Feedback from an attendee - CDC's 1st public engagment meeting Denver on the Swine Flu Vaccine

I attended the "H1N1 Community Engagement" meeting today in Denver,
CO, and while it was definitely skewed to produce a predetermined
outcome (i.e. Vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as
possible to reduce the risk of people becoming infected and dying from
the "Novel" H1N1 Virus.), it was a FANTASTIC meeting.  Our side was
very, very well represented.  Out of approximately 80 participants, at
least 30 to 40% were on our side.  The CDC officials in attendance
were obviously annoyed at first, did song and dance to avoid specific
hard-hitting questions (and there were MANY hard-hitting questions),
and one of the higher ranking officials there even stormed out of the
meeting during the portion where we were turned loose to whail on
them. LOL  I'll be writing up a detailed summary of the meeting today,
along with scanned documents that were provided (questions asked, the
way they tried to skew things, etc.) tomorrow. I'll post that when
it's completed... in the meantime I was interviewed by Channel 7 News
after the meeting today.  They chopped it all to bits... out of about
20 minutes of interview, they extracted two sentences for video, and
another one for written story.  Here's the link to video and story:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/health/20322691/detail.html

Erika
The same focus group was taking place in Lincoln Nebraska today.  I
did a search and found some newsfeeds of that meeting... doesn't seem
that our side was as well represented there.  I think I've very
fortunate to be living in a state of such like-minded free thinkers!

http://www.kolnkgin.com/home/headlines/52799722.html
http://www.klkntv.com/ - top news story, just click on the video in
the upper right corner of the page

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the CDC catered in breakfast and lunch
for us and gave all attendees $50 for their participations.

Erika

And don't forget pregnant women!!

I'll have a whole package put together of the types of questions they
ask, how the manipulate, what to watch for, etc.  They sicked a
high-ranking CDC official into my focus group to keep an eye on me!
LOL  It was entertaining to stump him.  By the end of the day he was
so beaten up and literally MAD that he stormed out before the meeting
was over, and we never saw him again.  Another CDC official stated it
was incredibly difficult to sit and listen to what we had to say
yesterday... I'm thinking,... "Good, squirm you snake!"

Erika


Thatt makes a lot of sense, Jackie... it was apparent by what I saw
yesterday that the elderly are scared to death of H1N1; made me very
sad for them' The media has really made them paranoid!  I was able to
sit and talk to a couple of elderly folks during the course of the day
and hope that I helped to set their minds at ease over the severity of
the disease in the likelyhood that they do contract it.

Incidentally, one of the reporters covering the event told me his
whole family had H1N1 (lab confirmed) last week.  He was standing
there looking quite healthy to me!  When I questioned that he stated
he didn't know what all the hype was, that he and his wife got over it
in about five days and hardly had a cough and the symptoms were very
mild.  His 1.5 year old son got over it in two days, his older son in
about 3 1/2 days.  None of them took medication (not even Tylenol) and
they are all fine!

Erika

One of the things I learned at the meeting that I was unaware of is
that two versions of the vaccine are currently in production (well,
four, if you take into account that they are also make a "killed"
virus shot and a "live, attenuated" virus mist)... the type that is
being manufactured for license contains no adjuvent at all.  There is
a "back-up" vaccine also being manufactured in case they find that the
adjuvent-free type is not working well that contains the squalene
adjuvent.  However, it is not being approved for licensing yet.  This
was revealed in the small focus group that I was participating in.  We
probed the CDC official further about this and he insisted that the
hope of the gov't at this time is that the adjuvent-free version will
be sufficient and they won't have to "resort" to going ahead with the
licensing of the adjuvent version.   One of the enlightened women in
my group went further to ask, "If that is so, then how do you explain
the fact that $300 million has been spent for the manufacture of the
non-adjuvent version while over $758 million has been spent on the
manufacture of the version that contains squalene.  The man couldn't
answer the questioned, turned very red and soon after excused himself
from the room.   This information is apparently on Sheri Tenpenny's
site somewhere... I plan to look for the source.

It should be noted, that one of the initial questions asked of this
same CDC official - a military man walking around like his "shtuff
don't stink" with his neatly-pressed Air Force uniform on, as if to
try intimidate anyone who came near him.  We're weren't easily
intimidated. :)  - was "Will this vaccine contain Thimerosal?" Answer:
  "Yes, both versions will contain trace amounts of Thimerosol".  He
went on to explain that because of how hastily they have to
manufacture the vaccine they have to use Thimerosal as a preservative
in order to produce multi-dose vials.  He was then asked why the
vaccine is recommended for pregnant women if it contains Thimerosal,
to which he responded that a certain limited number of single vial
doses will be manufactured, but that it would have to be requested if
you want that used in place of the multi-dose, Thimerosal-containing
version.  So, if a pregnant woman doesn't know any better, they will
never know to ask for the "safer" (!!) vaccine.

I'm off to do my write-upon the entire meeting now...  will post it
when I'm done.

Erika


I did not have the opportunity to speak with Ms. Tafoya-Dominguez
personally, however I did hear her state that some of the information
that we presented (we meaning the anti-vax camp) opened her eyes to
the mistrust that many feel in our government and in the vaccine
program.  She has walked in with the opinion that this vaccine (and
all vaccines) should be compulsory and that NO ONE, should be allowed
to be exempted, period (I so wish I'd spoken with her personally).
However, by the end of the day she had softened her stance.  She now
believes that no vaccine should be compulsory and that people who
truly don't want it should not be forced to take it.  She also stated
she didn't think about the fact that it is being cultured in eggs (The
CDC official explained this early on and made the statement that
"Anyone who is allergic to eggs will not be able to receive this
vaccine" ) and that there could truly be many people who are allergic
to the vaccine.  So, while she didn't completely convert, at least we
were able to soften her some.

There was one woman there who never softened her stance and kept
preaching fervently for compulsory vaccines... we pegged her as a
plant by the gov't almost from the get-go.  As the day wore on, I was
more and more convinced she was a plant.

Erika