27 Oct Annals of humbug – Shelley Fralic

In the annals of irresponsible journalism, it would be hard to top Shelley Fralic’s recent Vancouver Sun column pooh-poohing the need for ‘flu shots.

Consider this fair warning to all you germaphobes and nervous Nellies: I will not be getting the swine flu shot. And my hunch is that many other British Columbians of good health and sound mind will also not be heeding the inoculate-’em-all, big and small, entreaties issued this week from federal health authorities, who in an odd singsong of official well-meaning laced with hysteria are encouraging pretty much everyone to line up, in order of priority, for the H1N1 shot.

Inconsistency is no hobgoblin for Fralic. She breezily concedes she has “no argument, of course, with the common sense directive that the swine flu vaccination is a must for those with suppressed immune systems, and chronic physical infirmities such as diabetes, kidney disease, asthma and blood disorders.” Also “pregnant women in their third trimester, natives on reserves, health care workers, and children under five.” She even concedes that the H1N1 ‘flu strain has shown a preference for young, healthy women. But she’s still opposes mass inoculations.

Why? She has “growing unease that our modern society seems inordinately predisposed to the quick-fix petri dish cure for fear a common sniffle might morph into a death sentence, instead of trusting our own built-in immune systems.” She also has “a healthy distrust of drug invention and testing.”

Perhaps Fralic would care to repeat this humbug to the parents and friends of Evan Frustaglio, the healthy, Mississauga 13-year-old who took ill during a weekend hockey tournament and died Monday evening.

Modern medicine has its flaws, but immunization is not one of them. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that vaccination programs prevent about two million deaths a year.

In addition, contagion is reduced, strain on health-care systems is eased, and money is frequently saved that can be used for other health services.

When WHO began its smallpox immunization campaign in 1967, smallpox threatened 60 percent of the world’s population and killed every fourth victim. Ten years later, immunization had eradicated the natural occurrence of smallpox.

Since the launch by WHO and its partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, infections have fallen by 99%, and some five million people have escaped paralysis. Between 1999 and 2003, measles deaths dropped worldwide by almost 40%, and some regions have set a target of eliminating the disease. Maternal and neonatal tetanus will soon be eliminated in 14 of 57 high-risk countries.

Routine ‘flu outbreaks kill 2,000 to 8,000 Canadians every year. Because the H1N1 strain seems to be following the pattern of previous outbreaks that caused far greater mortality, Infectious disease experts recommend vaccination. The benefits of immunization are beyond reasonable argument. Skipping a ‘flu shot out of  “a healthy distrust of drug invention” makes as much sense as not scrubbing in before surgery out of trust in “our own built-in immune systems.”

Alas, as Amy Wallace points out, Fralic’s self-indulgent scorn for the science behind one of medicine’s great success stories reflects a growing problem:

This isn’t a religious dispute, like the debate over creationism and intelligent design. It’s a challenge to traditional science that crosses party, class, and religious lines. It is partly a reaction to Big Pharma’s blunders and PR missteps, from Vioxx to illegal marketing ploys, which have encouraged a distrust of experts. It is also, ironically, a product of the era of instant communication and easy access to information. The doubters and deniers are empowered by the Internet (online, nobody knows you’re not a doctor) and helped by the mainstream media, which has an interest in pumping up bad science to create a “debate” where there should be none.

Consider: In certain parts of the US, vaccination rates have dropped so low that occurrences of some children’s diseases are approaching pre-vaccine levels for the first time ever. And the number of people who choose not to vaccinate their children (so-called philosophical exemptions are available in about 20 states, including Pennsylvania, Texas, and much of the West) continues to rise. In states where such opting out is allowed, 2.6 percent of parents did so last year, up from 1 percent in 1991, according to the CDC. In some communities, like California’s affluent Marin County, just north of San Francisco, non-vaccination rates are approaching 6 percent (counterintuitively, higher rates of non-vaccination often correspond with higher levels of education and wealth).