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(Washington Post) Obvious Obama administration struggling with the thorny question of whether scientists should inject healthy children with the anthrax vaccine to see if it protects them against a bioterrorism attack. Yeah, some people have issues with this   (washingtonpost.com) divider line 78
More: Obvious, obama, bioterrorism, Feinberg School of Medicine, influenza pandemic, credible threat, Obama administration, anthrax, anthrax vaccines  
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2698 clicks; posted to Main » on 25 Oct 2011 at 5:37 AM   |  Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook   more»   |    Get this fabulous T-Shirt and impress the methane out of your friends! shirt it!



78 Comments   (+0 »)
   

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2011-10-24 11:28:50 PM
Brilliant!
They're young, they'll adapt.
 
2011-10-24 11:36:09 PM
2 angles: We've done this before (polio vaccine, my dad was one of the "early adopters", so from that angle, it's not new.
On the other hand, what are the odds of an anthrax attack? Polio was definitely doing some bad stuff...when was the last time we heard about a real anthrax attack?
 
2011-10-24 11:45:16 PM
Good Lord, no. It's absolutely vile that the administration would even consider doing such a thing.

That's what we use third-world kids for, thankyouverymuch.
 
2011-10-24 11:51:59 PM
dj_bigbird: 2 angles: We've done this before (polio vaccine, my dad was one of the "early adopters", so from that angle, it's not new.
On the other hand, what are the odds of an anthrax attack? Polio was definitely doing some bad stuff...when was the last time we heard about a real anthrax attack?


2001? But yeah, it seems to make about as much sense trying inoculate everyone in the country against lightning strikes.
 
2011-10-25 12:04:27 AM
Who does Obama think he is, Louis Pasteur?
 
2011-10-25 12:13:39 AM
dahmers love zombie: Good Lord, no. It's absolutely vile that the administration would even consider doing such a thing.

That's what we use third-world kids for, thankyouverymuch.


Just more jobs that foreigners are willing to do that African Americans won't anymore.
 
2011-10-25 01:44:07 AM
Umm... Shouldn't the cdc be doing it's purported job instead of playing guinea pig with snowflakes or putting those noshiatter "wash your hands" signs in public restrooms?
 
2011-10-25 02:53:08 AM
Iranoobie: Shouldn't the cdc be doing it's purported job

wait....the CDC isn't doing it's job? I missed that in the article. I also missed the part that explains why talking about ways to control an outbreak of a disease is the same thing as the centers for disease control not doing its job.

could you provide a quote or something? k? thanxs!
 
2011-10-25 03:03:50 AM
"It would be difficult to justify testing it on kids simply on the hypothetical possibility that there might be an attack."

Just lease a couple 12 packs of kids from the third world. China should have a few spares. hell, it'd be a better life than making shoes for Nike 'till their fingers bleed.
 
2011-10-25 03:15:19 AM
dahmers love zombie: Good Lord, no. It's absolutely vile that the administration would even consider doing such a thing.

That's what we use third-world kids our beloved men and women in uniform for, thankyouverymuch.


FTFM


/twitch
 
2011-10-25 03:57:24 AM
Obligatory:

www.metal-rules.com
 
2011-10-25 04:27:42 AM
Anthrax vaccines hurt like crazy. Apparently, one of the preservatives in your standard vaccine causes a strong burning sensation about 30 seconds after injection, and the resulting ache lasts anywhere from 1-3 days at the site of inoculation.

So, what I'm trying to say is, I'm all for children receiving it. Serves 'em right.
 
2011-10-25 05:28:47 AM
My issue with an anthrax vaccine is it sends the wrong message to kids. it's essentially saying "it's ok to go and be around anthrax as much as you want". would you want your teen daughter knowing she can rub mouth and hooves without consequence? If the allow a childhood anthrax vaccine, Teen "Thraxing" cases will skyrocket.
 
2011-10-25 05:41:26 AM
I guess now Obama's in charge you can't just test things on the poor and the black like you used to (new window).

USA! USA! USA!
 
2011-10-25 05:48:55 AM
They should try using Socialist children.
 
2011-10-25 05:50:34 AM
log_jammin: My issue with an anthrax vaccine is it sends the wrong message to kids. it's essentially saying "it's ok to go and be around anthrax as much as you want". would you want your teen daughter knowing she can rub mouth and hooves without consequence? If the allow a childhood anthrax vaccine, Teen "Thraxing" cases will skyrocket.

You magnificent bastard.

/your free internet should arrive in the mail in five to fourteen days
 
2011-10-25 05:52:15 AM
'How do we best protect our children?' We can take care of Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle and Auntie. But right now, we have nothing for the children."

Think of them. The children.
www-static.weddingbee.com
 
2011-10-25 05:55:26 AM
PreMortem: dahmers love zombie: Good Lord, no. It's absolutely vile that the administration would even consider doing such a thing.

That's what we use third-world kids our beloved men and women in uniform for, thankyouverymuch.

FTFM


/twitch


I must have missed the part where people old enough to enlist in the military were young enough to be considered 'children'. Somehow I think using those particular results would skew the numbers on its efficacy in that demographic. Forgive me if I'm mistaken.
 
2011-10-25 05:59:27 AM
Came for the "Just run the tests on illegal immigrant children!"
Leaving satisfied that no one actually suggested it. Yet.
 
2011-10-25 06:12:18 AM
I, for one, welcome our new, diminutive and Anthrax resistant overlords.
 
2011-10-25 06:17:03 AM
dj_bigbird: 2 angles: We've done this before (polio vaccine, my dad was one of the "early adopters", so from that angle, it's not new.
On the other hand, what are the odds of an anthrax attack? Polio was definitely doing some bad stuff...when was the last time we heard about a real anthrax attack?


Because TERRISTS!!!

Scary, scary, terrists. Protect me, mr government man, please! I'm soooo scared of the brown man!

It'll cost you your freedom children's lives.

OK, OK, ANYTHING to protect me from those TERRISTS!!!!
 
2011-10-25 06:23:30 AM
awalkingecho: PreMortem: dahmers love zombie: Good Lord, no. It's absolutely vile that the administration would even consider doing such a thing.

That's what we use third-world kids our beloved men and women in uniform for, thankyouverymuch.

FTFM


/twitch

I must have missed the part where people old enough to enlist in the military were young enough to be considered 'children'. Somehow I think using those particular results would skew the numbers on its efficacy in that demographic. Forgive me if I'm mistaken.


It's technically referred to as "same difference", efficacy and all. I was referring to the involuntary testing, not the age of the monkeys.
They say Ted Kaczynski thought about things too much also.
 
2011-10-25 06:44:10 AM
At least they're having an actual debate, instead of calling it some sort of "Patriotic Duty Against Terrorism" to browbeat people into giving informed consent on behalf of their crotchdroppings.

"So, this might kill or otherwise hurt and traumatize my child... but it's our PATRIOTIC DUTYTM, isn't it?"

"It sure is, citizen"

"Okay, do it"
 
2011-10-25 06:50:59 AM
Day_Old_Dutchie: dj_bigbird: 2 angles: We've done this before (polio vaccine, my dad was one of the "early adopters", so from that angle, it's not new.
On the other hand, what are the odds of an anthrax attack? Polio was definitely doing some bad stuff...when was the last time we heard about a real anthrax attack?

Because TERRISTS!!!

Scary, scary, terrists. Protect me, mr government man, please! I'm soooo scared of the brown man!

It'll cost you your freedom children's lives.

OK, OK, ANYTHING to protect me from those TERRISTS!!!!


Pfft, we already killed a few thousand of them and maimed a whole lot more.

Wait till we get into the long term effects of PTSD.

/was worried after my brother got back from a year in Iraq
//he came out of the house wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and sandals in December and I knew at that instant he was just fine
///CSB
 
2011-10-25 06:56:47 AM
fusillade762: dj_bigbird: 2 angles: We've done this before (polio vaccine, my dad was one of the "early adopters", so from that angle, it's not new.
On the other hand, what are the odds of an anthrax attack? Polio was definitely doing some bad stuff...when was the last time we heard about a real anthrax attack?

2001? But yeah, it seems to make about as much sense trying inoculate everyone in the country against lightning strikes.


Pretty much, and the 2001 attacks were quite irregular themselves. The expertise needed to produce such adeptly weaponized anthrax is a rarefied thing, and the non-military personnel the FBI focused on -they never even bothered to consider non-civilian perpetrators- proved time and again to be very unlikely suspects. That in itself leads to some rather unpleasant thoughts about who might have actually been behind an attack that played such a big role in getting the US pop to go along with Bush war-mongering.
 
2011-10-25 07:03:02 AM
Use the Flea Partiers.
 
2011-10-25 07:03:05 AM
Just do it to black kids or Guatemalan kids. We've not had a problem with that in the past...

Seriously though, should we choose to do it, I'm guessing we'll do it to PFC Grunt's kids, not Senator Paytoplay's kids.
 
2011-10-25 07:07:11 AM
I had anthrax shots in the service, and I'm just fine.

/blinkblinktwitch
 
2011-10-25 07:12:39 AM
cdn.fringebloggers.com
What the hell is wrong with you? You did this to little children?

/hot like Dunham
 
2011-10-25 07:16:13 AM
Quite the headline, submitter. Write it all by yourself?
 
2011-10-25 07:16:46 AM
How about Trig? I'm sure Sarah would be down if she could both get paid for it and attention whore for a whole about evil scientists.
 
2011-10-25 07:20:14 AM
Unlike with measles, mumps and other diseases, the chance that children will be exposed to anthrax is theoretical, making the risk-benefit calculus of testing a vaccine on them much more questionable.

/the crux of the biscuit.
 
2011-10-25 07:23:21 AM
If it's not a live culture vaccine (it not being 1923, we can pretty safely assume it's not) and it works fine on adults, the likelihood it would pose any kind of danger to kids is effectively nil, given how vaccines work. The only question is whether a larger or smaller dose will be necessary to render the vaccine effective, thus the study.

Whoever wrote that article is paranoid, and I don't mean "overestimating a valid but smaller risk" paranoid, I mean "locks himself inside to avoid all the chemtrails and lines his hat with foil to keep the lizard-men out of his brainwaves" paranoid.

Or perhaps I'm missing something? Were they planning to test the vaccine by exposing people to weaponized anthrax or something?
 
2011-10-25 07:29:22 AM
Heron: fusillade762: dj_bigbird: 2 angles: We've done this before (polio vaccine, my dad was one of the "early adopters", so from that angle, it's not new.
On the other hand, what are the odds of an anthrax attack? Polio was definitely doing some bad stuff...when was the last time we heard about a real anthrax attack?

2001? But yeah, it seems to make about as much sense trying inoculate everyone in the country against lightning strikes.

Pretty much, and the 2001 attacks were quite irregular themselves. The expertise needed to produce such adeptly weaponized anthrax is a rarefied thing, and the non-military personnel the FBI focused on -they never even bothered to consider non-civilian perpetrators- proved time and again to be very unlikely suspects. That in itself leads to some rather unpleasant thoughts about who might have actually been behind an attack that played such a big role in getting the US pop to go along with Bush war-mongering.


The last suspect, Ivans, had some pretty heavy forensic evidence against him, at least on the scientific side. What the FBI and other investigators did with the investigation apart from that data I can't speak too in precise terms (imprecisely: not very well done, at all) but the science used to characterize, evaluate, and trace back the anthrax was dead accurate.
 
2011-10-25 07:39:22 AM
Wicked Chinchilla: The last suspect, Ivans, had some pretty heavy forensic evidence against him, at least on the scientific side. What the FBI and other investigators did with the investigation apart from that data I can't speak too in precise terms (imprecisely: not very well done, at all) but the science used to characterize, evaluate, and trace back the anthrax was dead accurate.

Yeah, I don't think anyone disputes that it's a strain that he was working on. I think that the questions arise re the exclusivity of possession (he shared the stuff with just about anyone qualified that asked, the storage area was relatively unsecured, the samples that he provided were not properly watched ex post facto, etc.) as well as his potential access to the equipment necessary to "weaponize" the stuff. Apparently that's a pretty complex process and his colleagues agreed that he didn't have the opportunity to execute that part of the program. Several were also fired/punished for pointing that out which is another interesting datapoint. I think there's a lot more that casts doubt on Ivans' role, but this is just what I remember off the top of my head.
 
2011-10-25 07:47:35 AM
Now I'm Barack, and I take no shiat
And I don't care about your kids
They'll get the shots just like I say
Or I'll steal your pop-tarts like I stole your... TAX!

Yo, Man, what's the matter with you?

I'll get it the next time, I promise.
 
2011-10-25 08:01:45 AM
Quick, someone get Jenny McCarthy on the line. I don't know what to think about this.
 
2011-10-25 08:05:38 AM
log_jammin: My issue with an anthrax vaccine is it sends the wrong message to kids. it's essentially saying "it's ok to go and be around anthrax as much as you want". would you want your teen daughter knowing she can rub mouth and hooves without consequence? If the allow a childhood anthrax vaccine, Teen "Thraxing" cases will skyrocket.

Well played, sir
 
2011-10-25 08:09:22 AM
cherryl taggart: Quick, someone get Jenny McCarthy on the line. I don't know what to think about this.

"In May 2007, McCarthy announced that her son Evan was diagnosed with autism in 2005. Before claiming that her son's autism was caused by vaccination, McCarthy wrote that he was gifted, a "crystal child", and she an "indigo mom".[25] Evan's disorder began with seizures and his improvement occurred after the seizures were treated, symptoms experts have noted are more consistent with Landau-Kleffner syndrome, often misdiagnosed as autism

"A study found 24% of parents placed "some trust" in information on vaccine safety from celebrities like Jenny McCarthy.[4]"

Link (new window)

I was going to suggest forcibly using her kid as a guinea pig, but then I realized...with this moronic, misguided twunt as a mother, he's already suffered enough.
 
2011-10-25 08:13:59 AM
log_jammin: My issue with an anthrax vaccine is it sends the wrong message to kids. it's essentially saying "it's ok to go and be around anthrax as much as you want". would you want your teen daughter knowing she can rub mouth and hooves without consequence? If the allow a childhood anthrax vaccine, Teen "Thraxing" cases will skyrocket.

Not sure how I didn't have you favourited before now, but I've fixed that.
 
2011-10-25 08:19:19 AM
Vaccinations against contagious diseases? Yes, absolutely.

Vaccinations against something that's only really useful as a local area weapon, and hasn't been used in 10 years? Probably not.

The vaccination is extremely painful? No thanks. Maybe if we're actually attacked. Even then, anthrax isn't contagious.
 
2011-10-25 08:21:47 AM
Mentat: Who does Obama think he is, Louis Pasteur?

Maybe Edward Jenner
 
2011-10-25 08:23:05 AM
Skail: Anthrax vaccines hurt like crazy. Apparently, one of the preservatives in your standard vaccine causes a strong burning sensation about 30 seconds after injection, and the resulting ache lasts anywhere from 1-3 days at the site of inoculation.

So, what I'm trying to say is, I'm all for children receiving it. Serves 'em right.


You're right. Instead of coal on Christmas morning, naughty children should get anthrax vaccines.

/Santa Claus is alive! And he's a microbiologist!
 
2011-10-25 08:27:16 AM
Pretty much, and the 2001 attacks were quite irregular themselves. The expertise needed to produce such adeptly weaponized anthrax is a rarefied thing, and the non-military personnel the FBI focused on -they never even bothered to consider non-civilian perpetrators- proved time and again to be very unlikely suspects. That in itself leads to some rather unpleasant thoughts about who might have actually been behind an attack that played such a big role in getting the US pop to go along with Bush war-mongering.

am i wrong? i thought the guy that it was eventually pinned on (and subsequently off'd himself) was in the military...didn't he work at the army bioweapons lab or something?
 
2011-10-25 08:34:50 AM
Ehcks: Vaccinations against contagious diseases? Yes, absolutely.

Vaccinations against something that's only really useful as a local area weapon, and hasn't been used in 10 years? Probably not.

The vaccination is extremely painful? No thanks. Maybe if we're actually attacked. Even then, anthrax isn't contagious.


I can't see any ethical way to do this on children, the conspiracy freaks and Fox News would have a field day with this.

In the meantime, I guess they could do some trials on adult dwarves, if they could find enough willing to participate.
 
2011-10-25 08:40:56 AM
I got the option to decline the anthrax vaccine before I went to Iraq. From what I read up on that particular vaccine (DNTRFA) it did nothing against weaponized anthrax. it was basically for if you happened to be inhaling crap from an animal that had or had died of anthrax.


From what my guys told me, it was a series of painful shots that sometimes formed a baseball sized hard lump in your arm for a little while.


I was just glad to have the choice. I would be more in favor of our kids getting smallpox vaccines.
 
2011-10-25 08:49:19 AM
I've been vaccinated for anthrax. Since then I can't count the number of times I've been exposed to anthrax and thanks to that vaccine I'm still alive today. We need to vaccinate everyone before it's too late!
 
2011-10-25 08:49:36 AM
Come to think of it, all you need to do to protect your kids from Anthrax, is wrap them in plastic sheeting and seal it with duct tape. ;)

Link (new window)
 
2011-10-25 08:57:54 AM
Ehcks: Vaccinations against contagious diseases? Yes, absolutely.

Vaccinations against something that's only really useful as a local area weapon, and hasn't been used in 10 years? Probably not.

The vaccination is extremely painful? No thanks. Maybe if we're actually attacked. Even then, anthrax isn't contagious.


Yeah, I've got absolutely no problem vaccinating my kid against common, debilitating childhood diseases. It's a no-brainer. I didn't even think twice about it, though I chuckled a bit about the Chicken Pox vaccine, because I had the disease as a kid, and it wasn't that big a deal.

Vaccinating the littlebopper against a biological weapon that's been around for the last 75 years or so, for which there is an effective antibiotic treatment, and which has caused the death of perhaps 200-300 people (both intentionally and unintentionally) in the entire World during that time*? I don't think so. Seems to me, at that point the risk of the vaccination causing a problem is higher than the risk of him being exposed to Anthrax, either accidentally or by intentional attack, and it's almost certainly much higher than his risk of dying in such an attack

*Not including Japanese experiments on POWs.
 
2011-10-25 09:07:03 AM
highbrow45: I've been vaccinated for anthrax. Since then I can't count the number of times I've been exposed to anthrax and thanks to that vaccine I'm still alive today. We need to vaccinate everyone before it's too late!

0/10
 
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