WHO Chief Fans Swine Flu Fear—But Hasn't Had Vaccination

by Heidi Stevenson

30 December 2009

With typical hubris, Margaret Chan, the Director General of WHO (World Health Organization) is fanning the flames of fear over swine flu—but hasn't bothered to get vaccinated herself. Now that the pandemic-that-wasn't, as minor as it's been, has largely passed, she says that we must "guard against complacency".

Chan says

It is too premature and too early for us to say we have come to an end of the pandemic influenza worldwide.

and that

We will watch this virus with eagle's eyes.

Her greatest concern, she says, is that the H1N1 virus will mutate. This has been her clarion call throughout the swine flu campaign. Back in May, Chan was fanning the flames of fear by suggesting that it might mutate into a more virulent virus. She didn't comment, though, that the act of vaccination—especially with live attenuated vaccines in use for swine flu—can cause such mutations, as has happened in Africa, where a new virulent strain of polio is spreading as a result of a mutation in the live attenuated vaccine given to Nigerians.

In May, Chan said that it was better to be over-prepared. Obviously, though, she did not consider the massive costs, both financial and in terms of harm done by the vaccines she has promoted.

So, what's Dr. Chan waiting for? Why hasn't she gotten a swine flu vaccination? Is she waiting for a mutated version of swine flu? Does she know something about vaccine dangers that she doesn't want the general populace to know?

Change the Definition, Create Hysteria

Under Chan's guidance, WHO changed the definition of the term pandemic. The desire to push vaccines en masse couldn't work under the old definition. Before a disease could be called pandemic, it had to cause severe illness and spread across a huge area, such as a continent. The severity of a disease had to be significant. Until this year, only a pestilence like smallpox or tuberculosis could meet the definition of pandemic. The only time influenza ever reached that status was during the 1918 pandemic.

Since swine flu is actually fairly mild, it couldn't rise to the old definition. So, WHO simply redefined the term. They dropped the required that a disease be virulent. All it had to be was widespread.

Voilà! Instant pandemic! Issue a pandemic level 6 warning...and sell those vaccines! (But don't be fool enough to have one yourself.)

So, what's the next pandemic going to be? Under the current definition, the common cold qualifies. You can bet that, if a new vaccine for colds or pharmaceutical drug that claims to cure colds comes along, WHO will be pitching it as deadly, the scourge of civilization—and something that every parent simply must assure that children are "protected" from.

Dr. Chan, though, seems to be betting on bird flu. For over a decade, she's been fanning the fear for that one. Now she says, "The world is not ready for a pandemic to be caused by H5N1."