H1N1 flu and mandatory vaccinations

Dr. Toy sent me a notice on how to protect oneself from mandatory H1N1 flu vaccinations enabled by the Patriot Act. This is my response:

I haven't read the Patriot Act, but I seriously doubt that any government agency could force people to be vaccinated outside of the military or prisons. For example, the WHO wants every child to be vaccinated against HepB, but parents still have to sign a permit, and if they don't, there is no penalty whatsoever. Every nation in the world vaccinates their newborns against HepB, a disease of IV drug users. It is a noble ambition of WHO to aspire to wipe HepB off the face of the Earth like it did with smallpox. But parents are free to decline the vaccine. My son got himself vaccinated at age 18.

New York City schools will be conducting H1N1 flu vaccinations in October, when the vaccine will be released. But still, no one will get vaccinated without the parent signing a consent. Most assuredly, there will also be a Waiver to sign for those parents who don't want their child vaccinated. Plenty of parents already sign the waiver for the mandatory school vaccinations.

Undoubtedly, part of the H1N1 flu "pandemic" is the need to sell vaccines. Another is to sell alcohol based hand sanitizer. As a School Nurse, I have noted that schools often think hand washing is too time consuming and uses too much water, so they buy hand sanitizer at $4 per 8 oz bottle. In times of drastic budget cutting, who can afford that???

There are 3 processes to guard ourselves and our children against the H1N1 flu or any other communicable disease.
1) Hand washing. It must include lathering the soap all over the hands for at least 10 seconds, 20 preferred; tell kids to sing Happy Birthday twice while lathering, then rinse. Large numbers of students can be accommodated by mixing some liquid soap with water in a spray bottle, and spraying all the children's hands to lather up while they are waiting in line to rinse. Strategic timing to wash hands is also essential: before eating, after coughing or sneezing into your hand, after blowing your nose, after touching pets like turtles or other reptiles/amphibians, and after using the bathroom, etc.
2) Bolster the immune system with good nutrition and nutritional supplements. Get enough exercise and sleep.
3) Clean all commonly touched areas with an antibacterial cleanser. I suggest 70% isopropyl alcohol because it is cheap and the fumes are non-toxic. Just don't drink it. Clean door knobs, the phone, faucet handles, the toilet flusher, the refrigerator handle, light switches, video game controllers, computer keyboards, remote control, etc. At school, this should be done nightly. If there is a known infected person, it would be prudent to repeat it at midday.

Germs are everywhere all the time anyway. I agree with Foster Gamble, the author of the article in question, that the H1N1 flu may be no worse than any other flu. I am very hesitant to expose myself or any child to a rushed-through vaccine that hasn't yet been fully tested over the long term on large numbers of subjects. I tell the parents at school that vaccinations are an ethical issue that is up to every individual parent.

Unfortunately, we live with a government that devalues the Common Good. Historically, the government has dropped many safeguards and has rushed-through several pharmaceuticals that were not fully tested; they subsequently became fully tested by using the unwitting general public as test subjects without their consent. We have a crisis of trust with our government which protects corporate interests at the expense of the Common Good.

Another huge factor affecting our immune systems is that of pollution. As long as the government allows pollution, and our bodies become toxified with air, water, and soil pollution, our immune systems become impaired. The government would rather vaccinate us than prevent pollution and force the polluters clean up their messes. Once again, our government protects corporate profits at the expense of the Common Good.

So the H1N1 flu "pandemic" may be another way to bolster corporate profits for the vaccine and sanitizer companies. Maybe. Or maybe not. Either way, effective hand washing is the key to controlling the spread of contagious disease. Hand washing and good nutrition is more important now than ever before.