60 Minutes did another piece on the swine flu vaccine last evening. Two items stood out for me:
First, HHS Secretary Sibelius came across as especially clueless: when pressed on citizens' skepticism regarding this adminstration's clumsy attempts at frustrating transparency, she blamed talk radio and TV's Glenn Beck, rather than address the very real concerns of a substantial number of Americans who just want to make an informed decision. And the fact that the House has put forth a 2000-page behemoth which we're not supposed to question does nothing to allay these concerns. No wonder people have doubts.
Second, a University of Michigan (?) professor made an especially specious comparison, likening taking the vaccine with wearing a seat belt. This is stupid on two levels: first, seat belt use is mandatory when traveling in a car - it's the law. So far at least, taking the vaccine isn't (which is probably a good thing, since it's in short supply; unless, of course, you're a terrorist. Second, and more important, no one has ever been injured by simply buckling a seat belt, but there are any number of cases of folks who've had life-altering complications from taking vaccines.
If the goal of the piece was to reassure us that this is safe, effective and available, it failed on all counts.
First, HHS Secretary Sibelius came across as especially clueless: when pressed on citizens' skepticism regarding this adminstration's clumsy attempts at frustrating transparency, she blamed talk radio and TV's Glenn Beck, rather than address the very real concerns of a substantial number of Americans who just want to make an informed decision. And the fact that the House has put forth a 2000-page behemoth which we're not supposed to question does nothing to allay these concerns. No wonder people have doubts.
Second, a University of Michigan (?) professor made an especially specious comparison, likening taking the vaccine with wearing a seat belt. This is stupid on two levels: first, seat belt use is mandatory when traveling in a car - it's the law. So far at least, taking the vaccine isn't (which is probably a good thing, since it's in short supply; unless, of course, you're a terrorist. Second, and more important, no one has ever been injured by simply buckling a seat belt, but there are any number of cases of folks who've had life-altering complications from taking vaccines.
If the goal of the piece was to reassure us that this is safe, effective and available, it failed on all counts.
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