I got the flu.
But the title of this post does not refer to my symptoms, which I’m pleased to report have been relatively mild [1]. It refers instead to what the people responsible for making, distributing, and rationing the H1N1 vaccine must be going through at the moment.
Honestly, there’s no pleasing some people – first they were complaining about the government approving the vaccine before it had been tested to their satisfaction (apparently unaware that it’s being made in essentially the same way as every other flu vaccine for years), and now they’re complaining that it wasn’t approved quickly enough, and are crying conspiracy! over the news that the manufacturers can’t maintain a steady rate of production. Add to this the normal levels of anti-vaccine hysteria, and I don’t envy the people tasked with this job one little bit.
Yes, there have been manufacturing problems – but what do you expect when dealing with a biological system? Biology is messy. It’s not like a manufacturing plant where the rate of input of parts determines the rate of output of product – anyone who’s ever worked in a lab knows that sometimes things just don’t work like they should. Cells don’t grow, antibodies don’t bind, plasmids don’t ligate. Why else would otherwise rational human beings wear lucky socks on important experiment days, or keep a lucky troll on their bench?[2]
The government and the vaccine manufacturing companies need to do a better PR job and get this kind of information out there.
They can leave out the part about the lucky socks, though.
Any typos or grammatical errors in this post can be written off as a symptom of the flu
1 The fever and aches started at 5 am on Saturday, and were almost completely over by Monday morning. I’m still coughing very painfully, and I have very little mental and zero physical energy, but I can breathe more freely than I could even yesterday, and should be on my flight to Varadero on Saturday night as planned (assuming my husband doesn’t get it – but he has the constitution of an ox, rarely gets sick, and gets over things very quickly when he does succumb).
2 Socks mine, troll labmate’s.
I honestly cannot believe you got sick after worrying about it.
I am glad you feel better, keep that up.
I am even gladder that you seem set to recover in time for your vacation.
I don’t understand people anymore with this H1N1 thing, either.
1. said worry was caused in part by knowing lots of people with sick family members at home!
2. thank you! I’m doing my best.
3. thank you! Fingers crossed for my husband…
4. no kidding! I think I need to stop watching and reading the news.
Get well soon, Cath.
Thanks Henry!
Hope you feel better Cath, was wondering where you’d disappeared to?!
Hey, at least the vaccine thing has refreshingly given people around here something to complain about other than incessant whingeing about the Olympics!
ahh… happy it seems that you coped well with it. Sorry you got sick in the first place! Although, I do hope that the cough disappears soon! And that you can enjoy the vacation.
(a bit of warning though, be careful if the cough does not resolve since it can turn into secondary (bacterial) pneumonia. Just be aware ok!? /the over cautious scientist)
Get well soon, Cath! And fingers crossed your husband doesn’t get it; there’s nothing more miserable than having to be nice to an ill person when you’ve still got a good few days of post-flu symptoms left in you.
Get well soon!
And I agree about the vaccine – but it’s so depressingly predictable. First it’s a big thing to get vaccinated at all , then people start getting sick and it’s a bit thing that the vaccinations are not happening fast enough…
Mrs Gee and I value the therapeutic value of huggable pets. Science Has Proved that pets are good for well-being (funny, though, the only links I could find were for chiropractors. Hmmm.) Anyway, Mrs Gee has found that for general illness, cramps, nausea etc. results can be achieved by applying a cat to the affected part, lying down and going to sleep. And when I am working at home, such fragile grassp as I have on my sanity is maintained by hugging a dog at regular intervals. Here is a dog I hugged earlier.
Some pets, such as axolotls, are admittedly not very huggy. However, Mrs Gee and I find that watching the fish in our tank swim too and fro is far more relaxing than staring at the TV.
I hope it sane, Kath, petting a guinea pig and listen your canary.
I think there must already be an unhealthy meme going on on the internet that the swine flu vaccine is dangerous. My wife was already raising the question whether we should let our children be inoculated, or even ourselves, because of possible risks posed by the vaccine.
I think Mark, you have to expect reliable results.
The problem with H1N1 vaccine in this country, Cath, is not the debate over the regulation, but the completely disorganized and inconsistent distribution strategy. Every day there is a flip-flop about who gets it (“priority” groups only; everyone; health-care workers in hospitals only; everyone working in hospitals; children under 5; children under 9; everyone; people over 65; people over 65 with health conditions; nobody over 65; etc.).
I’m not making this up. Just in my own circle of acquaintances I’ve come across docs, nurses and clinics following various different subsets of the above policies. Some GP’s have it, some don’t. It’s a complete and utter shambles, and I imagine the federal and provincial governments will spend the next month or two blaming each other.
Sigh. Welcome to Canada, I guess.
Apparently there is some kind of investigation underway in Alberta as to how the Calgary Flames players managed to get to the front of the line. Trust the journalists around around here to find an ice hockey angle on any story!
Cheers Darren, I was wondering if anyone would notice I was gone (other than people who need the key to the projector cupboard!)
Didn’t you hear any of the moaning about the Olympic torch relay team being prioritised for the shot?!
Åsa, thank you on all counts! I’m keeping an eye out for any of those nasty pneumonia symptoms, but I’m not in any of the high-risk groups.
Joanna, indeed! He’s still OK as of this morning…
Anna, yeah, same old story… the media stories are driving me nuts!
Henry, my cats agree with your theory. However, I’m yet to be convinced that a fat fuzzy monster on the chest is a good cure for respiratory symptoms. And one of my cats is extraordinarily fuzzy.
Alejandro, muchos gracias!
Mark, like Steffi, I’m involved in a few interesting Facebook conversations right now. I have a long waiting list for my copy of Bad Science, maybe I should invest in a couple more!
Richard, my understanding is that the constant changes in priority guidelines have been caused by the inconsistent rate of supply from the manufacturer. (It does seem a little short-sighted to put all your eggs in one basket, literally…). But yeah, this government does not mix well with science OR communication, so trying to bring all 3 threads together…
Darren, I saw that! Amazing that a hockey team gets priority over firefighters, who are being expected to respond to flu-based emergency medical calls, but aren’t being prioritised for the shot…
Sometimes I think back to I Claudius and agree that it’s easier to get things done within a dictatorship than in a muddled up democracy with 3 levels of government.
Sometimes I think back to I Claudius and agree that it’s easier to get things done within a dictatorship than in a muddled up democracy with 3 levels of government.
Agreed. I guess we should all be thankful that it’s not the municipal level that’s really in charge of this… I think…
Regarding hockey players, I’m constantly amazed at how an athlete (hockey, baseball, football, whatever) can sustain an injury during a game, and somehow manage to have an MRI immediately afterwards. MRI wait times for legitimate patients can be considerable in these parts.
I’m keeping an eye out for any of those nasty pneumonia symptoms, but I’m not in any of the high-risk groups.
ah but the whole thing is that having influenza primes you for the secondary infection by bacteria. Ah well, I’m jsut too much of the scientist at the moment.
Only 2 more days to go, right? Then it is you on a plane 🙂
Richard, I’d actually trust my municipal government (well, the mayor, anyway) over the provincial or federal gong shows!
Åsa, yup, 57 hours to go!
Kath everything will go well do not worry. Relaxed.
30ish to go! (wait, I am counting down to Cath’s vacation….. 🙂 Guess I am eager for one too) Have fun!
It’s a fun game, anyone can play!
Good luck fighting the conspiracy on flu vaccines – it’s going to be an uphill struggle: witness this piece of nonsense in the Huffington Post.
Though perhaps you should wait till you get back from your holiday. (Enjoy!)
I don’t generally read the Huff Post so am not sure what’s it’s generally like but it amazes me that quackery like this can get such an unfettered airing.
Stephen – There was a long article recently in The Atlantic a couple of weeks back about all that Jefferson stuff. The Effect Measure blog has posted a couple of rejoinders to it. Warning – there’s a lot of words in there, especially with all the comments.
Thanks Stephen and Frank. I hadn’t seen those articles yet…. now I just have to try and lower my blood pressure 😉
I wonder how much of the discussion we would have if a lot more people had died? Shouting about “doctors/politicians/pharma not caring about the population”? Somehow I think it is damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Still annoying though…
Yeah, you see headlines like “politicians jumped vaccination queue – scandal!” next to “The vaccine will put you in a coma!” Both getting and not getting it is outrageous, apparently. (Unless the scandal is that the politicians will end up in a coma ahead of the rest of us, but somehow I doubt that…)
I recently posted a blog on the viral components of the H1N1 vaccine. I was quite shocked by the number of negative comments about the vaccine that I received. It seems that there are a lot of mis-informed people out there.