Man Who Refused Swine Flu Vaccine Orders Health Workers to Take It

by Heidi Stevenson

11 October 2009

In a stunning display of hypocrisy, Dr. Richard Daines, New York State's Commissioner of Health, has ordered all healthcare workers to be injected with both seasonal and swine flu vaccines, while he has refused to take it himself.

Healthcare worker is defined as any public employee who comes into contact with patients. This includes all hospital workers, comprising even janitors. Any employee refusing the vaccines is to be fired.

Those in other states who think they're safe should consider the viewpoint of Dr. Julie Gerberding, the former director for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). For years, she has pushed to make vaccinations of all sorts mandatory for all healthcare workers. She praises Daines' approach, saying, "We tried to market the idea, to push people, to educate, but looking back, broadly speaking, we failed. It’s time to look at a more aggressive approach."

Her successor, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, takes a slightly softer approach. He's in favor of moving towards mandatory vaccinations, but thinks that, "This is just not the right flu season to take this on." So, his only concern about New York's making flu vaccinations mandatory has nothing to do with whether it's right or wrong, or whether it even makes sense. He simply thinks that the timing is wrong. Perhaps he's concerned about a public backlash, but he's in favor the concept of forced vaccinations.

The New York Times glosses over people's legitimate concerns about vaccine safety by saying that those who refuse are merely listening to "rumors" that "always circulate" or "fear needles". The very real risks are ignored and people who refuse are dismissed as either abnormally fearful or ignorant.

Vaccines Not Validated

The H1N1, swine flu, vaccine that is to be injected has not been tested. A similar vaccine is tested, but not with the specific virus included. Instead, a similar virus has been substituted in trials. The FDA has allowed this so that the vaccines can be fast-tracked.

The H1N1 vaccine contains extremely dangerous ingredients. Mercury, the major component of thimerosol, is extremely toxic, capable of causing severe neurological damage at low doses. The adjuvant squalene has been implicated in a host of immunological disorders and is highly suspect in Gulf War Syndrome. Only those soldiers who received injections that included squalene have come down with Gulf War Syndrome.

Dr. Daines, though, has outright lied about the testing. He stated, "This vaccine was prepared, developed, and being prescribed in the same way as our enormously safe track record of vaccines for 30 or more years." This is simply untrue. Both the method of development and testing for the new swine flu are different—not to mention the fact that it's been fast-tracked, another new development for influenza vaccines. If, by some slim chance, he is unaware of this fact, then what is he doing in the role of Health Commissioner?

Health Hypocrisy

If the flu epidemic is so serious and the vaccines are so safe, why doesn't Dr. Daines deign to have one himself? Surely, if swine flu is so risky—and in light of the medical industry's insistence that herd immunity is necessary—then why isn't he first in line for it?

It's clear that major news media is on board with the rush to vaccinate. Those who refuse are denigrated with tossed-off false statements about their motivation and intelligence. The very real vaccination risks are treated as either nonexistent or so rare they should be ignored. The lack of efficacy of any flu vaccination ever before is utterly ignored.

Major news media doesn't even look for what motivates Dr. Daines' obvious hypocrisy.

In spite of the known risks and questionable efficacy of the flu vaccines, and in spite of his own unwillingness to be subjected to them, what possible motivation could there be for forcing flu vaccinations on healthcare workers? Is it a matter of seeing to it that Big Pharma collects its profits, or is it a matter of controlling the masses—getting them used to doing as they're told? Or is it both?

Please note the main swine flu vaccine being pushed in the United States is not injected. It's FluMist (celvapan) by Baxter. While it does carry serious risks, in particular ones associated with the manner of delivery by nose spray, it does not contain any adjuvants, including squalene and mercury.

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