Staff Editorial: Boycotting H1N1 vaccine based on YouTube video: Ridiculous
Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: Opinions
Internet-based fear mongering has struck again.
In the face of an illness that has posed a serious health threat to the entire nation for the better part of a year, some Eastern students have jumped on the bandwagon as many others have and allowed themselves to be frightened away from taking the H1N1 vaccine, possibly the best line of defense against acquiring the disease.
The fear comes not from a warning by the Centers for Disease Control or even a reputable news source. Fear of the vaccine comes now from a single video featured on YouTube and "Inside Edition."
As reported in the Wednesday edition of The Daily Eastern News, " The video…referred to is a video by 'Inside Edition' (found on YouTube) showing one woman's alleged side effect to the seasonal flu vaccine where she can only walk backward and run."
According to the video, the "side effect" is referred to as dystonia and is called a "one-in-a-million" side effect.
According to the Web site for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, "Dystonia is a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. The neurological mechanism that makes muscles relax when they are not in use does not function properly. Opposing muscles often contract simultaneously as if they are "competing" for control of a body part..."
The Web site also states the disorder affects "No less than 300,000 people in America."
Regardless of the validity of the video's claim that the disorder was caused by a seasonal flu vaccine, the fact that students at an institution of higher learning are allowing a report by a TV show, a news tabloid on par with something like TMZ, is sad.
"I think it is interesting that all the knowledge of the CDC can not compare to one YouTube video that is supposedly documenting one person's side effect to the seasonal flu vaccine," Sheila Baker, medical director for Health Service said in the same DEN article.
We live in an age when countless resources of information and knowledge are at our fingertips. And instead of using actual, credible information, people are being frightened by a YouTube video.
In the face of an illness that has posed a serious health threat to the entire nation for the better part of a year, some Eastern students have jumped on the bandwagon as many others have and allowed themselves to be frightened away from taking the H1N1 vaccine, possibly the best line of defense against acquiring the disease.
The fear comes not from a warning by the Centers for Disease Control or even a reputable news source. Fear of the vaccine comes now from a single video featured on YouTube and "Inside Edition."
As reported in the Wednesday edition of The Daily Eastern News, " The video…referred to is a video by 'Inside Edition' (found on YouTube) showing one woman's alleged side effect to the seasonal flu vaccine where she can only walk backward and run."
According to the video, the "side effect" is referred to as dystonia and is called a "one-in-a-million" side effect.
According to the Web site for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, "Dystonia is a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. The neurological mechanism that makes muscles relax when they are not in use does not function properly. Opposing muscles often contract simultaneously as if they are "competing" for control of a body part..."
The Web site also states the disorder affects "No less than 300,000 people in America."
Regardless of the validity of the video's claim that the disorder was caused by a seasonal flu vaccine, the fact that students at an institution of higher learning are allowing a report by a TV show, a news tabloid on par with something like TMZ, is sad.
"I think it is interesting that all the knowledge of the CDC can not compare to one YouTube video that is supposedly documenting one person's side effect to the seasonal flu vaccine," Sheila Baker, medical director for Health Service said in the same DEN article.
We live in an age when countless resources of information and knowledge are at our fingertips. And instead of using actual, credible information, people are being frightened by a YouTube video.
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