Not Everyone Panicking Over Swine Flu
EmailABC’s Z. Byron Wolf Reports: Texas Congressman Ron Paul, looking at the precautions and reactions relating to the swine flu outbreak in Mexico, the US and other countries, has a simple message: Calm down, everybody.
In a video recorded in his Capitol Hill office and posted on his Web site, Paul says the whole thing reminds him of 1976, his first year in the House, when he was one of two Congressmen, both doctors, to oppose a government flu shot program at the time.
"Back then there was a panic and they said it was going to sweep the nation and they rapidly came up with some flu shotsand the government was going to inoculate everybody and save the world from this disaster," Paul said, arguing he was vindicated in casting his vote against inoculation.
"But the flu came. The flu went. And one person died. Except for those individuals who died from getting the flu vaccine and over 25 people died from just getting the vaccine and many got ill from it until finally they had to suspend the program. And here we are once again, the swine flu coming up and everybody is panicking."
Read more about the 1976 swine flu fiasco here.
Paul said he is not trying to downplay the seriousness of swine flu, especially to the people who have died in Mexico. But Paul argued that "we have had no deaths yet in this country" and argued that few in the United States have even been hospitalized with the swine flu "and yet it’s practically like we have been attacked by nuclear weapons," said Paul in the video. There have been more diagnosed cases in New York since he recorded his message.
But the former presidential candidate (unsuccessful as a Republican in 2008 and a Libertarian in 1988) and OB-Gyn has a lot of problems with U.S. medical policy.
"How did the Department of Homeland Security get into the medical business?" he asked of the department’s involvement in the federal reaction to the flu. "It is just totally out of control."
Seeking perspective, Paul said there were 13,000 cases of tuberculosis and more than 600 died from the disease last year, more by far than are currently affected by the swine flu, though the illness is moving rapidly.
"I hate to even bring this up," he said of the tuberculosis numbers with a tinge of sarcasm, "or maybe tomorrow they are going to quarantine everybody in the whole world from coming into this country to watch out for tuberculosis."
Here is the CDC fact sheet on tuberculosis, which confirms Paul’s numbers.
But no one is arguing that tuberculosis is a pandemic or preparing to suddenly shoot across continents. Everyone from the CDC to the WHO is worried about that happening with swine flu
"All I’m asking is that people step back and think for a minute rather than panicking and taking advantage of things like this," Paul said. "This is what happens when there are economic problems or medical problems. People who love the government take advantage of things like this."
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Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Ron Paul and the Obama administration are promoting the exact same approach, cautious but no need to panic, to swine flu (depending on your partisan flag, I’ll leave it to you to decide which clock is stopped…).
Posted by: jhw539 | April 28, 2009, 10:21 am 10:21 am
Regardless of the situation some will panic….I don’t see preparedness as panic, I think every family should be prepared for most situations on their own, to help fight any situation from natural disaster to man made to pandemic. There are things we can do to protect ourselves…especially with anything medical…if people would just stay home when they are sick and practice a little common sense we wouldn’t have to worry so much…but some people are stupid and not happy unless the whole world is sick with them.
Posted by: samhiguchi | April 28, 2009, 10:24 am 10:24 am
Last week on the ticker I read that viles of swine flu virus was missing from a military storage unit. Is this flu the same? Why has no one asked this question?
Posted by: cjvwise1 | April 28, 2009, 10:38 am 10:38 am
jhw539 – You are always humorous. Stopped clock eh? I would say Ron Paul is correct on a vast array of things. This is just one of many things he is correct about. If I get it and survive. I will be stronger as will my offspring. If I die, which is highly unlikely, life will go on without me.
Posted by: Huh | April 28, 2009, 10:46 am 10:46 am
Not the same flu, that was Venezuelan Equine encephalitis…they think it was accidentally destroyed. The curious thing is in 04 the CDC wanted to try mixing flu varieties, avian and human, and now we have a mix of avian, human and swine flu making people sick and killing others…..curious…
Posted by: samhiguchi | April 28, 2009, 10:54 am 10:54 am
It was said, that the vials of swine flu may not be missing, but may have been miscounted as a result of a fire months earlier. But it sounds pretty strange to me, that one week the report of missing swine flue is filed, the next a mysterious multi-flu strain outbreak is reported. Why is no one questioning this?
Posted by: cjvwise1 | April 28, 2009, 10:54 am 10:54 am
Its a good thing repubs took out the section of the stimulus package to increase funding to pandemic responses. Because that surely wouldnt do us any good right now…just like volcano monitoring.
Posted by: Ordermonger | April 28, 2009, 10:55 am 10:55 am
cjvwise1 – It is true. This could be engineered population control. Maybe a drug company produced it to sell their product? But how do you even prove something like that? I am not into conspiracy theories per say, but anything is possible. Remember there are folks like Rahm Emanuel that don’t want to waste an opportunity.
Posted by: Huh | April 28, 2009, 10:59 am 10:59 am
What do good doctors in DC know. I trust the lawyers on these issues. The lawyers are truthful.
Posted by: Ben | April 28, 2009, 11:01 am 11:01 am
The report I saw said it was some kind of mixed up swine flu that was missing
Posted by: cjvwise1 | April 28, 2009, 11:02 am 11:02 am
YAWN! I am an Independent. I am really tired of this Republican – Democrat hoo-hah! This country has turned into a swamp of right, left, gay, straight irresponsible idiots who fail to show any substance for real issues or compassion for anyone or anything. We have young people killing for the thrill, idiots in Congress and irresponsible business leaders who have run the country out of business for greed and self interests. Can I get an answer about why we are not reporting on any possible connection between vials missing and this outbreak?
Posted by: cjvwise1 | April 28, 2009, 11:09 am 11:09 am
stupid corporate media, always trying to scare Americans because they have no real news to report
Posted by: novanative | April 28, 2009, 11:36 am 11:36 am
Wow, here’s a novel idea!!!
Wash your hands often; keep your hands away from your mouth, nose and eyes; stay home if you feel sick; and go see your doctor right away if you start to *really* feel sick.
Okay, panic over. We can all go back to our normal lives, now.
Posted by: Jaylah | April 28, 2009, 1:01 pm 1:01 pm
Gah! 2 min history lesson for everyone, including the blogger. The HHS submits their money requests twice a year in a report called “Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Spending”. The report covers the pandemic influenza funding provided in both the December 2005 emergency supplemental appropriations bill (PL 109-148) and the June 2006 emergency supplemental appropriations bill (PL 109-234).
Appropriations Bill (PL 109-234) Which is contained in the:For an additional amount for ‘‘Defense Health Program’’,
$1,153,562,000 for operation and maintenance: Provided, That the
amount provided under this heading is designated as an emergency
requirement pursuant to section 402 of H. Con. Res. 95 (109th
Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year
2006.
These $$ are updated twice a year as needed.
NOW if there is an emergency, the HHS, under FEMA can request more money, which, is just in time to ask for more.
Makes sense? Ready for the catch?
Each Section of this Public Law states something about transferring of funds to any specified Govt. Agency in the bill, as needed or required up to a certain amount. In otherwords, We won’t give the money back that is not needed, we’ll spend it elsewhere.
So, lets say They blow this pandemic completely out of proportion… A new HHS Appointee, ready to solve the problem by throwing as much money and govt resources at it as possible pushed thru 100 million dollars thru congress because of the media frenzy, we later find out, it’s a non-issue (cough cough SARS cough cough). So, now there is 100 million floating around a Public Law (from 2006 mind you.. not going to get into the abuse there) that our govt will eventually spread around somewhere that has used up all of it’s money already.
Might have been more than 2 minutes, but there’s alot of info to cover if you don’t know how the Govt works yet, or you didn’t know the exact text of the bill. But PLEASE!!!! Read the bill yourself.
Sources:
http://www.hhs.gov/aspr/barda/mcm/panflu/hhspanflu-spending-0901.pdf
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ234.109.pdf
Posted by: DocNasty | April 28, 2009, 5:16 pm 5:16 pm
” I’m Not Panicking, Never did….Know Why? President Obama is in Charge. I’ve never felt more safe than I do now, and I am 57 years.
Posted by: sngeorgia | April 28, 2009, 8:12 pm 8:12 pm
CVJwise1..Who is it that is reporting a vial being stolen…..then let them report how they know. Now would that be sensible? And “If” any vials has been stolen, I’d bet it was stolen by one of those hateful Republicans.
Posted by: sngeorgia | April 28, 2009, 8:32 pm 8:32 pm
cjvwise1:
Perhaps you should recall the fact that this outbreak has been existent since last month, not last week.
Also, it is a known fact that viruses are extremely fast evolvers. They mix and reproduce with extraordinary speed, which is why we have a different flu vaccine every year.
If this were a conspiracy, what on earth would anyone gain from this? If this is handled properly, the credit would be given to the CDC and President Obama. If this is not handled properly, the blame goes to everyone.
Posted by: cambridge | April 29, 2009, 6:10 pm 6:10 pm
This Ron Paul guy is great!. I really appreciate the common sense approach he takes on every single issue. Wake up people, we all missed out on electing a bright individual. We’re even getting the fear mongering from our own vice prez. This is just so absurd. RON PAUL 2012 FOR HEAVENS SAKE. We have NEO-CONS on the right who love big government, and GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER FREAKS ON THE LEFT. PLEASE!!!!
Posted by: Jason | April 30, 2009, 3:55 pm 3:55 pm
anyone sick yet?
Posted by: rhys | April 30, 2009, 5:57 pm 5:57 pm
This whole thing is ridiculous. Ron Paul is about the only dude up on the hill that is sane anymore, or normal for that matter. He called the economic calamity, the prolonged middle east wars, and a host of other serious issues we are currently facing. How could you write the guy off, he’s been dead nuts on everytime. The irony of this is that he isn’t some intellectual genius, the guy just has common sense. Something we need to get back to in this country before the I can’t think for myself virus spreads. We’ll really be doomed then…
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