H1N1 Vaccine Clinics
Causing Riots In France
Theres nothing like a good dose of reality to get people
to change their minds about things. The H1N1 vaccine debate in
France is a textbook example of that.
The extreme cynicism with which the French considered H1N1 vaccination
just one week ago has been replaced by panic and exasperation
at not being able to get vaccinated. Riot police have been deployed
at certain vaccination stations.
Flesh
& Stone has already reported that people have been taking
the government to court for attempted mass poisoning or, as the
charge sheet puts it: Attempting to administer substances
of
a nature which could result in death. Polls taken as recently
as two weeks ago showed that around 80 percent of the population
wouldnt or most probably wouldnt, get vaccinated against
H1N1, and there has been violent public reaction against government
attempts to persuade people to get their children vaccinated.
Figures suggest that children represent almost 75 percent of those
infected.
Sections of the national media have had a lot of fun ridiculing
attempts to get people to vaccinate, and one video skit showed
a supposedly desperate health minister begging people to be nice
to her and take my vaccine.
Things have changed extremely quickly. The days of anti-vaccine
conspiracy theories have evaporated into thin air in the space
of just one week, replaced by crowds of worried people clamouring
to be vaccinated and overwhelming vaccination stations and their
staff.
This situation has come about because of the sudden and dramatic
rise in infection rates and, with it, the sudden and dramatic
rise in the number of dead, particularly among the young.
The number of people infected in France has doubled in the last
week, and hospitals are reporting a slight increase in the proportional
death rate among those infected. Reports of staff being threatened
are also beginning to surface.
Almost three times as many schools in France are closed today
than eight days ago, and several major sporting events have been
cancelled due to teams and athletes becoming infected.
And topping it all, government officials are predicting increased
infections over the coming weeks. Hospitals expect to be overrun
with H1N1 admissions over the next two weeks, and worry that H1N1
may be spread to hospitalized patients.
Whereas the majority of people were criticizing the government
recently for doing too much to highlight the problem to
the point of being accused of propagandizing today many
are complaining that vaccination facilities are woefully inadequate.
The first signs came at the end of last week after a surge in
infections in Paris. Previously empty vaccination centers were
flooded with anxious families and tempers began to flare in the
long waiting lines. The police were called in to calm things down
in several areas of the city.
Since then the phenomena has spread to other towns and events
now seem to be spiralling out of control, at least for the moment.
Below is translated information from a Lyon newspaper report
today that suggests the situation is becoming serious.
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One vaccination center opened at 9:30 a.m. but had to soon close
its doors due to overcrowding. Unable to control the situation,
the doctors called the police who were also unable to control
the panic. Finally, a detachment from the Anti-Criminality
Brigade, which is trained in riot control, was called in
and restored order.
Some people were furious. One said: What the hell are these
methods? We came to get vaccinated because we were advised to
and now we have plain-clothed police pushing us violently outside!
Lyon authorities say that the number of vaccination candidates
has gone up by 400 percent in just a few days and that twice as
many people are turning up as can be vaccinated in a day.
Some people are beginning to cheat to jump the queue. To get
vaccinated here you must have a vaccination permission certificate,
but people are turning up without them and trying to get vaccinated
anyway, offering a variety of excuses for not having their authorizations.
This means that priority candidates such as pregnant mothers and
older people are being pushed back. As one health professional
put it, Illegal queue-jumping methods are being devised
and transmitted between people. How can I refuse someone who says
that a member of his family has mucoviscidose?
At that moment a lady tries to slip through the door. She is
asked to come back the next day because she is not a priority.
She says she has respiratory problems and gets angry, but eventually
leaves.
A doctor loses his temper because he is asked by a state ambulance
service member to shorten his pre-vaccination medical interviews.
One person has another point of view on it all. There was
no one here two weeks ago! Everyone was mocking the vaccination
campaign. Now that everyone is afraid there are too many people!
-------------------
Visits to general practitioners by people with severe respiratory
infections have jumped by 72 percent in one week and, although
winter has not even officially begun, the level of H1N1 infection
has already outstripped the highest rates of normal seasonal influenza
rates over the last few years.
Another very serious problem is that 80 percent of hospital and
other health personnel jumped on the anti-vaccine bandwagon by
refusing to get vaccinated at the beginning of the campaign, two
weeks ago. This has led to the alarming conclusion by several
studies which indicate that hospital staff are now the biggest
vector of hospital acquired H1N1 infection.
The situation has led authorities to appeal for volunteers from
among public and private doctors, medical students and retired
health workers.
The French Interior Ministry announced this morning that regional
police prefects have been instructed to adapt existing dispositions
and recommends the presence of public security forces near
vaccination centers on days when many people are present.
In Paris, certain vaccination centers are already under police
protection.
Everyone wants to get vaccinated today, whereas yesterday
nobody did, added a ministry spokesperson. This is not an
easy problem to resolve."
That is the very least that can be said.
*
A full list of h1n1 vaccine ingredients, alerts and warnings.
Reference Sources fleshandstone.net
November 28, 2009
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