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By Eric T. Campbell
Michigan Citizen Newspaper
(vactruth.com editor’s note: Trying to vaccinate low-income populations is nothing new. Please see how Sanofi Pasteur hired RAND corporation to learn how to skirt laws to vaccinate low income children here.)
12/13/2009 – DETROIT — The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sponsored a forum in Detroit last week to reassure minority communities not to be wary of vaccinations.
The forum was part of a nationwide vaccination awareness campaign for the H1N1 flu virus along with the seasonal influenza virus.
CDC is targeting minority communities, where, CDC officials say, participation in vaccination programs is traditionally less than that of the general population.
“We, as African Americans, tend to not get the flu shot in great numbers. Because we are historically distrustful that, you’re injecting something in me that is bad or that is going to cause me harm. But we’ve got to look at the data now,” says Dr. Corey Hebert M.D., nationally recognized doctor of pediatrics based in New Orleans and is part of the media advisory board for the CDC.
Hebert is the medical editor at WDSU Channel 6 in New Orleans. He also serves as Chief Resident of Pediatrics at Tulane University Hospital, the first African American to hold that position, and medical director for the Louisiana Recovery School District.
After the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Hebert was featured on NBC “Nightly News”, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke.
He freely acknowledges points in history during which vaccination programs have produced flawed products that, “have been detrimental to some people.” But he insists that the current flu vaccine does not fall into that category.
“This has been a vaccine that has been safe and has prevented serious illness,” says Dr. Hebert.
“The vaccine has a high percentage of protection if you are confronted with the influenza virus,” Herbert says. “Even if it doesn’t prevent the virus completely, it will reduce the symptoms that you do get.”
Hebert says that another contributing factor to low participation is that people often confuse mild symptoms experienced after the shot with the flu virus itself. The body produces anti-bodies as a result of the shot, sometimes resulting in very mild symptoms. The resulting swelling, fatigue or other mild symptoms should not be mistaken for the flu itself.
Hebert responded to reports that doctors across the country have, with the urging of the CDC, stopped diagnosing different strains of influenza and have begun categorizing every similar case as H1N1. These alleged practices would inflate the number of deaths and illnesses attributed to the H1N1 virus. Dr. Hebert confirms that doctors now largely rely on a rapid test for ‘influenza A’ because the treatment for both is the same — supportive care, anti-viral medicines and increased fluids. Both the H3N2 strain of influenza — commonly known as the seasonal flu — and the H1N1 strain — now known as ‘swine flu’ — fall under the category of ‘influenza A’.
Hebert adds that doctors may confirm that patients have contracted one of the two prominent flu strains, but warns that, “There is no way a physician can tell you that you have any type of influenza over the phone, or even in the office, without doing a test.”
Current vaccination programs dispense one shot for each of the two strains of flu virus.
Dr. Hebert says that health officials could have included both vaccines in one if they had known earlier in the year about the existence of the separate H1N1 virus.
According to the CDC, every year 36,000 people die from flu-related complications and 200,000 are hospitalized.
According to the CDC’s 2008 National Health Interview Survey, influenza vaccination rates for the 2007-08 flu season for persons aged 65 and older were 53.2 percent for African Americans, 51.1 percent for Hispanics and 59.3 percent for Asians, compared to 69.4 percent for Caucasians.
Wayne W. Bradley, Sr. is the President and CEO of Detroit Community Health Connection, Inc. (DCHC), a nonprofit, community-based healthcare organization operating five primary healthcare sites across Detroit. The DHCH was offering vaccinations for both strains of influenza until recently, when supplies of the vaccine began to run short.
Bradley says he’s witnessed long lines for the vaccination in Oakland County but not in Detroit.
“There are people out there without jobs and without health care — health care issues are generally addressed after other priorities are met,” says Bradley.
He adds that the flu shots are not free. DCHC generally charges Detroit residents a $20 walk-in fee and the flu shot itself costs anywhere between $10 and $25, depending on where it is received.
Bradley also acknowledges an aversion in the community to the flu shot and to medical procedures in general.
Furthermore, Bradley questions CDC methods which target minority communities, saying that there is very little data to show that swine flu has had a sweeping affect on the African American community.
Clear data is very difficult to obtain regarding the total number of illnesses and deaths from swine flu, or the influenza virus in general. The Michigan Department of Community Health keeps a database which reflects an aggregate number of “influenza-like illness and individual case reports of influenza.” In Michigan, 10,059 people fell into that category for the week November 22-28. In Detroit, 124 cases were reported. Those numbers are down drastically from the 31,103 residents state-wide who reported flu-like symptoms the week before. But the accumulated data doesn’t reveal how many confirmed cases of H1N1 exist, much less the affect on individuals who have contracted the virus.