"I don't believe in the flu shot," said a typical posting on a Canadian news website this week, which went on to suggest the vaccine could have the same effects on pregnant women as Thalidomide. "I refuse to be a guinea pig."
An Ipsos Reid survey for Canwest News Service released yesterday suggested that barely half of Canadians were even somewhat likely to get the shot.
At the same time, I'm a bit encouraged by the reporting in that article. I does not give any credible space to antivax lunatics. It does look to the 'other side' of the question of the H1N1 vaccines (or flu vaccines in general), by considering the opinions given by a team of university-based researchers—not Bill Maher, Jenny McCarthy, or Jim Carrey.
The opinions of these wack-o Hollywood types are winning the battle of public opinion, however, and more of this type of reporting is going to be needed. The article also has a list of figures at the end which, I think, also helps mitigate some of the over-the-top media hype about this flu, while providing evidence against the unfounded claims about the dangers of this new vaccine.