My Pregnant Sil Was Just Offered The Swine Flu Vaccine

[gregb]

My sister in law is currently pregnant, and was just offered the swine flu vaccine at a Thai hospital upcountry. She hasn't said yes but wanted our opinion as to whether she should take it, so I started doing some research.

http://www.wodarg.de/english/2948146.html

I came across this legislation that apparently has already received sufficient parliamentary support of the Council of Europe advising its member states to ask for an immediate investigation as to whether or not the WHO colluded with large pharmaceutical companies to market what Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg calls "risky vaccines." Dr. Wodarg is apparently the speaker of the German Social Democrats, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health. He doesn't exactly sound like a quack. In fact, he even claims that infection with H1N1 can be beneficial by bringing protection against more virulent and dangerous strains.

Now I know anytime something goes to a government level there is politics involved, but I guess ever since the Gardasil controversy I have started becoming a little more concerned with the level of medical information that I am receiving, how much of it I can believe, and how much is marketing fiction. A fetus, and by extension a pregnant woman, is the most delicate biological system there is. It seems to me that it is irresponsible to offering vaccines to them if it is not absolutely necessary. While I can believe there was every attempt to test this vaccine on adults, it doesn't seem to me there has been enough time to ascertain its effect on unborn children.

H1N1 has existed in Thailand for over a year. It seems to me that whatever damage it was going to cause should be over by this point. Why are the doctors here in Thailand offering this vaccine at all? Is it simply because the WHO told them to and they are obliged to follow its directives?

I'll be honest when I started this investigation I expected to find the usual smattering of conspiracy theories by extremist groups, but I am actually shocked that this has risen to such a high level and yet nobody (or at least nobody I know) has heard anything about this. This seems serious to me. It at least deserves passing mention on the TV news.

I have told my sister in law categorically to refuse the vaccine until after she gives birth. Then she can decide for herself. But I find on a much more emotional level I am angry that nobody feels inclined to make the general public aware of these rather serious alegations, and it just seems negligent to offer what may turn out to be a "risky vaccine" to a pregnant woman.

Does anyone think I'm acting unreasonably?