A GERMAN EXAMPLE OF THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS!

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Ah la ma!  United States citizens do not have exclusive rights to  ire due to governmental injustice.

Case in point, today the newspaper, Der Speigle,  reported that the general population here in Germany will be offered the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine, Pandermrix, for swine flu. Sounds great, doesn't it?  But how would you feel if you were offered this vaccine containing a booster element, or adjuvant, and  a preservative with mercury and Chancellor Angela Merkel, her cabinet members and ministry civil servants, as well as those working for other agencies, are being offered Celvapan, produced by US firm Baxter, which does not contain the adjuvant nor the  preservative?

A HA!  Therein lies the problem.  Entitlement is roaring it's ugly head in my fair adopted country, just like it does back  home. 

The article explains that the adjuvant may lead to a stronger reaction in the patient, which they explained means it probably contains less of the virus, yet will still get the necessary reaction.  However, some say it is an additional risk.   The Celvapan doesn't have the adjuvant or preservative.  This is the one being given to the armed forces and is available to pregnant women and children.  WHAT?? If it isn't safe for them, why the heck are they offering it to poor slobs anyone else is my question. 

Here comes the "kicker."  The Paul Ehrlich Institute, which took the decision to order the new vaccine from GlaxoSmit Kline for the rest of the country, will get the new vaccine along with the state servants.  Now if that doesn't smack of injustice!

Well, there is one voice of sanity in this obscene scandal and that is coming from the Chairman of the German Medical Association's Drug Commission, Wolf-Dieter Ludwig.  He said, "The health authorities have succumbed to a campaign by the pharma companies, which simply want to earn money from a supposed threat."  Do ya think, Mr. Ludwig?? 

The president of the Association of Paediatricians said chldren under the age of three should not be given the shots. Just what is this country thinking? I'm no doctor, yet even I know that innoculations containing mercury preservatives have been banned for decades.  How can they play Russian Roulet like this with innocent lives?

 "The vaccine has not been tested on them," he said.  "The children's immune systems tend to overreact, which could be exacerbated by the adjuvants."  He also strongly attacked the use of mercury-containing preservatives, Der Speigle reported.

What a can of worms!

Image by psd via Flickr