Polish PM: Poland not buying swine flu vaccination unless it has been properly tested

WARSAW, Poland – Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday that his government won’t buy vaccines for swine flu that have not been properly tested or from producers who won’t take responsibility for possible side effects.

Tusk told reporters that vaccine producers were pressuring governments to buy, but were also demanding that all responsibility and compensation for possible negative side effects fall upon government shoulders.

“Today we are dealing with great pressure from pharmaceutical firms … we are dealing with expectations that hundreds of millions of zlotys (dollars) will be spent on vaccine while no one wants to guarantee that it has no side effects,” he said.

He stressed that the few dozen swine cases in Poland have been mild and no deaths have been reported.

Some independent health experts have been advising vaccination after a recent surge in flu cases in neighbouring Ukraine saw more than 700,000 cases and 109 deaths of people with flu-like illness in recent weeks.

Fourteen of the fatalities were swine flu cases, Polish news agency PAP reported, citing Ukraine’s chief doctor Oleksandr Bilovol.

Polish health officials said a military medical laboratory in Pulawy was testing samples taken in Ukraine from sick people. Poland is also sending face masks to Ukraine.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization said that the swine flu virus has become the predominant flu strain worldwide.

In some countries, swine flu accounts for up to 70 per cent of the flu viruses being sampled, according to Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s top flu official.

While most people recover from the illness without needing medical treatment, officials are also continuing to see severe cases in people under 65 – people who are not usually at risk during regular flu seasons.

http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/live/article/361921–polish-pm-poland-not-buying-swine-flu-vaccination-unless-it-has-been-properly-tested

Quebec Woman Dies After H1N1 Vaccine

*How convenient. She dies of swine flu two days after receiving the vaccine. It must be an incredible coincidence.*

A 42-year-old Quebec woman has died from complications resulting from the H1N1 virus.

It is the third death in the province since September.

The woman, who worked at the Monteregie Health and Social Services Centre, died Tuesday night.

Public health officials said the woman was not a nurse or front line worker who was in contact with patients.

She had also received the H1N1 vaccination on Oct. 29, two days before coming down with symptoms of the flu.

http://www.advisingvideo.com/index.php/zeitgeist-movement/new-world-order-news/145-quebec-woman-dies-after-h1n1-vaccine

Mount Mayon may explode anytime – Phivolcs official

LEGAZPI CITY: The resident volcanologist in Bicol has warned that Mayon Volcano may erupt anytime as indicated by its bulging edifice and other signs of abnormalities, such as volcanic quakes, sulfur gas emissions, lava dome at the crater rim, crater glow and ash explosion. Mount Mayon’s alert status remains at Level 2, which means the volcano remains in a state of unrest that from all indications may lead to a magmatic explosion.

“The magma beneath the Mayon Volcano is building up towards the crater, which signifies a heightened unrest that might lead to a hazardous explosion anytime,” said Ed Laguerta, resident official of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) in Bicol.

He said Phivolcs’ ground deformation survey shows the volcano has been inflated by 9.0mm since February 2008 as it continues to swell by 5.0mm.

Laguerta said that the sulfur dioxide gas emitted by the volcano continues to swing within the range of 206 tons to 252 tons a day in the past three days. He said the agency’s FlySpec instruments failed to read sulfur gas emission rate on Wednesday because of cloudy skies.

“The bad weather condition affecting Albay hinders thorough monitoring of volcanic activity,” he said.

On Wednesday, boulders as big as cars tumbled down from the foot of Mayon to the national highway of Padang following the heavy rainfall because of northeast monsoon affecting Luzon and Visayas regions.

The regional center site and seats of the national government agencies in Padang were almost swept by rampaging flash floods associated with volcanic activity.

In Camalig town, Dante Baclao, chief provincial engineer, said the dike that protects the area from rampaging flash floods has collapsed.

Navy Lt. Darwin Nieva, Regional Disaster Coordination Council spokesman, said the moderate to heavy rains spawned by the northeast monsoon caused volcanic debris to cascade down the volcano’s slopes. The rains also submerged portions of the Maharlika Highways in the town of Camalig and Barangay Padang in floodwaters.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Bicol has also issued a General Flood Advisory raising alert status in areas prone to floods, lahar and landslides. These are Cadacan and Matnog rivers in Sorsogon; Cabuyan, Bato and Pajo rivers in Catanduanes, and Mayon Volcano slopes and river channels in Albay.

“The OCD advisory directed all local disaster council in these areas to be on heightened alert for possible lahar, floods and landslides brought by moderate to heavy rains,” Nieva said.

Phivolcs seismic networks at the Lignon Hill observatory detected six high and low frequency earthquakes on Wednesday, bringing to 110 the total volcanic quakes recorded in a week (October 26 to November 1).

Gov. Joey Salceda of Bicol reiterated to the military and police the need to keep the off-limit regulation strictly enforced in the 6-km radius Permanent Danger Zone and the 7-km Extended Danger Zone on the southeast flank of the volcano.

Salceda had said the province is be facing a combo disaster should Mayon Volcano erupt amid the bad weather condition.

He also advised the residents near the volcano’s river channels and in areas on the path of lahar flow in the southeast sector to stay alert, especially during heavy and prolonged rainfall.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/component/content/article/42-rokstories/5412-mount-mayon-may-explode-anytime–phivolcs-official

More Cover-Ups in Ukraine: WHO Withholds Gene Sequences As Cases Double Again

After infected cases double again in the Ukraine plague approaching the
1 million mark, the World Health Organization (WHO) is holding back gene sequences which could provide evidence of the mutation or recombination of the H1N1 or novel virus.

The numbers of cases from the latest update from Ukraine total 910, 640 hospitalized and Influenza cases (including acute respiratory illess). A total of 135 people have die according to official statistics.

The number of cases in Ukraine continues to expand. The number of patients with H1N1 symptoms is now approaching 1 million. Cases have been increasing at almost 200,000 per day, so it is likely that tomorrow’s report will have over 1 million cases. This rapid spread increases concern that the 15 sequences at Mill Hill contain one or more of these small changes, which has led to a delay in the announcement of sequence results.

More detail on the sequences at Mill Hill is overdue. The rapid spread of H1N1 in Ukraine demands rapid sequence results. Continued delay will only raise speculations and concerns.

http://preventdisease.com/news/09/110709_more_cover-ups_ukraine_plague_cases_double.shtml