AUSTRALIA - swine flu update website

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

http://www.healthemergency.gov.au/internet/healthemergency/publishing.nsf/Content/updates

Here are the latest totals (http://www.healthemergency.gov.au/internet/healthemergency/publishing.nsf/Content/7A20F971BFE9B3E5CA257631000B71A2/$File/180909.pdf) as of 18 September 2009. (pdf)

[3monkeys]

now my maths is BAD, but I worked it out that the death rate is 0.47% of all people who get it

I might be on a totally different planet but how can a death rate of less than 1% justify a vaccine, let alone a vaccine thats been rolled out the way it has.......

I just don't get it. What am I missing?

[TanyaL]

How many of the other vaccines do CDC and the other agencies supporting the vaccine schedule say cause >1% fatality rate? Ah, maybe tetanus? Trying to think of others...

The combination of the assumption that vaccines basically have no risk plus a focus on short-term economic impact seems to drive a lot of the new additions to the vaccine schedule, at least in the US. Hepatitis A is the perfect example. I know CDC gives lip service to the risks of vaccination, but when they recommend that even people who've tested positive for influenza A this year should still be vaccinated for H1N1, well, it seems that, on a working level, they don't truly feel there's any downside to vaccination. And apparently people staying home sick for a week is worth this incredible cost (purchasing and distributing all this vaccine, I mean).