Cervical Vaccine cuts being opposed… November 6, 2008
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.trackback
Good to see that people are waking up to the news from yesterday.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny … accused the Minister of “an act of despicable cynicism” by announcing the “scrapping” of the cervical vaccination programme on the day of the American presidential election.
I’m not sure, though, what is worse, Harney’s latest pronouncement that:
…she hoped to introduce the scheme as soon as possible, perhaps in 2010.
Or the information released that when she made the initial announcement…
…that the Health Service Executive (HSE) wanted to wait until 2010 to roll out the vaccination programme, to allow it enter discussions with schools and parents and to upgrade its technology.
Dr James Reilly may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but he speaks with passion and clearly, as an experienced doctor, knows what he’s talking about. He sounds like a Minister for Health, while Mary Harney sounds like a Minister for Controlling Health Spending.
She may sound like the Minister for Controlling Health Spending but I would submit that she has failed in that as well. To the detriment of the patients.
At least Reilly is making the right noises. Harney *has* failed. There’s something almost willful about this latest debacle.
It’s interesting that so many left-wingers accept uncritically that this vaccination is a good thing.
Is the promotion of HPV vaccines not mainly about Big Pharma’s greed?
See, for example, this piece by American writer Barbara Loe Fisher (a pro-vaccination campaigner and researcher who was a member of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee):
http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2007/09/going-for-throat-hyping-hpv-vaccine-for.html
Surely the issue is: Why should public money be spent on this vaccine?
Actually, I’ll pose the question:
Why should public money be spent on any vaccine?
There are many people who don’t want vaccination. And I think many others would join that group if they were given the facts about vaccine side effects.
Mary Harney is something else.
Dr James Reilly
The most succesful trade union leader in the country. He got the great deal for treating the pensioners which nearly crashed the system. We are paying for our daughter. We cannot take the risk
Oh as far as I know it would not be compulsory in any case.
“Why should public money be spent on any vaccine?”
I remember seeing people who had had Polio. Are these people real.
Please read the Bad Science column in the Guardian
Hmmm… can’t go too far with you re vaccination soubresauts. I think the evidence for vaccinations as a part of public health policy is so strong that the benefits far outweigh the issue of pharma, which in any event is a different question that should be addressed politically. I note that some states that dissent from globalisation have made their own inroads into producing vaccines.
Jim, I know precisely where you’re coming from. If we look at the situation in states without vaccination programmes…
I’m wondering on what basis soubresauts is describing Fisher as a “pro-vaccination campaigner”.
It’s interesting that her article doesn’t actually challenge the efficacy of the vaccine. It simply says that the pharma companies are promoting it to get more money in their pockets. Well, no shit. The pharmaceutical industry is big business – we know that here as well as anywhere. Their profits, and indeed their profit motive, are certainly issues that need to be addressed, but it’s not as if withholding money for this product (and consequently allowing 73 women per year to die of a wholly preventable illness) is going to address it.
Why should public money be spent on any vaccine?
Yeah. Bring back smallpox.
Entirely agree Wednesday…
A human life, based on an economic analysis grounded in observations of everyday Americans, typically turns out to be worth $5 million to $8 million — about as much as a mega-mansion or a middle infielder.
In Ireland the cervical vaccination programme could save up to 60 lives per year. That’s a benefit of say €250 million to €400 million per year. The cost of the vaccine, after the Year-1 €30 million set up cost is about €9 million per year.
For comparison, the number of premature deaths across Dublin from the proposed Dublin Bay Incinerator at Poolbeg is perhaps 300. That’s been approved by BIFFO under orders from The Galway Tent.
http://galwaytent.blogspot.com/2008/10/medical-cards-incineration.html