FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine
News Service, March 20, 2012
(OMNS,
March 20, 2012) The swine flu pandemic of 2009 was caused by a type A influenza (H1N1) virus. This virus was originally referred
to as "swine flu" because many of the genes of this new virus were
very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America.
The H1N1 virus is genetically similar to the 1918 pandemic virus, as determined
from victimes of the latter who were buried, and
later disinterred, in Svalbard. It was responsible for most of the outbreaks up
until 1956 and then disappeared.
However,
this new virus was actually quite different from the typical swine flu viruses.
This virus first caused illness in Mexico and the United States in March and
April, 2009. This novel H1N1 flu spread from person to person, unlike typical
swine flu. In 2009 vaccines were being developed for the prevention of swine
flu in humans. http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=99584
On
11 June 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the swine flu
had developed into a full scale world epidemic - a pandemic alert to Phase 6. Margaret Chan, the Director-General of WHO, commented on the
situation in a somewhat ambiguous way. While stressing that the swine
flu had reached a serious pandemic level, she declared later in the same
statement that the illness seemed to be mild and that most of the patients
would recover without medical intervention. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/h1n1_pandemic_phase6_20090611/en/index.html
The
world chose to listen to the first part of her message.
Two
pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Novartis had, under
considerable time pressure, developed a vaccine against the swine flu. Since
the cultivation of an adequate amount of virus to generate the vaccine requires
time, GSK and Novartis decided to formulate a weaker vaccine but strenghten it with an adjuvant that contains squalene. Immunologic adjuvants are substances,
administered in conjunction with a vaccine, that stimulate the immune system
and increase the response to the vaccine http://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/topics/adjuvants/squalene/questions_and_answers/en/.
Although squalene is a natural substance found in methabolic pathways of the body, its inclusion in a vaccine
is controversial and it is not in use in the USA.
On
25 September 2009, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) approved Pandemrix, the swine flu vaccine produced by GSK and Focetria produced by Novartis. http://justthevax.blogspot.com/2009/09/eu-approves-gsk-pandemrix-and-novartis.html
The vaccine would be ready for use that October.
In
Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland, the authorities explicitly set the goal of
vaccinating the entire population http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/massvaccinering-raddade-sex-liv_6851143.svd.
In this respect, it is of interest that the governments of these countries,
already before the outbreak of the swine flu, had concluded an agreement with
GSK, according to which they were assured the delivery of pandemic vaccines, if
needed. In addition, the contract stipulated that, in a situation characterized
as a pandemic by the WHO, the same Nordic countries would have ten days to
decide whether or not to accept delivery of the vaccine in question. Hence, the
purpose of the agreement was to assure that the entire populations of these
countries would receive vaccinations. Finally, the contract protected GSK from
any claim for financial compensation in case the delivered vaccine would have
any side effects.
When
WHO declared the swine flu to be a Phase 6 pandemic, the agreement referred to
above was automatically activated.
Mass
vaccination started in Finland and Sweden in October 2009. In order to cover
the largest possible percentage of the population, the authorities initiated an
enormous public relations campaign, which could be described in terms of a
"moral persuasion." Solidarity became the slogan: "Be vaccinated
to protect your fellow citizens." Those who questioned the vaccination
program (small groups of vaccine opponents or just people who were hesitant)
were looked upon with disapproval.
In
contrast to these vaccine - enthusiastic countries,
the politics of vaccination within the rest of the European Union varied
immensely among its member states. Poland, for example, decided not to buy
vaccines at all due to the strict agreement conditions required by the
pharmaceutical companies. Denmark's order covered only "risk groups".
http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/svd-granskar-sveriges-vaccinering-mot-svininfluensan_6843475.svd
The
expected second wave of the influenza never appeared. The epidemic gradually
declined during the first half of 2010. The same year, on 10 August, WHO
officially declared the end of the epidemic. The
European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) stated that the swine
flu was less dangerous and had a lower mortality rate than the seasonal
influenza. Thus, apparently the swine flu would not have been a dangerous
epidemic even without the mass vaccination. Interestingly, also that same year,
vitamin D was shown to prevent influenza in children. (1)
In
Sweden, 60% of the population had been vaccinated,
while in Finland 50% was covered. In contrast, the figures in Germany and
Poland were only 8 and 0% respectively. In the history of Swedish health care
this pandemic campaign amounted to one of the most expensive ever. Enormous
amounts of taxpayer money were at stake. http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/svd-granskar-sveriges-vaccinering-mot-svininfluensan_6843475.svd
Meanwhile,
the media had become silent on this issue ; there was
no further discussion about the swine flu anymore.
Then
the blow came:
"The
absolutely worst thing that could happen," commented Richard Bergström, the Director - General of the European
Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, EFPIA. "The
worst nightmare of both the industry and the health authorities is an illness
that turns out to be mild, while the vaccine that was supposed to prevent a
dangerous epidemic causes a severe side effect that was previously
unknown." http://www.kostdemokrati.se/nyheter/files/2012/02/SvD-sid-14-19.pdf
In
August 2010, Finland reported an increased occurrence of narcolepsy in children
and youngsters vaccinated with Pandemrix. On 1
September 2010, Finland stopped all Pandemrix
vaccinations. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/10/swine-flu-vaccine-may-have-caused-narcolepsy.aspx
Narcolepsy
is a severe chronic neurologic disease that not only results in a disabling
fatigue, which typically results in the patient falling asleep anywhere and at
any time. It might also lead to panic attacks and a state of exhaustion. For
many, the worst consequences are the symptoms of cataplexy. This condition
causes the narcolepsy patient, when expressing strong feelings such as laughter
or crying, to suddenly lose muscular control. The legs give way, speech gets
slurred, the gaze goes unfocused and the person gives the impression of being
drunk. In some patients, frightening hallucinations appear when falling asleep
or waking up.
On 1
September 2011, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)
admitted, that for Finnish children and youngsters age 4-19, there was a new
and obvious connection between Pandemrix and
narcolepsy. As stated in THL's press release, "The increased risk
associated with vaccination amounted to six cases of narcolepsy per 100,000
persons vaccinated in the 4-19 age group during the
eight months following vaccination. This was 12.7 times the risk of a person in
the same age group who had not been vaccinated." http://www.thl.fi/en_US/web/en/pressrelease?id=26352 This
statement was made almost exactly two years after the THL's earlier statement
made in the midst of the swine flu hysteria that everyone should be vaccinated
with Pandemrix and that it would be safe. In that
original statement, the director of the THL emphasized that the squalene adjuvant could increase the side effects of the
vaccine to some extent. However, he stated, these side effects would not be
dangerous. http://www.tohtori.fi/?page=5833192&id=0169960
In
Sweden, at least 150 children are now suffering from narcolepsy caused by Pandemrix vaccine. In Finland, the number is approximately
100. In both countries the number is probably growing. Narcolepsy is a disease
with lifetime consequences, and the risk that Pandremix
may have caused other neurological illnesses has not yet been excluded. Many
have already began to compare this tragedy with the
thalidomide catastrophe. http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/medicinsk-tragedi-med-ett-absurt-slut_6861775.svd
No
European countries had a particularly high rate of deaths due to the swine flue. Germany had the same death rate as Sweden, which was
0.31/100 000, although Sweden vaccinated 60% and Germany only 8%. This implies
that the vaccine did little to prevent deaths. The responsible authorities have
not yet commented on this matter of fact. http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/massvaccinering-raddade-sex-liv_6851143.svd
Last
year the Finnish government promised full compensation for those who have
developed narcolepsy as a consequence of the vaccination. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-05/finnish-government-to-compensate-pandemrix-narcolepsy-victims.html.
While Sweden did, indeed, follow the Finnish THL in admitting the connection
between the vaccine and the disease, the Swedish authorities have not yet
decided whether and how to provide appropriate compensation.
In
February 2012, Svenska Dagbladet,
a widely read newspaper in Sweden, presented an informative and accurate series
of articles on this theme. They describe some of the affected children
narrating how difficult it is to live with narcolepsy http://www.svd.se/nyheter/multimedia/artikel_6840743.svd
According
to the authorities, much research is still underway concerning the details of
the vaccine injury. Taking the pressure from the public and the affected
families into account, it will be difficult for them to avoid carrying out a
thorough investigation. Let's hope so.
1. Urashima M, Segawa T, Okazaki M, Kurihara M, Wada Y, Ida H. Randomized trial of vitamin D
supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren. Am J Clin Nutr.
2010 May;91(5):1255-60.
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