New (fake) survey suggests Americans keen for swine flu vaccine

Just days after a Consumer Reports poll that stated two-thirds of American parents would either not get their kids vaccinated or would wait for more information on this improperly tested vaccine, Harvard comes out with a new poll saying parents are going to fall over themselves to get this vaccine. I leave it to you to decide which to take seriously. I think you could guess with reasonable certainty where I'm leaning.

Ask yourself: why is the establishment so desperate to get you injected with their vaccine for this relatively benign virus, which is known to only kill people with compromised immune systems, respiratory illnesses, and, in all cases, vitamin D deficiencies? Do you believe them when they say Americans would be more willing to get vaccinated for swine flu than for seasonal flu, even though seasonal flu kills many times the number of people - about 36,000 a year in the United States alone - than the swine flu, which has only killed a few thousand worldwide? I certainly don't. But the perception is created in the untrained mind: you want this vaccine, because everyone else wants this vaccine.

Reuters -

Days before the swine flu vaccine becomes available, more than half of U.S. adults say they will get the vaccine for themselves and 75 percent will get it for their children, according to a survey released on Friday.

Forty percent said they would not get the H1N1 vaccine, the team at the Harvard School of Public Health found.

"These findings suggest that public health officials need to be prepared for a surge in demand for the H1N1 vaccine if the H1N1 flu becomes more severe," said Harvard's Robert Blendon, who led the study.

The survey conflicts with one published earlier this week by Consumer Reports showing only 35 percent of Americans would definitely have their children vaccinated.

The Harvard researchers polled 1,042 U.S. adults for what they said was a representative sample of national opinion late last month.

The poll results suggest more people would get a swine flu vaccine than usually get vaccinated against seasonal influenza in the United States, where flu kills an estimated 36,000 mostly elderly people a year.

H1N1 swine flu was declared a pandemic in June and it has circulated globally ever since.

Companies have been rushing to make and distribute vaccines for H1N1 and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the first 600,000 doses will arrive in cities, states and counties that ordered them next week.

The U.S. government has ordered about 250 million doses from five companies -- Sanofi-Aventis SA, CSL Ltd, AstraZeneca Plc's MedImmune unit, Novartis AG and GlaxoSmithKline.

The vaccines will trickle in at a rate of about 20 million doses a week, and officials are unsure how many Americans will actually get them. The U.S. government is providing them for free but clinics and retailers may charge to administer them.