re: #12 SixDegrees

Unbelievable.

On a somewhat related topic, we may be about to find out just how wonderful a world without vaccination protection can be. I got inspired to get vaccination against flu this year - both kinds, ordinary and H1N1 - because i’m in a high-risk group and I’m getting tired of my doctor giving me grief about ignoring it, and because I want to poke the anti-vaxers in the eye with a sharp needle.

But my county health department is completely out of ordinary flu vaccine - because, they say, the Feds ordered companies to ramp up production of H1N1 vaccine in it’s place. And there’s no H1N1 vaccine available yet. And, as a final insult, you’re not supposed to receive H1N1 vaccine unless you’ve already received the ordinary vaccine - which they’re now completely out of.

I’m not particularly concerned, but I’d like my kids to get vaccinated - younger people are at higher risk of H1N1, apparently, than the population as a whole. And while I think that widespread vaccination is one of the few intrusions of government into private life that is acceptable, I also belief that if they’re going to do it, they ought to do it right and make sure there’s enough of the stuff available to meet demand.

Gosh, it makes me twitter with anticipation of the glories that await me when government runs all health care.

Sorry - rant over. Please carry on with your bashing of Bill Maher, who utterly deserves it.

I’m in a “high risk” group, and so I’ve already gotten my regular flu shot because my immunologist gets these sorts of things earlier than regular docs.

HOWEVER - the way the limited supply of h1n1 vaccine is being distributed - he will not be getting that vaccine. Not one dose.

In a bit of good news, doctors seem to be figuring out what it is about h1n1 that causes severe illness and death in some folks, and have begun figuring out how to treat patients.