AND THE THIRD ANGEL FOLLOWED THEM, SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE, IF ANY MAN WORSHIP THE BEAST AND HIS IMAGE, AND RECEIVE HIS MARK IN HIS FOREHEAD, OR IN HIS HAND.
*** REVELATION 14:9
As norovirus cases rise and hantavirus lingers on cruise ships, health officials advise passengers to take precautionary measures against sicknesses.
Cruise ships are drawing attention not only for a rare strain of hantavirus, but also for more common illnesses such as norovirus while health officials monitor outbreaks and remind travelers to take precautions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a norovirus outbreak aboard the Caribbean Princess, a cruise ship bound for Florida. The report comes as many travelers prepare for upcoming trips, including families departing from the Port of Los Angeles.
Passengers said they are looking forward to their vacations despite the risks associated with close quarters at sea. Still, many travelers acknowledge illnesses can spread easily on cruise ships and say they are taking steps to protect themselves.
"We're washing our hands if we have something available. If not, we have hand sanitizer on us all the time," one traveler said.
Health experts emphasize basic precautions remain effective in preventing the spread of disease.
The hantavirus has medical officials on high alert after an international evacuation commenced of the affected cruise ship M.V. Hondius as it docked off Tenerife, with officials from more than 20 countries coordinating the return of passengers. Former CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield joins "NewsNation Prime" to discuss.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports it is monitoring a norovirus outbreak on board a Princess Cruises ship that departed Fort Lauderdale more than a week ago.
A report from the agency said the outbreak unfolded on the Caribbean Princess, which departed from Port Everglades on April 28. Data gathered by CruiseMapper shows the Caribbean Princess is currently on a 13-day voyage in the Caribbean, with stops in the Bahamas, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. The ship is set to end its one-way cruise by docking at Port Canaveral in Orlando on May 11.
The CDC report indicates that 102 of the ship's 3,116 passengers reported ill, while 13 of the ship's 1,131 crew members reported ill. The main symptoms shared have included diarrhea and vomiting. The agency said Princess Cruises has responded to the norovirus outbreak by increasing cleaning and disinfection procedures; collecting specimens for testing, isolating ill passengers and crew; and consulting with the agency's Vessel Sanitation Program about cleaning procedures and reporting ill cases.
The CDC notes the VSP is conducting a field response for an environmental assessment and outbreak investigation to help control it. The outbreak was reported on Thursday, May 7.
The outbreak on the Caribbean Princess comes more than a month after another norovirus outbreak was reported on another Princess ship. In March, the Star Princess faced an outbreak that sickened more than 104 guests and 49 crew members. That ship also left Fort Lauderdale and made stops in the Caribbean, albeit in Honduras, Belize and the Mexican Riviera. The Star Princess returned to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale at the conclusion of that voyage. When the outbreak was reported, the Star Princess would have been sailing from Belize City to Cozumel, according to that itinerary.
In early January, the CDC reported that an outbreak on board a Holland America cruise ship had sickened more than 80 people after departing from Fort Lauderdale at the end of December.
In February, the agency said 27 people were sickened in an outbreak of an unknown gastrointestinal illness on board a luxury cruise ship, the Regent Seven Seas, which was sailing from Miami to Honolulu.
Anna Robinson Sat, January 3, 2026 at 10:00 AM EST
People wearing surgical masks in an airport - Xifotos/Getty Images
In 2020, COVID-19 caused travel restrictions and other changes to how people get around. Avoiding getting sick while traveling is tricky, as COVID-19, flu, and common colds easily spread when dozens of people sit shoulder to shoulder inside planes, trains, or buses. However, another disease has added itself to the list. Measles is on the rise, and health officials have detected it in airports.
The New Jersey Department of Health sent a press release stating that it detected measles in a traveler who was at the Newark Liberty International Airport on December 12, 2025. The department has undertaken contact tracing efforts in case the passenger infected others. Another case appeared in a passenger who flew to and from Boston Logan International Airport (one of the busiest in the country) on December 11 and 12.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health sent a press release of its own. The press release emphasized that measles is preventable through vaccines, making the nationwide rise in cases all the more surprising. Per the Centers for Disease Control, over 2,000 people in the U.S. tested positive for measles in 2025, numbers not seen since 1992.
Why the measles resurgence is occurring
Man in hazmat suit spraying an empty plane - David Silverman/Getty Images
Gavi, an organization working to increase medical vaccine access worldwide, explained that measles is the most contagious virus based on how many others just one person can infect, a measurement called R0. Like COVID-19 and the flu, measles spreads through particles in the air after someone carrying the disease coughs or sneezes. Its particles also linger in the air for up to two hours, meaning you can catch measles even without direct contact. After around two centuries of documented measles existence, researchers created a vaccine in the 1960s.
Vaccine skeptics have long existed around the world, but recent years have seen a higher percentage of parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. Gavi attributes this to vaccine misinformation, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and other global crises. Multiple health officials have publicly tried to ease people's minds by stating that vaccines are safe and effective as long as enough members of a population receive them.
Getting measles despite being vaccinated is incredibly uncommon, but all travelers can take solace in the fact that cases are still fairly low nationwide. If you think you might be sick, wearing a mask can prevent you from spreading anything.
The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The WEA portion of the test will be directed to all consumer cell phones. This will be the third nationwide test, but the second test to all cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.
The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.
FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with EAS participants, wireless providers, emergency managers and other stakeholders in preparation for this national test to minimize confusion and to maximize the public safety value of the test.
The purpose of the Oct. 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level. In case the Oct. 4 test is postponed due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, the back-up testing date is Oct. 11.
The WEA portion of the test will be initiated using FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a centralized internet-based system administered by FEMA that enables authorities to send authenticated emergency messages to the public through multiple communications networks. The WEA test will be administered via a code sent to cell phones.
This year the EAS message will be disseminated as a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System-Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN).
All wireless phones should receive the message only once. The following can be expected from the nationwide WEA test:Beginning at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET, cell towers will broadcast the test for approximately 30 minutes. During this time, WEA-compatible wireless phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower, and whose wireless provider participates in WEA, should be capable of receiving the test message. For consumers, the message that appears on their phones will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” Phones with the main menu set to Spanish will display: “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”
WEA alerts are created and sent by authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government agencies through IPAWS to participating wireless providers, which deliver the alerts to compatible handsets in geo-targeted areas. To help ensure that these alerts are accessible to the entire public, including people with disabilities, the alerts are accompanied by a unique tone and vibration.
Important information about the EAS test:The EAS portion of the test is scheduled to last approximately one minute and will be conducted with the participation of radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video providers. The test message will be similar to the regular monthly EAS test messages with which the public is familiar. It will state: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.
Published 10:06 p.m. ET April 26, 2019 | Updated 10:07 p.m. ET April 26, 2019
The CDC determined ground beef responsible for over 100 cases of illnesses. Time, Time
An outbreak of E. coli from tainted ground beef has sickened 177 people in 10 states, the CDC reported Friday – 21 more people than was reported earlier this week.
"Two companies have recalled ground beef products that were sold to restaurants and institutions because they may be contaminated with E. coli O103," the CDC said Friday. "Investigators continue to trace other sources for ground beef, and more product contaminated with E. coli O103 may be recalled."
This week, K2D Foods recalled about 113,424 pounds of raw ground beef products and Grant Park Packing recalled about 53,200 pounds of ground beef for concerns it may be contaminated with E. coli O103, according to the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia have seen the highest number of cases, with 65, 52 and 41, respectively. Tennessee added 11 more cases since the Tuesday numbers and Georgia added eight more cases.
Other affected states have had fewer cases, with Ohio reporting 10; Florida three; Virginia two; and Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Mississippi each reporting one case.
"States are investigating additional illnesses that might be a part of this outbreak," the CDC said.
Those sickened have reported eating ground beef at home and in restaurants. At this point, the CDC is not recommending that consumers avoid eating ground beef. But the agency is stressing that consumers and restaurants handle ground beef safely and cook it thoroughly to avoid passing on any illness.
E. coli infections typically occur three to four days after consuming the germ, the CDC says. Severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody) and vomiting can result after five to seven days.
In severe cases, patients may get hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. However, no cases of kidney failure have been reported in connection with this outbreak, officials say.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has scheduled a briefing for later this month to outline how the public can prepare for nuclear war.
"While a nuclear detonation is unlikely, it would have devastating results and there would be limited time to take critical protection steps. Despite the fear surrounding such an event, planning and preparation can lessen deaths and illness," the notice about the Jan. 16 briefing says on the CDC's website, which features a photo of a mushroom cloud.
The notice went on to say that most people don't know that sheltering in place for at least 24 hours is "crucial to saving lives and reducing exposure to radiation."
Two of the people presenting at the briefing specialize in radiation studies. Robert Whitcomb is the chief of the radiation studies branch at the CDC's National Center for Environment Health and Capt. Michael Noska is the radiation safety officer and senior advisor for health physics at the Food and Drug Administration.
"North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.' Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!" Mr. Trump tweeted.
For the first time, the Zika virus has prompted public health officials to warn pregnant women to avoid traveling to a part of the continental United States. The travel advisory comes in response to a growing outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in South Florida.
The state on Monday said there are 10 more people who have been infected with the Zika virus who likely contracted it from local mosquitoes, bringing the total number of such cases in the state to 14. All of the cases have surfaced in a densely populated community north of downtown Miami.
Because the virus can have devastating consequences for a fetus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged pregnant women to avoid traveling to the area, and for pregnant women who live and work there to make every effort to avoid mosquito bites and to get tested for possible exposure during each prenatal visit. It also advised women to use protection during sex, because the virus can be transmitted sexually.
Furthermore, the CDC is advising that all pregnant women should be asked about travel to Zika-infested areas during routine prenatal visits. Any pregnant women who have traveled to Zika areas -- including this area of Florida on or after June 15 -- are advised to talk with their healthcare providers and get tested for Zika.
For couples trying to have a baby, women and men who traveled to this area should wait at least eight weeks before conceiving a pregnancy. Men with symptoms of Zika virus disease should wait at least six months after symptoms begin to attempt conception.
CDC Director Tom Frieden said the agency issued the travel warning because of the additional Zika infections that were identified in the last 48 hours, and because of new information that indicates mosquito control efforts are not working as well as officials would have liked.
This is the call by USA Today columnist Alex Berezow. "Parents who do not vaccinate their children should go to jail," he writes in this USA Today column.
And just to be clear, what Berezow means is that parents who do not vaccinated their children no matter how toxic the vaccine ingredients really are should be thrown in prison. There is no exemption being discussed or recommended that would allow parents to object to vaccines because of the neurotoxic chemicals they contain (such as the heavy metal mercury, still found in flu shots given to children in America). There is also no discussion that informed parents might reasonably object to vaccines based on the recent confession of a top CDC whistleblower who reveals how the CDC committed scientific fraud to bury scientific evidence showing a link between vaccines and autism.
But continuing with the imprisonment idea now being touted by USA Today, it begs the practical question: What exactly should happen after the parents are thrown in prison? Well, of course, the state will take custody of the children because they are now parentless.
So the suggestion that parents who seek to protect their children from toxic vaccine ingredients should be thrown in jail is simultaneously a call for the state to seize custody of all children who are not yet vaccinated with Big Pharma's toxic vaccines.
Vaccine skepticism to be criminalized in America?
Let's all be perfectly clear about the crux of this argument published by USA Today. Because police resources in U.S. cities are finite at any given time, Berezow is essentially arguing that law enforcement officers -- who are already spread dangerously thin almost everywhere -- should be diverted from stopping real criminals such as rapists, murderers and child molesters, and instead should fan out across U.S. cities, going door to door to handcuff and arrest vaccine skeptics while demanding Child Protective Services seize their children.
This argument, dutifully printed by the blindly obedient mainstream media, represents the total abandonment of scientific reasoning and the desperate invocation of the very same policies espoused by Mao, Pol Pot, Mussolini and Adolf Hitler: If the People can't be persuaded to do what you want through reason, then force them to do so at gunpoint.
Compliance problem solved!
This is, by definition, the very essence of a medical police state. To find that such a policy is boldly called for in the pages of USA Today demonstrates just how treacherously far we have now ventured into the all-too-familiar territory of the world's past dictatorial regimes which routinely violated human rights in the name of compliance.
And yet this column in USA Today is actually a tremendous victory for vaccine skeptics. There is no greater admission of the failure of vaccine "science" than this call for vaccines to be enforced at gunpoint. It is the wholesale abandonment of any philosophy that might respect human freedom, dignity or choice. Instead, this pronouncement equates intelligent, informed vaccine skeptics with murderers and rapists, implying they should share the same fate, if not the same prison cell.
It is an admission, ultimately, that the vaccine pushers have run out of reasonable ideas and must now resort to force as their last remaining weapon against common sense.
Medical tyranny lives in AmericaBerezow, like most vaccine promoters, is a medical tyrant. He openly calls for government to use the threat of violence to destroy families, ripping them apart at gunpoint and seizing their children, in order to achieve a level of vaccine compliance that Berezow claims is based on irrefutable evidence of safety and efficacy.
That evidence, of course, is entirely imagined by the vaccine industry itself -- the same industry that includes printed inserts in its own vaccines which openly admit things like, "...there have been no controlled trials adequately demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with FLULAVAL."
Here's the photo of the vaccine insert so you can see it for yourself:
To make a broad claim that all vaccines are "safe and effective" is to label yourself hopelessly ignorant of medical reality and utterly unqualified to comment on vaccine safety in the first place. To say "vaccines are universally safe and effective" is as cognitively incompetent as saying, "the Earth is flat" or that mercury is also good for children when it's installed in their teeth. (That's the official position of the American Dental Association, by the way, a chemical-pushing industry front group still hopelessly stuck in the chemical denials of the 1950's.)
And the yet the tremendous appeal of government coercion -- from the point of view of a medical tyrant -- is that it no longer requires consent. This "miracle of compliance" is of course the science method of choice in North Korea, Communist China and the old U.S.S.R. The basis of the idea of coercion is that "people should be free to make their own choices, but only as long as those choices are the ones we demand they make."
When American media outlets begin to print opinion pieces that resemble the logic of Kim Jong-Un, you know something has gone terribly awry.
No one can threaten your safety... except US!In his USA Today column, Berezow argues that "no person has the right to threaten the safety of his community," yet he personally threatens millions of Americans with arrest and imprisonment in his own column. He alone has the right to make such threats, you see, because his threats of taking away your children and imprisoning you as a parent are conducted under the contrived banner of "science."
His threats don't count as threats in exactly the same way the Obama administration's murder of over 3,000 civilians with drone strikes don't count as civilian casualties, either. Or how the national debt of $18 trillion -- most of it accrued under Obama alone -- doesn't count either because "the federal budget is balanced!" (Hint: it isn't.)
Speaking of civilian casualties, in the name of "science," Berezow obviously wants to see an armed medical Gestapo going house to house, taking children away from parents and turning them over to the state while those parents are incarcerated in a prison system that's already bursting at the seams.
This picture imagines what a future vaccine enforcement police team might look like:
The same government that Berezow hopes would use armed police to enforce vaccine compliance has, of course, already granted absolute legal immunity to vaccine manufacturers. So children who are harmed by vaccines have no legitimate legal recourse.
The obvious catch-22 is damning to the industry: Here, take these vaccines at gunpoint, but if your child is harmed or even killed by these vaccines we've forced upon you, that's your problem, not ours. Even the Associated Press recently conducted an investigationinto the kangaroo vaccine court system in the United States and concluded it was a comedy of justice that denied payouts to parents for ten years or more.
This imprisonment argument by Berezow also begs the question: Does Mr. Berezow support government coercion and the threat of violence against the citizens of America solely in the arena of vaccines? Or does he also think government should arrest and imprison people who don't comply with the government's wishes in all other areas, too?
By Berezow's own logic, people who refuse to purchase Obamacare health insurance should also be arrested and imprisoned. Probably even people who write about vaccine dangers should be arrested and imprisoned too, by simply legislating that pesky First Amendment out of existence. And why stop there? Why not arrest and imprison people who refuse to testify against themselves, refuse to quarter government soldiers in their private homes, refuse to submit to illegal searches and seizures or refuse to remain silent in their own defense?
Perhaps one day the government will demand that everybody eat Soylent Green. Those who refuse will not merely be arrested, but scooped up and "processed" into more Soylent Green to force-feed to the obedient, ignorant masses.
USA Today promotes a medical police stateThe fact that USA Today would even run a column like this shows the late hour of the medical police state which the American people have apathetically allowed to emerge under their watch. In an era where the U.S. government now openly spies on all our phone calls, emails and phone texts -- and where the Obama administration has prosecuted more truth-telling whistleblowers than any other administration in U.S. history -- the systems of oppression, propaganda and control have reached a tipping point of public revolt.
The mass militarization of local police forces across the country is a screaming red alert that civil liberties are being crushed while the government itself seems to be arming for war against the American people. Local police departments now possess mine-resistant armored cars, automatic military weapons, surveillance drones and even futuristic thermal vision devices that can see through walls. If vaccine skepticism is criminalized, all these weapons of war -- many transferred to police departments after returning from the front lines of battle in the Middle East -- will be turned against citizens who refuse to inject their children with the toxic chemical poisons still found in vaccines.
This picture imagines what a future vaccine enforcement police vehicle might look like:
The next simple step is to declare vaccine skeptics to be "domestic terrorists." From that point, all varieties of government coercion, violence, torture and murder of these people is "ethically justified" according to the vaccine pushers.
Rather than removing the toxic chemicals, the vaccine industry wants to force them on you at gunpointPublic trust in the government is at an all-time low. Public trust in the lying mainstream media continues to plummet by the day. Public trust in toxic vaccines continues to fall as well, and this trend will never be reversed until the vaccine industry decides to remove toxic heavy metals and chemicals from its vaccines (if ever).
Rather than cleaning up its own products, the vaccine industry turns to people who call for government violence against citizens in order to achieve involuntary compliance.
We've seen these kind of people before, of course. They are the same kind of people who shoved Obamacare down our throats, hitting us all with hefty fines if we refuse to purchase an insurance product that the government totally lied about with claims that it would be "affordable." Remember, "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor?" It's the same kind of malicious lie uttered by vaccine poisoners who claim vaccines are "totally safe and effective."
But in his USA Today column, Berezow ups the ante. He does not merely call for vaccine skeptics to be fined. That financial coercion tactic is apparently too mild for a man who is so sure he's 100% correct that he's willing to bet YOUR family on it. No, Berezow calls for vaccine skeptics to be arrested and imprisoned. If you do not get your children vaccinated, he unabashedly argues, you are an enemy of the state.
He's sure of it. In fact, he knows far better than you what should be injected into your children. You are too stupid to know the right answer, he implies, so leave it to the pharma companies that conduct deadly drug experiments on children to tell you what to do with your own children.
I want to thank Berezow for finally removing all doubt about the true agenda of the vaccine pushers. I'm sure it won't be long before non-vaccinated children and adults will be required by law to wear Scarlet-letter shame symbols much like the Jews in 1939, and at some point people like Berezow will no doubt call for parents who don't vaccinate their children to be rounded up and sent to "re-education camps" where they will be subjected to PowerPoint presentations dreamed up by GlaxoSmithKline, the same company found guilty of felony bribery crimes by the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
Medical freedom was almost written into the U.S. ConstitutionBerezow has done us a service in all this, however. He has made the argument for a national "medical freedom" amendment to the United States Constitution.
It is because of tyrant-minded people like Berezow that America's founders created a First Amendment, Second Amendment, Third Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment and so on. All of these Constitutional amendments grew out of systematic government abuses of civil liberties and human freedoms.
"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of Men and deny equal privileges to others; the Constitution of the Republic should make a Special privilege for medical freedoms as well as religious freedom."
Dr. Rush, in other words, foresaw precisely the kind of medical tyranny now published by USA Today. "Medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship" is exactly what we've seen happen. That dictatorship, argues Berezow, should be enforced at gunpoint by the government itself. This is the definition of fascism: a corporate-government partnership to force obedience onto the population through coercion dished out under the threat of violence and incarceration.
USA Today should be ashamed that it has published a medical dictatorship propaganda piece that would have made Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels proud.
When the facts don't support the agenda, turn to government guns insteadThe call to imprison vaccine resistors is an open admission that the SCIENCE behind vaccines isn't compelling and must therefore be replaced with GUNS.
How else will you arrest people, take their children away and imprison them unless you bring men with guns and badges to the "guilty" households, anyway? Where junk science fails, government guns are clearly the answer. And if guns alone don't work, they always have tanks, too.
In essence, the argument being made in the USA Today column is that guns should be used to force vaccine compliance. It's not even a leap, as guns in the hands of government goons are already being used to force children into toxic chemotherapy treatments against their will.
Why stop at vaccines? Why not threaten to arrest anyone who disagrees with a doctor on anything?If total medical compliance -- at any cost to human freedom and dignity -- is the goal, then why not launch a whole new domestic army called D.M.S.; the Department of Medical Security. Declare that all who oppose Big Pharma's medical advice are "threats to national security" and ship them all to Gitmo where the U.S. government continues to run torture operations.
Once you start down the road of medical tyranny, it doesn't end well for humanity. Just ask the victims of the Nazi chemical conglomerate IG Farben, which was later split into chemical corporations, one of which is now known as Bayer. Under the guidance of the "science" of Nazi Germany, heinous chemical crimes were committed against countless Jews, including gassing them to death and using Jewish prisoners for medical experiments.
The former chairperson of Bayer, for the record, was convicted of Nazi war crimes at the Nuremburg tribunals and sentenced to prison. Today, pharma executives routinely commit felony crimes yet go free, even while USA Today calls for parents to be imprisoned for saying no to Big Pharma's deadly chemicals.
No doubt the vaccine promoters of today who demand the arrest and imprisonment of American vaccine resisters would also approve of using those prisoners for their medical experiments. See the full history of U.S. medical experiments here, here and here. Most of these inhumane medical experiments were carried out against prisoners, minorities or soldiers.
It's quite clear that the very same ethically-perverse medical system that's right now calling for the imprisonment of vaccine skeptics would, of course, have no hesitation using those people for "important medical research in the interests of the public good."
This is how crimes against humanity are born. You are watching it unfold right before your very eyes, right in America today, in the pages of USA Today. This is history in the making, and it is a history that will march us all right down the road of state-sponsored medical terrorism that's openly supported by the mainstream media.
Some people learn from the mistakes of history. But Berezow is determined to repeat them.
There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.
A Brief History of Zombies
We’ve all seen at least one movie about flesh-eating zombies taking over (my personal favorite is Resident Evil), but where do zombies come from and why do they love eating brains so much? The word zombie comes from Haitian and New Orleans voodoo origins. Although its meaning has changed slightly over the years, it refers to a human corpse mysteriously reanimated to serve the undead. Through ancient voodoo and folk-lore traditions, shows like the Walking Dead were born.
A couple dressed as zombies - Danny Zucco and Sandy Olsson from the movie Grease walking in the annual Toronto Zombie Walk.
In movies, shows, and literature, zombies are often depicted as being created by an infectious virus, which is passed on via bites and contact with bodily fluids. Harvard psychiatrist Steven Schoolman wrote a (fictional) medical paper on the zombies presented in Night of the Living Dead and refers to the condition as Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome caused by an infectious agent. The Zombie Survival Guide identifies the cause of zombies as a virus called solanum. Other zombie origins shown in films include radiation from a destroyed NASA Venus probe (as in Night of the Living Dead), as well as mutations of existing conditions such as prions, mad-cow disease, measles and rabies.
The rise of zombies in pop culture has given credence to the idea that a zombie apocalypse could happen. In such a scenario zombies would take over entire countries, roaming city streets eating anything living that got in their way. The proliferation of this idea has led many people to wonder “How do I prepare for a zombie apocalypse?”
Well, we’re here to answer that question for you, and hopefully share a few tips about preparing for real emergencies too!
Better Safe than Sorry
Some of the supplies for your emergency kit.
So what do you need to do before zombies…or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen? First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored). Below are a few items you should include in your kit, for a full list visit the CDC Emergency page. •Water (1 gallon per person per day) •Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly) •Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds) •Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.) •Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.) •Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets) •Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few) •First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane)
Once you’ve made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan. This includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearing outside your door step. You can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake, or other emergency.
Family members meeting by their mailbox. You should pick two meeting places, one close to your home and one farther away.
1.Identify the types of emergencies that are possible in your area. Besides a zombie apocalypse, this may include floods, tornadoes, or earthquakes. If you are unsure contact your local Red Cross chapter for more information. Family members meeting by their mailbox. You should pick two meeting places, one close to your home and one farther away.
2.Pick a meeting place for your family to regroup in case zombies invade your home…or your town evacuates because of a hurricane. Pick one place right outside your home for sudden emergencies and one place outside of your neighborhood in case you are unable to return home right away.
3.Identify your emergency contacts. Make a list of local contacts like the police, fire department, and your local zombie response team. Also identify an out-of-state contact that you can call during an emergency to let the rest of your family know you are ok.
4.Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry they won’t stop until they get food (i.e., brains), which means you need to get out of town fast! Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don’t have a chance! This is also helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast.
Never Fear – CDC is Ready
Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Prepared
If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak. CDC would provide technical assistance to cities, states, or international partners dealing with a zombie infestation. This assistance might include consultation, lab testing and analysis, patient management and care, tracking of contacts, and infection control (including isolation and quarantine). It’s likely that an investigation of this scenario would seek to accomplish several goals: determine the cause of the illness, the source of the infection/virus/toxin, learn how it is transmitted and how readily it is spread, how to break the cycle of transmission and thus prevent further cases, and how patients can best be treated. Not only would scientists be working to identify the cause and cure of the zombie outbreak, but CDC and other federal agencies would send medical teams and first responders to help those in affected areas (I will be volunteering the young nameless disease detectives for the field work).
In an AP story posted on October 23, the CDC continues to spread the really important virus: propaganda.
First we have the headline itself:
“US swine flu deaths surpass 1,000.”
Now, how would the CDC know that? They admitted they stopped testing for Swine Flu in July. The real testing is going on in state labs. And CBS, yesterday, exposed that sham. Very small percentages of suspected Swine Flu samples have come back positive from those labs.
Then we have this claim:
“More Americans have been vaccinated against seasonal flu this fall than ever before by this time of year, federal health officials said Friday.
“Sixty million people have gotten the [ordinary non-Swine Flu] winter flu vaccine…”
I can’t prove this one is false. But it would mean that 1 out of 5 Americansmen, women, children, babieshave, amid the Swine Flu hysteria, seen their way clear to getting the other flu shot.
The CDC is desperate. They’re desperate after CBS exposed the overwhelming percentage of negative lab tests for Swine Flu yesterday, and they’re desperate about those polls showing at least half of groups questioned aren’t planning to get the Swine Flu shot.
So the CDC PR people smoked something strong and tossed out a preposterous 60-million figure.
Still later in the AP story (CDC press release), we get this one:
“Many millions” of Americans have had swine flu so far, according to an estimate he [the CDC director] gave at a Friday press conference. The government doesn’t test everyone to confirm swine flu so it doesn’t have an exact count.
No kidding. Many millions have had Swine Flu? Wow. Last I read, the (unsupported) estimate was in the thousands.
Next we’ll learn that half the country is in hospitals.
If the cases numbers are in the millions, I guess we’ve all come through okay, and now we’re immune and we don’t need the vaccine, right?
Finally, the AP story (fairy tale) comments on flu activity in the individual states:
“Forty-six states now have widespread flu activity. The only states without widespread flu are Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey and South Carolina. There are at least two different types of flu causing illnesses; tests from about 5,000 patients suggest that nearly all the flu cases are swine flu.”
This is a very interesting way to talk about statistics. For example, it could mean that most of the test samples of suspected cases of Swine Flu didn’t have ANY KIND OF FLU at all, and most of those that were flu were Swine Flu. Which adds up to a big yawn, and some serious questions about what doctors think flu symptoms look like.
And that’s what the facts reveal, at least in California.
CBS actually went to state labs and obtained the numbers. In California, 13,704 test samples from suspected Swine Flu patients were analyzed. 2% (!) turned out to be Swine Flu. Negative for ANY KIND of flu? 86%.
In Georgia, state labs analyzed 3,117 test samples. 2% were positive for Swine Flu.
In Alaska, 722 samples were tested. Swine Flu? 11%. Other Flu? 6%. Negative for any kind of flu? 83%.
In Florida, 8,853 test samples were analyzed. 17% were positive for Swine Flu.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if these CDC whoppers today were a direct response to CBS’ piece yesterday. Somebody at CDC said, “We’re not going to take this crap lying down. Throw out some figures, guys, we’re hitting back hard. How many cases of Swine Flu should we say are in the US? A million? Hell, let’s call it many millions.”
Your CDC. Working for you. With tales even little children would laugh at.
Jim Steinberg, Staff Writer Posted: 11/18/2009 09:51:42 PM PST
Highland resident Dave Criner has been a smoker for 45 years.
The 70-year-old retired schoolteacher and former Marine has seen this habit curtail his active lifestyle and he has grown weary of enduring society's relentless assault on his behavior.
"I'm being crowded out by society," Criner said. "You go to a restaurant and you have to stand outside to smoke. And people look at you like some kind of pariah."
Today is the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout. For the past 34 years, the day has served as a springboard to get smokers thinking about making a plan to quit or just quitting altogether on that day.
Public health officials say smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and illness in the U.S. and is a leading cause of numerous kinds of cancers, heart attacks and other health problems.
Criner's decision was based on his own internal clock. Nov. 30 is the day he's selected to stop smoking.
For about a month, he's been tapering down from two packs a day to one pack, maybe a little less on some days.
He logs every cigarette he smokes these days.
Society's impact on his lifestyle was symbolically underscored on a trip to one of Hawaii's less populated islands. He stood across the street from the airport in the designated smoking zone. The uncovered parcel of real estate was the only spot around where it was raining.
There were family considerations for Criner as well.
When he smoked outside of his home or at the home of his grandchildren, "they would follow me outside," he said.
And the final straw, he said, was when he was diagnosed with peripheral artery disease, which limited his ability to walk more than 200 yards.
That limitation forced him to cancel a cruise with his wife to the Pacific Northwest and Canada. He said he couldn't have done the walking required to participate in various port excursions.
And continued smoking will interfere with the medication his doctor prescribed. His artery disease puts him at increased risk for a heart attack or a stroke.
While Criner said he will be leaving the ranks of smokers soon, the number of smokers in the United States to be increasing.
According to a recently released national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, cigarette smoking rose slightly last year for the first time in nearly 15 years.
An estimated 20.6percent, (46million) of U.S. adults were cigarette smokers, up from 19.8percent in 2007. But the difference was not regarded as statistically significant.
In the 10 years from 1998 to 2008, the proportion of U.S. adults who were smokers declined 3.5percent, from 24.1percent to 20.6percent, the CDC said.
Beckie Moore Flati, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society's Inland Empire office in Riverside, said the Great American Smokeout can be a milestone for someone who stops smoking for the day.
"If they can do it for a day, they can do it for a week and for a month," she said.
Researchers say that quitting smoking can increase life expectancy - smokers who quit at age 35 gain an average of eight years life expectancy, those who quit at age 55 gain about five years and even long-term smokers who quit at age 65 gain three years, says the American Cancer Society.
Ernie Medina Jr., a preventive care specialist at Beaver Medical Group in Redlands, said that after a smoker stops for a month, the physical addiction to nicotine subsides.
But treatment must continue to address two other factors that contribute to cigarette dependency, behavioral and psychological.
Many former smokers revert back to the calming effects of nicotine when they encounter stress - sometimes years after they quit, said Medina, who teaches smoking cessation classes and works individually with people wanting to quit.
But nonsmokers have stress in their lives, too, Medina said. And they have learned to cope in other ways.
So former smokers must find other ways to cope with stress, such as exercise, Medina said.
Former smokers may also revert back to smoking in a social setting, when someone, for example, offers them a cigarette.
Usually, that one-time break from their successful smoking avoidance leads to a person's return to smoking.
"I can think of only one time in 16 years where that didn't happen," he said.
But a former smoker's return to smoking is nothing to be ashamed of, he said. It should be a lesson.
It's almost surreal, like something out of a sci-fi flick, but nano-microchips invisible to the naked eye are a reality that are already being hosted in wide-range of applications. The question is, how long will it take governments and big pharma to immerse nano-microchips inside of vaccines to tag and surveil global populations?
Nanotechnology deals with structures smaller than one micrometer (less than 1/30th the width of a human hair), and involves developing materials or devices within that size. To put the size of a nanometer in perspective, it is 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
More than ten years ago, simple low-cost techniques improved the design and manufacture of nano-microchips. That unlocked a multitude of methodologies for their manufacture in a wide-range of applications including optical, biological, and electronic devices.
The joint use of nanoelectronics, photolithography, and new biomaterials, have enabled the required manufacturing technology towards nanorobots for common medical applications, such as surgical instrumentation, diagnosis and drug delivery.
Japan's Hitachi says it has developed the world's smallest and thinnest microchip, that can be embedded in paper to track down parcels or prove the authenticity of a document. The integrated circuit (IC) chip is as minute as a speck of dust.
Nanoelectrodes implanted in the brain are increasingly being used to manage neurological disorders. Mohammad Reza Abidian, a post-doctoral researcher at the U-M Department of Biomedical Engineering said that polymers in nanotubes "are biocompatible and have both electronic and ionic conductivity." He further stated "therefore, these materials are good candidates for biomedical applications such as neural interfaces, biosensors and drug delivery systems."
Depending on the objectives of such studies, research could theoretically pave the way for smart recording electrodes that can deliver drugs to positively or negatively affect the immune response.
Through nanotechnology, researchers have also been able to create artificial pores able to transmit nanoscale materials through membranes.
A UC biomedical engineering study appearing in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, Sept. 27, 2009, successfully inserted the modified core of a nanomotor, a microscopic biological machine, into a lipid membrane. The resulting channel enabled them to move both single- and double-stranded DNA through the membrane.
Professor Peixuan Guo who led the study said past work with biological channels has been focused on channels large enough to move only single-stranded genetic material.
"Since the genomic DNA of human, animals, plants, fungus and bacteria are double stranded, the development of single pore system that can sequence double-stranded DNA is very important," he says.
Such engineered channels could have applications in nano-sensing, DNA sequencing, drug loading, including innovative techniques to implement DNA packaging mechanisms of viral nanomotors and vaccine delivery.
"The idea that a DNA molecule travels through the nanopore, advancing nucleotide by nucleotide, could lead to the development of a single pore DNA sequencing apparatus, an area of strong national interest," Guo said.
Scientists working at Queen Mary, University of London, have developed micrometer-sized capsules to safely deliver drugs inside living cells. These "micro shuttles" could hypothetically be loaded with a specific microchip controlling the dose of medication to be opened remotely, releasing their contents. Besides monitoring the dosage, the same microchip could be used to surveil the patient in conjunction with various tracking systems.
Scientists in the United Kingdom have recently reported advances towards overcoming key challenges in nanotechnology. They demonstrated how nanoparticles could move quickly in a desired direction without help from outside forces. Their achievement has broad implications, the scientists say, raising the possibility of coaxing cells to move and grow in specific directions.
Doug Dorst, a microbiologist and vaccine critic in South Wales, says these advances have an immense appeal to vaccine makers. "Biotech companies and their researchers have quickly moved most funding initiatives towards nanotechnology to increase the potency of their vaccines," he said. If microorganisms inside of vaccines can be coaxed into targeting or invading specific cells, they could achieve their goal at an accelerated rate over conventional vaccines. "Depending on which side of the vaccine debate you're on, whether pro or con, nanobots inside vaccine preparations could advance their effectiveness exponentially by either dramatically improving or destroying immunity depending on their design," he added.
Dorst claims that present day nanobot technology could just as easily be used to advance biological weapons as they can to advance human health. "For every fear that biotech propaganda proliferates about deadly diseases and how vaccines prevent them, it is one more lie to incrementally convince the masses that vaccines are effective."
The worry for Dorst is that one day vaccines "will do what they've always been intended for...control of the global populace."
Nanoemulsion platforms are already capable of developing vaccines from very diverse materials. Mixtures of soybean oil, alcohol, water and detergents can be emulsified into ultra-small particles smaller than 400 nanometers wide (about 1/200th the width of a human hair). These could be combined with any number of nano-microchips with all or part of disease-causing microbes to trigger the body's immune system.
In 2007 researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) announced in an article in the journal, Nature Biotechnology, that they had developed a “nanoparticle that can deliver vaccines more effectively, with fewer side effects, and at a fraction of the cost of current vaccine technologies.” The article went on to describe the effects of their breakthrough: “At a mere 25 nanometers, these particles are so tiny that once injected, they flow through the skin’s extracellular matrix, making a beeline to the lymph nodes. Within minutes, they’ve reached a concentration of DCs thousands of times greater than in the skin."
Russia has recently announced a new manufacturing plant that will strictly produce nano-vaccines. Project plans include development of two vaccines for human flu and bird flu and three biopharmaceuticals for boosting the immune system and increasing the efficiency of antibacterial and antiviral drugs, among other initiatives.
The human body is very resistant to nanoparticles that attempt to invade human cells. Scientists are intensely investigating methods to disrupt human enzymes that may degrade nanoparticles. Experts at the University of Liverpool found a way around this obstacle that could mean more efficient, topical drugs in the future, which could act a whole lot faster than the ones currently in use.
All these nanotechnological advances raise many issues and concerns about the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials, and their potential effects on medicine, global economics, as well as speculation about government surveillance. These concerns have led to a debate among advocacy groups and governments on whether special regulation of nanotechnology is warranted.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a news release last week saying that it had “today outlined a new research strategy to better understand how manufactured nanomaterials may harm human health and the environment.” Interesting as that strategy document is, it was hardly hot off the presses.
Indeed, many companies advertise their use of such billionth-of-a-meter-scale constituents as a measure of a product's state-of-the-art status, implying that ultra-small ingredients are an inherently good thing. They aren’t. Nor does size necessarily make these materials worse than others. At this point it's just maddeningly unpredictable what nano things will do.
Proponents of nanotechnology are very critical of regulatory measures that may impeed its progression. Many of these critics have staunchly dismissed concerns as being fear-hyped conspiracy theories based on science fiction.
In the popular video game series Metal Gear Solid, many characters and soldiers in general, have "nanomachines" in their bloodstream, and are used to block pain, allow members of fire teams/patrols to share sensory information, heal bodily damage, as well as manipulating viruses central to video game's plot line.
Through the use of special effects and computer-generated imagery, several blockbusters starring Keanu Reeves including The Matrix Trilogy and The Day the Earth Stood Still, have dramatized how nanobots could effectively take control of their organic and inorganic targets.
Star Trek episodes and their theatrical releases such as Star Trek: First Contact have also depicted how nanoprobes (nanites) could infect an individual's bloodstream through a pair of tubules.
Regardless of the recurring themes of nanobots in video games, sci-fi shows and movies, nanotechnology is a reality, and nano-microchips are well on their way to being utilized in ways which may be detrimental to human health and freedom on a global scale.
The development of nano-microchips are a major thrust of governments and pharmaceutical industries who want the ultimate power and leverage over global populations for more profit and more control.
In December 2000, Former Chief Medical Officer of Finland, Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, MD stated that it is technically possible for every newborn to be injected with a microchip, which could then function to identify the person for the rest of his or her life. Such plans are secretly being discussed in the U.S. without any public airing of the privacy issues involved.
Today's microchips operate by means of low-frequency radio waves that target them. With the help of satellites, the implanted person can be tracked anywhere on the globe. Such a technique was among a number tested in the Iraq war, according to Dr. Carl Sanders, who invented the intelligence-manned interface (IMI) biotic, which is injected into people. (Earlier during the Vietnam War, soldiers were injected with the Rambo chip, designed to increase adrenaline flow into the bloodstream.) The 20-billion-bit/second supercomputers at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) could now "see and hear" what soldiers experience in the battlefield with a remote monitoring system (RMS).
When a 5-micromillimeter microchip (the diameter of a strand of hair is 50 micromillimeters) is placed into optical nerve of the eye, it draws neuroimpulses from the brain that embody the experiences, smells, sights, and voice of the implanted person. Once transferred and stored in a computer, these neuroimpulses can be projected back to the person’s brain via the microchip to be reexperienced. Using a RMS, a land-based computer operator can send electromagnetic messages (encoded as signals) to the nervous system, affecting the target's performance. With RMS, healthy persons can be induced to see hallucinations and to hear voices in their heads.
Every thought, reaction, hearing, and visual observation causes a certain neurological potential, spikes, and patterns in the brain and its electromagnetic fields, which can now be decoded into thoughts, pictures, and voices. Electromagnetic stimulation can therefore change a person's brainwaves and affect muscular activity, causing painful muscular cramps experienced as torture.
The NSA's electronic surveillance system can simultaneously follow and handle millions of people. Each of us has a unique bioelectrical resonance frequency in the brain, just as we have unique fingerprints. With electromagnetic frequency (EMF) brain stimulation fully coded, pulsating electromagnetic signals can be sent to the brain, causing the desired voice and visual effects to be experienced by the target. This is a form of electronic warfare. U.S. astronauts were implanted before they were sent into space so their thoughts could be followed and all their emotions could be registered 24 hours a day.
The mass media has not reported that an implanted person's privacy vanishes for the rest of his or her life. S/he can be manipulated in many ways. Using different frequencies, the secret controller of this equipment can even change a person's emotional life. S/he can be made aggressive or lethargic. Sexuality can be artificially influenced. Thought signals and subconscious thinking can be read, dreams affected and even induced, all without the knowledge or consent of the implanted person.
This secret technology has been used by military forces in certain NATO countries since the 1980s without civilian and academic populations having heard anything about it. Thus, little information about such invasive mind-control systems is available in professional and academic journals.
The NSA's Signals Intelligence group can remotely monitor information from human brains by decoding the evoked potentials (3.50HZ, 5 milliwatt) emitted by the brain. Prisoner experimentees in both Gothenburg, Sweden and Vienna, Austria have been found to have evident brain lesions. Diminished blood circulation and lack of oxygen in the right temporal frontal lobes result where brain implants are usually operative. A Finnish experimentee experienced brain atrophy and intermittent attacks of unconsciousness due to lack of oxygen.
Targeting people’s brain functions with electromagnetic fields and beams (from helicopters and airplanes, satellites, from parked vans, neighboring houses, telephone poles, electrical appliances, mobile phones, TV, radio, etc.) is part of the radiation problem that should be addressed by democratically elected governments. However, there is currently no interest by any national government to seriously address this issue.
The timeline for integrating nano-microchips inside of vaccines is speculative. It could be just a few years, months or perhaps it is here and we already unaware of their integration within pharmaceuticals. Regardless, due to the many military and political advantages, their implementation is inevitable.
However fraudulent, it was an imperative for world powers and pharmaceutical cartels to promote the effectiveness of vaccinations and enact national pandemic preparedness policies which mandate vaccinations.
In 2005 the World Health Organization (WHO) developed international health regulations that would bind all 194 member countries to pandemic emergency guidelines which could enforce such a mandate. Without these procedures of public health (and propagandized vaccine campaigns) in place, there would be little or no voluntary cooperation from the public to roll up their sleeves and accept the inoculations. Public participation is an essential tool that will soon allow big pharma to inject the most effective surveillence tool ever designed into billions of people.
Although nanotechnology manufacturing is currently available on a global scale, before biotech companies are able to initiate mass production and testing of nano-microchips inside of vaccines, they will likely sell the idea to the public. Through various "health enhancement scenarios" they will encourage participation and publicly announce regulatory approval from the same policies and regulatory agencies they helped create.
By mid-summer of 2009, the WHO and the Center of Disease Control (CDC) effectively hyped a false flu pandemic and convinced the world to submit to H1N1 vaccines. Additional doses of propaganda and possibly a biological event, may equally convince populations to knowingly accept microchips inside of vaccines under the guise of a "greater good" for humanity.
When our brain functions are already connected to supercomputers by means of radio implants and microchips, it will be too late for protest. This threat can be defeated only by educating the public, using available literature on biotelemetry, nanorobotics and information exchanged at international congresses.
The White House says the declaration allows medical treatment facilities to better handle a surge in flu patients by waiving federal requirements on a case-by-case basis.
FOXNews.com
Saturday, October 24, 2009
President Obama declared the H1N1 pandemic a national emergency Friday, allowing extra leeway to medical service centers in combating with the flu virus. (AP)
President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the H1N1 influenza a national emergency, giving doctors and medical facilities greater leeway in responding to the flu pandemic.
Obama signed the declaration late Friday, which the White House said allows medical treatment facilities to better handle a surge in flu patients by waiving federal requirements on a case-by-case basis.
"The foundation of our national approach to the H1N1 flu has been preparedness at all levels -- personal, business, and government -- and this proclamation helps that effort by advancing our overall response capability," the White House said in a statement.
In the proclamation, Obama said the pandemic keeps evolving, the rates of illness are rising rapidly in many areas and there's a potential "to overburden health care resources."
Because of vaccine production delays, the government has backed off initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses would be available by mid-October. As of Wednesday, only 11 million doses had been shipped to health departments, doctor's offices and other providers, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The government now hopes to have about 50 million doses of vaccine for the so-called swine flu out by mid-November and 150 million in December.
The flu virus has to be grown in chicken eggs, and the yield hasn't been as high as was initially hoped, officials explained.
H1N1 is more widespread now than it's ever been. Health authorities say almost 100 children have died from the flu, and 46 states now have widespread flu activity.
Worldwide, more than 5,000 people have reportedly died from swine flu since it emerged this year and developed into a global epidemic, the World Health Organization said Friday. Since most countries have stopped counting individual swine flu cases, the figure is considered an underestimate.
The flu has infected millions of Americans and killed nearly 100 children in the U.S. The chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that over a thousand people have died as a result, with 46 states reporting widespread H1N1 activity.
"Since the beginning of the pandemic, we've seen more than 1,000 deaths and 20,000 hospitalizations," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC. "We expect it to occur in waves, but we can't predict when those waves will happen."
Updated: Thursday, 15 Oct 2009, 7:27 PM EDT Published : Thursday, 15 Oct 2009, 5:34 PM EDT
By TOM JOHNSON FOX 35 News FOX 35 has discovered that the H1N1, swine flu vaccine contains an ingredient that raises questions whether its use is permissible under certain religious, dietary laws. The Jewish, Muslim and Seventh-Day Adventist faiths all forbid members from consuming pork. The ban is based on scripture.
FOX 35 found that the swine flu mist and injectable vaccine both contain something called hydrolyzed porcine gelatin. The Centers for Disease Control confirms that the ingredient is a pork by-product used to promote temperature stability… and allow for refrigerated storage.
Rabbi David Kay presides over Orlandos Congregation Ohev Shalom. Rabbi Kay says the gelatins existence in the swine flu shot is not a problem under Jewish, Kosher laws since it is injected and not swallowed. However, Kay says the issue is a little more complex with the mist. Because the mist is taken through the nasal passages, there is a chance some vaccine could drip into the throat and be consumed. The Rabbi says while it is not technically being eaten, some may have objections due to the presence of the hydrolyzed porcine gelatin. Kay further says that when the preservation of human life is at issue, Kosher laws do not apply anyway and this would seem to be the case with the vaccine.
The Florida Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists tells FOX 35 they do not consider receiving the vaccine in any form to violate restrictions against consuming pork since it is not eaten. The Orlando based conference also believes the possibility that the vaccine could save a life outweighs any possible objections based on religious doctrine.
FOX 35 also contacted the national headquarters of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. A spokesperson told us by phone that they were unaware of the presence of hydrolyzed porcine gelatin in the swine flu vaccine and will need to investigate further before commenting.
Everyone we spoke with believes that despite the fact that the swine flu vaccine does not technically violate dietary laws, some people will still avoid being inoculated with it based on religious objections.
