Will you take it, if it becomes freely available for everyone (even with no underlying health problems)?

Naahh. Can't see the point.

I'll wait for the first service pack to come out first 😉

Nope.

Not sure to be honest. I haven't taken up the normal seasonal flu vaccinations in the past and nothing has convinced me swine flu is generally anymore dangerous than 'normal' flu. Don't have any worries over the safety of the vacine though.

Were I offered it, probably, however given that I don't meet the criteria for getting the seasonal jab I doubt that this will even arise for me.

If I was freely offered a jab which significantly reduced the risk of getting the 'flu, yes. Swine flu isn't something which would rather have.

Unless of course someone convinced me before hand, that the swine flu vaccine was part of a evil and cunning plan by lizards in human bodies to create a new world order.

No one is putting that junk into me or my family.

No one is putting that junk into me or my family.

???

Care to expand on why? Do you have rational concerns about its safety?

(Genuinely interested as my wife is very likely to be getting it)

I had flu once not something I'm keen to repeat, took the only 5 days I have ever had off sick in 15 years. Didn't feel up to much for 3 weeks.
Bring on the jab I will be first in the Q!

I use a Mac so I don't get viruses….

Hi Graham,
"Care to expand on why?".

Well I have concerns about the safety and efficacy numerous vaccines. This is not a suitable forum to expand on what (for me) represents many months of reading, looking at facts about disease, and the pros and cons of vaccination. This all began with choices for my child some years ago, and has left me fairly sure about my own opinion.

The whole area is beset with statistical fudgery and entrenched views from both sides. There is a massive multi-billion pound industry on the one side, versus the consumer on the other. I'm not here for a debate, but for an easy to start place for a parent could be http://www.informedparent.co.uk/.

Hmmm.. nothing specifically about this particular vaccine then mountaincarrot, more of a general distrust?

They are offering it to diabetics, pregnant women and frontline health care workers. Being as my missus is currently all three, I rather suspect she'll be getting it unless she has some fairly strong evidence against it.

Yes, i can't wait. I've previously considered myself as having 'robust' health but after colds have descended twice into significant chest infections in the past 2 winters, the advice by the medical folks is that no matter what i think, my asthma is controllable (yay!) but worse than I'd previously have self-rated it (boo!). So I'm firmly in the 'underlying health conditions' category, and the sooner I get the call the better.

Dear sweet mother of god moutaincarrot I know that you don't want to start a debate but that website is full of half truths, lies and frankly dangerous advice.

No jab for me, qualify for the 'normal' flu jab as I have diabetes but have never had that as I know too many people that have had it in the past and then suffer with more colds and flu-like symptoms than they ever had before. Not generally a sufferer of colds and flu so it's not for me.

Not a f*cking chance I'll be taking it.

As my wife, who works in the pharma industry, says, a drug company needs to spend billions testing new drugs over many, many years, yet they're rushing this one out without any of the required level of research and development.

I'll settle for a few days of aches and pains instead.

yet they're rushing this one out without any of the required level of research and development.

It's a flu jab. It's no different to what they do every year with the seasonal one.

Definitely not for me. Do things as evolution intended. "Get virus, die or become immune, naturally" That's my moto for the day.

Well given I have the seasonal one most years and this year then yes I will, I've had flu once before and it's awful. That and I'm not paranoid.

nope
balls to that.

i eat dirt
and cow shit
and sheep shit
and dont wash my hands between servicing my bike and eating
and dont do more than give my mug a cursorey rinse between brews (just seen a woman in a tea room, scrub the life out of a glass, that had water in it, before she went, and put more water in it)

incidently, this is me:

My mother works in a particularly 'at risk' section within the health service and will not be taking the newly developed vaccination that's only been tied for 3 months (maybe 4 now)
From what she's said very few if any of her colleagues will be taking it. In fact they have been given training on not only how to administer the drug but also how to avoid answering the question "So, have you taken it?"

No thanks, not for me.

Blimey mountaincarrot. Looks like those guys have got you hook, line and sinker for £15 year!

Do things as evolution intended. "Get virus, die or become immune, naturally

LOL ! Good for you gnarlynath ! We need more people like you who are prepared to die rather than accept medical intervention. It's the only way to keep the species strong and healthy.

And I take my hat off to you for never having taken any medicine and letting nature take it's course 8)

Please exclude your children from this honourable commitment though. If you have any.

Please exclude your children from this honourable commitment though. If you have any.

He'll have loads if he lets nature take it's cause like he claims.

gonefishin, how very wrong you are. The hysteria orchestrated by the govt. and media has caused a fair bit of naivety re this jab.

Barney_McGrew – very interesting.

My girlfriend has attended initial vaccine training run by her NHS trust and all present (clinical staff) were told it would be considered gross misconduct if they refused it. Hmmm!

I very much doubt they can enforce that Cxi.

Sorry mountaincarrot but I don't find that website very credible. They argue that the evil drug companies have a vested financial interest in selling these apparently deadly vaccinations, but they want £1.50 for a PDF about MMR and another £15 a year for a newsletter.

From the FAQ:

Q What are vaccines made of?

Toxic substances, such as formaldehyde, mercury products and aluminium hydroxide…

Q What are the alternatives?

There are homœopathic alternatives… The most obvious alternative is quite simply HEALTH… Diseases do not strike randomly there would have to be underlying factors and weaknesses.

So vaccines are poison and the far safer alternative is witchcrafthomœopathy and "staying healthy".

gonefishin, how very wrong you are. The hysteria orchestrated by the govt. and media has caused a fair bit of naivety re this jab.

Then please enlighten me. Seriously I'm always eager to learn new stuff and I'd be interested in what ways the development/testing of this vaccine differs from the normal development/testing of a seasonal 'flu vaccine.

"but they want £1.50 for a PDF about MMR",

As I said Graham. You need to absorb what you see sense in, and not suck it in hook line and sinker. Personally I have no interest of belief in homeopathy, yet I am still prepared to filter out what good stuff can be found.

Clearly you are not the sort of person who would want to spend £15 a year to amass a mountain of references to research journals and papers, or to read, (perhaps to ignore is that suits you -it often suits me), articles contained therein. Your taxes to NHS already spends, without your say, vastly greater amounts peddling their side of the story. £15 subs for an individual's costs for pulling together a newsletter of alternative viewpoints and research otherwise blacklisted by Big Pharma, I feel is a small price to pay.

Re MMR: If you do want to see the real person responsible for the character assasination of Andrew Wakefield, give yourself 1 hour and watch this:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/ziggy/videos/1/

Big Pharma
go to the back of the queue, lose all credibility, do not collect your copy of the Daily Mail.

Drac – I agree. I would expect a an employment lawyer to run rings round them if they tried to make it stick.

if I considered that I was likely to catch it and for it to cause me 5 days off work then I'd have it

mountaincarrot – Member

Clearly you are not the sort of person who would want to spend £15 a year to amass a mountain of references to research journals and papers, or to read, (perhaps to ignore is that suits you -it often suits me), articles contained therein. Your taxes to NHS already spends, without your say, vastly greater amounts peddling their side of the story. £15 subs for an individual's costs for pulling together a newsletter of alternative viewpoints and research otherwise blacklisted by Big Pharma, I feel is a small price to pay.

Or you could just read reviews of the research for free, on an impartial website like the Cochrane Collaboration.

No credible evidence of an involvement of MMR with either autism or Crohn's disease was found. No field studies of the vaccine's effectiveness were found but the impact of mass immunisation on the elimination of the diseases has been demonstrated worldwide.

"Big Pharma" Sorry Andy. That was indeed bad and very lazy. Perhaps I should read Daily Mail – then it would all be black and white.

Substitute " Wyeth, Novartis, Baxter Biosciences, Sanofi Pasteur MSD, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Sanofi Pasteur MSD, Aventis Pasteur MSD", Must be more but I ran out of ideas..

My wife is a doctor, she already has the privilege of paying over £400 a year for BMA membership, so access to research journals and papers isn't an issue.

While I agree that the power of "Big Pharma" is definitely an issue, without them much of this research work would not be getting done at all.

Don't forget that Andrew Wakefield's controversial MMR paper would also have been paid for "without your say" by his NHS Trust and then "blacklisted by Big Pharma" by publishing it in The Lancet. Where it most definitely didn't appear was on a scare-mongering website that plays on parents fears to make money.

My wife and I will be thinking carefully about the benefits and possible risks of the Swine Flu vaccine, but I doubt that website will feature highly in our consideration of the evidence base.

But thank you for your opinion anyway.

gonefishin – Member
Dear sweet mother of god moutaincarrot I know that you don't want to start a debate but that website is full of half truths, lies and frankly dangerous advice.

I think I might know why he does not want to start a debate 😯

because there's no reasoned debate to be had?

Especially with people who think there is evidence/scientific reason behind homeopathy? (please note, i'm referring to that website and not mountaincarrot)

This is really weird, Here's a vaccine that may prevent or help reduce the symptoms of a dose a pretty nasty infection, and folk are really saying "No ta very much…"

Tin foil hats all round