Swine flu – the pandemic that never was

The astonishing facts are emerging on one of the most expensive confidence tricks in history. The Swine Flu scare made £billions for Big Pharma, frightened the world witless and wrecked the priorities of health services world wide. All for a mild flu that was less dangerous than seasonal flu. Here are the new facts:

 

The Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control found that 5.4 million swine flu jabs saved 6 lives in Sweden.

60% of the Swedish population was vaccinated in 2009.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) found Sweden had a death rate of 0.31 fatalities per 100,000 people after the pandemic.

In Germany, where only eight percent of the population was vaccinated, the fatality figures were the same.

In Poland, the death rate was only 0.47 per 100,000.  They spent next to nothing on vaccines. UK spent £1.2 billion. Our equivalent death rate was double, 0.74.

Vaccine-related side effects

 

Pandemrix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, was the main vaccine used in the UK at the height of last year’s flu pandemic.

Pandemrix was given to 30.8million people in Europe

The ECDC is still investigating the results of vaccination programmes in different countries.

This week, the Irish Times reported that Pandemrix has topped the list of drugs responsible for the largest number of suspected adverse reactions.

A total of 779 suspected adverse reactions were linked to the vaccine between 2010 and 2011.

Most of these were relatively mild, such as localised swelling, gastrointestinal problems and flu-like symptoms.

However, health authorities have identified up to 30 cases of young people with the sleeping disorder narcolepsy as part of an investigation into a possible link between the condition and Pandemrix. Swedish data estimated the vaccination might cause three cases of narcolepsy for every 100,000 vaccinations. However, a more recent study has suggested that narcolepsy is triggered by the swine flu infection and not by the vaccine.

The young people in Ireland affected range in age from five to 21 years old. HSE clinics administered more than 900,000 doses of Pandemrix in 2009 and 2010.

The use of Pandemrix is no longer recommended in Ireland and GPs have been advised to return any remaining stocks. This year’s seasonal flu vaccine does not contain Pandemrix.

Similar results have been reported from Finland. Authorities there have begun a compensation process that includes an initial payment and ongoing assessment of needs.

Cochrane Collaboration

The dog ate my Tamiflu research notes

Last month, the Cochrane Collaboration researched more than 16,000 pages of clinical trial data used to approve mass prescriptions of Tamiflu and found that many cases of the side effects went unreported.

While Tamiflu did have 'a little effect on people who took it within the first two days of contracting H1N1 - there was no evidence that it reduced the number of people who went on to need hospital treatment.'

They found Tamiflu ‘did not reduce influenza-related lower respiratory tract complications’  but did induce nausea.

Evidence of other adverse reactions to the drug was ‘possibly under-reported’, they said.

Professor Sir Iain Chalmers, a founder of the Cochrane Collaboration, told The Bureau of Investigative Journalism: 'We have invested millions of pounds on stockpiling Tamiflu on the basis of a paper that presented the results of 12 trials, only two of which have been published.

The question of how well Tamiflu works remains unresolved owing to Roche's continued refusal to provide full access to its data.

Following the 2009 study, Roche did provide 3,195 pages of study reports for 10 treatment trials of Tamiflu but these were incomplete.

 ‘It has come up that the people who wrote the guidelines for WHO in the beginning of the last decade - for early pandemics, set the tone for the rest of the policy making, most of them have links with pharma firms. Indeed, some of them were members of pharma funded, pressure groups’ Cochrane Collaboration Lead Researcher Tom Jefferson said.

A statement from Roche said: "Roche has made full clinical study data available to health authorities around the world for their review as part of the licensing process. It is the role of global health authorities to review detailed information on medicines when assessing benefit/risk."

 

Roche and Tamiflu

Roche reported a 7 percent rise in fiscal 2011 profit driven by tight expense management and increased sales volumes. This was despite challenges posed by unfavorable currency impact and a sharp decline in Tamiflu sales.

In 2009, global sales of Tamiflu rose 400 percent to 3.2 billion Swiss francs, following the pandemic swine flu outbreak. But in 2010, sales of the drug dropped to 873 million Swiss francs. In 2011, Tamiflu sales declined a further 500 million francs.

While on one hand, Tamiflu is stockpiled globally as a defence against pandemic influenza, on the other hand, doubts are raised over the efficacy of this medical arsenal against flu. The drug has patent protection until 2016.

 

Comments

[D.G.]

Probably doesn't hurt that their Health Minister - Ewa Kopacz - was a doctor, rather than the professional polititians we tend to get.

[HuwOS]

Nevertheless DG, the point is that pharma at its most despicable is hardly to blame for government decisions, unless of course there was just something superhuman about the Polish government that allowed them to reach the conclusion that there wasn't a major issue when apparently, everyone else was being misled by the WHO with all players under the mesmeric control of big pharma.

[DG]

I think you live in a nicer street than me, Huw. Most of my neighbors were alienated from reason on the subject.

[HuwOS]

I am still unclear as to HOW people were hoodwinked.
Yes, the pharma's had people worrying a bit and initially there was some valid concern but it was clear to everybody fairly early on, man in the street etc, that H1N1 was not actually going to be a big problem.
As you yourself always point out, Poland seemed capable of reaching a sensible decision, are they magically immune to WHO and Pharma or are they just normal sensible people.

[HuwOS]

It's only because we let them.

If we made it so they had to
not only publish all their trial results but announce in advance the extent and purposes of their trials so we can see that whether the results they claim are meaningful or not,
or not be allowed to peddle their drug, they'd do so in a flash.
But apparently they have an effective lobby, because no one is making them do so.

[Paul Flynn]

I was rapporteur for a Council of Europe on Swine Flu. Our report became part of the world debate. The experience in Asia and Australia mirrored ours here. I did several interviews with japanese, Russian and Australian media. Big Pharma continued to defend their position. The WHO who had been hoodwinked are quiet now.

It's still shocking that Big Pharma still can avoid publishing all their reports of trials - not just the favourable ones.

[HuwOS]

So hopefully this will push governments into reforming Eudract with a requirement that it be open and accessible to all and that any drug maker wishing to market a drug in Europe must make the results of all trials available in full detail and that all new trials must register their aims, scope, methodology and all other relevant details before commencing trials along with the full results when the trial completes or is abandoned, even if the results don't suit them.

And to avoid the panics about Avian Flu, governments need to make a commitment to common sense, if the Polish government could behave differently on this to the UK government it suggests the fault is more with the governments than with the pharmaceutical companies in this type of situation.

[EyeOnWales]

Any details there on Asia...?