote.

Sorry… I have to run now… gotta take my temperature… my throat feels like it has a tickle in it… I looked awful in the mirror when I looked a while ago… sheesh!

~ Murray Lincoln ~
www.murraylincoln.com/

Source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/h1n1-swine-flu/cost-of-vaccinating-the-nation-hits-15-billion-and-climbing/article1360311/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flu_epidemic_of_1918