Healthy Skepticism Library item: 868

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Publication type: news

Tenpenny S.
Vaccines: An Online Conference: The Flu Season Campaign Begins
Redflagsdaily.com 2004 Sep 17

Full text:

As predictable as the return of yellow school buses and Monday Night
Football, the arrival of fall also brings the first fearful chatter about
the approaching flu season. But this year there is a twist: the Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) has devised a portentous new blueprint to ensure
the economic success of this season’s flu vaccine.

Concerned over data documenting that almost 65% of people surveyed in 2003
did not receive the flu shot-including nearly 47% with chronic illnesses
and 78% of children aged 6-23 months-a new strategy has been devised. The
plan is fully disclosed in a 51 slide communiqué called “Planning for the
2004-05 Influenza Vaccination Season: A Communication Situation Analysis,”
prepared by Glen Nowak, Ph.D., the Associate Director for Communications
at the National Immunization Program.

The most important part of the program, “The Seven-Step Recipe for
Generating Interest in, and Demand for, Flu (or any other)
Vaccination,”(1) is designed to methodically manipulate the general public. Language within the presentation reveals the intent of the
government and their drug company “partners” to use major news media (newswires, TV) to send scheduled, fear-based messages in an attempt to convince the unsuspecting public that not only is the flu shot necessary, but to motivate them to demand it. This will amount to millions of dollars of free adverting for flu vaccine manufacturers.

Here is a synopsis of the CDC’s plan:
Step 1: Start discussing the flu at the beginning of the “immunization
season.”

Posters, fliers and media campaign materials are generally mailed to
public health departments and healthcare provider offices in mid-August,
“planting the seeds” in the minds of patients so that they request the flu
vaccine when it arrives.

Step 2: The media will begin to make pronouncements that the “new”
influenza strains anticipated this year “will be associated with severe
illness and serious outcomes.”

Right on cue, the government announced on August 25, that it is “preparing
for world’s next big flu outbreak.” A report released to the Associated
Press suggests that a bad flu season could kill up to 207,000 Americans.
To fuel the hysteria, the CDC and the Department of Human Services
announced that they are jointly issuing a “The Pandemic Influenza Response
and Preparedness Plan” which will stress “ways to speed up vaccine
production, limit the spread of a super-flu, and care for the ill.” (2)
Step 3: The build up will continue throughout the early fall, as local and
national “medical experts and public health authorities publicly (e.g.,
via media) state concern and alarm (by predicting dire outcomes)-and urge
influenza vaccination.” (3)

Here’s one example:

“We know we’re going to have a pandemic because, historically, we’re
overdue for one,” said Neil Pascoe, epidemiologist in the infectious
disease division of the Texas Department of Health. “When it happens, it’s
going to be huge. It will be global, and everyone is going to be
affected it could be terribly fatal. Imagine 4 million Texans [becoming]
infected, and 20 percent of them die.” (4)

Be prepared for many similar statements in major newspapers and on
national TV stations as the weeks progress.
Step 4: Reports from medical experts will be used to “frame the flu
season in terms [that will] motivate behavior.” Language to be used
includes, “very severe,” “more severe than last or past years,” “deadly.”
(5)

Last year, there were 1026 messages sent via the media between September
21-28. Phrases used included, “this could be the worst flu season
ever,” “the flu kills 36,000 people per year” and “the flu shot is the
best way to prevent the flu.” (6) Even though less than 175 people
actually died from influenza in 2003, anticipate exponentially more
messages regarding the “deadly flu” will be pushed through the news media
this year.

Steps 5: Continue to release reports from health officials through the
media that influenza is causing severe illness and/or affecting lots of
people “helping to foster the perception that many people are susceptible
to a bad case of influenza.”

Step 6: Give visible and tangible examples of the seriousness of
influenza by showing pictures of ill children and affected families who
are willing to come forward with their stories. “Show pictures of people
being vaccinated, the first to motivate, the latter to reinforce.”

Step 7: List references to, and have discussions regarding, the influenza
pandemic. “Make continued reference to the importance of vaccination.”

The language used to describe Steps 5, 6, and 7 was taken directly from
Nowak’s presentation.(7) This should leave little doubt that the
government intends to use the media to create hysteria that will increase
the demand for a pharmaceutical product.

Vaccine manufacturers often cry the blues about revenues lost by producing
vaccines. However, last year, Chiron, one of the two largest vaccine
manufacturers, made 38 million flu shots, accounting for nearly $230
million in revenue. And even though sales of FluMist, the intranasal flu
vaccine, reportedly “failed miserably,’ the company stillmarked $33
million in revenues from sales of the product.(8) Not exactly the stellar
returns MedImmune had hoped for, but clearly revenues were made.

Health officials are expecting that, through the publicity generated by
last year’s flu hype, coupled with a carefully planned and implemented new
strategy, record numbers will seek vaccination this year. Perhaps
understanding the tactical maneuvers of the CDC-Big Pharma-Media
partnership will result in another “bust” year for the flu vaccines.