On another forum someone had posted a video clip culled from the fine journalistic minds of FOX News.

Here is the description and then please watch the video before proceeding. It is short, I assure you.

Video Description: "Judge Andrew Napolitano comments on the completely unconstitutional bill in Massachusetts that will allow the governor to declare an emergency and “allow” police to force their way into your homes to vaccinate you. As Gerald Celente has said, has the Second American Revolution begun?"

Oh my! The big bad government is out to prick us with syringes full of death! This really plays into the paranoid and delusional minds of the average FOX viewer. However, more distressing is that this type of fear is common among people who view FOX with disdain.

My first gripe is a small one. The talking head says there is fear that it will be a full blown pandemic. What about the fact that it is already a Phase 6 pandemic, the highest level there is? Why is the media so scientifically illiterate? It's not just FOX, although they seem to regard science with a little extra contempt.

Also, they whine that the Governor has the authority to declare a state of emergency. Well, who else would? Don't governors usually do such things in states of emergency?

And they read "police" when they read "unlicensed personal"? What I read was, "Sec.12(d) Law enforcement authorities, upon order of the commissioner or his agent or at the request of a local public health authority pursuant to such order, shall assist emergency medical technicians or other appropriate medical personnel in the involuntary transportation of such person to the tuberculosis treatment center." Not quite how they paint it. Unless they are seeing a bogeyman in some other portion of the bill.

Has anyone that is espousing such passionate views about this even read the fucking bill? There are a lot of words, but let's see if we can find the language where people will be forcibly injected with vaccines.

"(b) Furthermore, when the commissioner or a local public health authority within its jurisdiction determines that either or both of the following measures are necessary to prevent a serious danger to the public health the commissioner or local public health authority may exercise the following authority: (1) to vaccinate or provide precautionary prophylaxis to individuals as protection against communicable disease and to prevent the spread of communicable or possibly communicable disease, provided that any vaccine to be administered must not be such as is reasonably likely to lead to serious harm to the affected individual; and (2) to treat individuals exposed to or infected with disease, provided that treatment must not be such as is reasonably likely to lead to serious harm to the affected individual. An individual who is unable or unwilling to submit to vaccination or treatment shall not be required to submit to such procedures but may be isolated or quarantined pursuant to section 96 of chapter 111 if his or her refusal poses a serious danger to public health or results in uncertainty whether he or she has been exposed to or is infected with a disease or condition that poses a serious danger to public health, as determined by the commissioner, or a local public health authority operating within its jurisdiction.

(c) Furthermore, when the commissioner or a local public health authority within its jurisdiction determines that either or both of the following measures are necessary to prevent a serious danger to the public health, the commissioner or local public health authority may exercise the following authority:

(1) to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated any individual; provided that decontamination measures must be by the least restrictive means necessary to protect the public health and must be such as are not reasonably likely to lead to serious harm to the affected individual; and
(2) to perform physical examinations, tests, and specimen collection necessary to diagnose a disease or condition and ascertain whether an individual presents a risk to public health.
If an individual is unable or unwilling to submit to decontamination or procedures necessary for diagnosis, the decontamination or diagnosis procedures may proceed only pursuant to an order of the superior court. During the time necessary to obtain such court order, such individual may be isolated or quarantined pursuant to section 96 of chapter 111 if his or her refusal to submit to decontamination or diagnosis procedures poses a serious danger to public health or results in uncertainty whether he or she has been exposed to or is infected with a disease or condition that poses a serious danger to public health.

(d) (1) When the commissioner or a local public health authority within its jurisdiction reasonably believes that a person may have been exposed to a disease or condition that poses a threat to the public health, in addition to their authority under section 96 of chapter 111, the commissioner or the local public health authority may detain the person for as long as may be reasonably necessary for the commissioner or the local public health authority, to convey information to the person regarding the disease or condition and to obtain contact information, including but not limited to the person’s residence and employment addresses, date of birth, and telephone numbers.
(2) If a person detained under subsection (1) refuses to provide the information requested, the person may be isolated or quarantined pursuant to section 96 of chapter 111 if his or her refusal poses a serious danger to public health or results in uncertainty whether he or she has been exposed to or is infected with a disease or condition that poses a serious danger to public health."

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"Section 96.(b) Whenever the commissioner, or a local public health authority within its jurisdiction, determines that an individual or group of individuals has or may have a disease or condition dangerous to the public health or is or may be infected with an agent of such a disease or condition, which disease or condition is transmissible between people and poses a serious danger to public health, the commissioner, or a local public health authority may order such individual or group to be isolated or quarantined. An order for isolation or quarantine may include any individual who is unwilling or unable to undergo vaccination, precautionary prophylaxis, medical treatment, decontamination, medical examinations, tests, or specimen collection and whose refusal of one or more of these measures poses a serious danger to public health or results in uncertainty whether he or she has been exposed to or is infected with a disease or condition that poses a serious danger to public health. The order may be a verbal order in exigent circumstances, and in such case it shall be followed by a written order as soon as reasonably possible. The written order shall be delivered personally, but if that is not possible, it shall be delivered in a manner that is reasonably calculated to notify the individual or group of it. In the case of a group, this may include delivery through the mass media and posting in a place where group members are reasonably likely to see it. (c) Isolation and quarantine orders must utilize the least restrictive means necessary to prevent a serious danger to public health, and may include, but are not limited to, restricting a person from being present in certain places including but not limited to school or work; confinement to private homes; confinement to other private or public premises; or isolation or quarantine of an area. (d) An officer authorized to serve criminal process may arrest without a warrant any person whom the officer has probable cause to believe has violated an order for isolation or quarantine and shall use reasonable diligence to enforce such order. (e) Any person who knowingly violates an order for isolation or quarantine shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 30 days and may be subject to a civil fine of not more than one thousand dollars per day that the violation continues."

Source

So, no, you will not be forcibly vaccinated! But yes, you can be quarantined. Why would anyone be upset that they lose their right to be a Typhoid Mary? There are legal precedents and guidelines already throughout the land for compelled quarantine.

"A state's authority to compel isolation and quarantine within its borders is derived from its inherent "police power" -- the authority of a state government to enact laws and promote regulations to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens. As a result of this authority, the individual states are responsible for intrastate isolation and quarantine practices, and they conduct their activities in accordance with their respective statutes."

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Examples of other public health actions that can be compelled by legal authorities include disease reporting, immunization for school attendance, and tuberculosis treatment.

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Both isolation and quarantine may be conducted on a voluntary basis or compelled on a mandatory basis through legal authority. Source

"Claim: Legislation allows for you to be isolated or quarantined or “incarcerated in relocation centers” if you refuse vaccination during a declared Pandemic Emergency. This is a violation of human rights and of the Constitution. Fact: If you have active TB, the government has not only the power but the responsibility to require treatment or quarantine so you don’t sit next to me on the bus and cough in my face. If you contract Ebola virus, I sure hope you will be quarantined to reduce the death toll. Quarantine is legal, is mandated by legislation, and is accepted by international law. Sometimes the duty to protect most of the people in a society temporarily trumps a few individual human rights. The government is not going to require quarantine unless there is a serious threat that demands action."

Source

Most people would agree that the authorities should do something about the neighbor who is wandering around spreading something like the Ebola virus simply because he thinks he has the God-given right to. But this isn't about a state of emergency, as the bill describes. This is what happens when the shrill cries against big government of the far right meets the paranoid anti-vaxxers of the far left. Much of this is fueled by fear that these vaccines for the H1N1 are unsafe.

Harriet Hall, MD of Science Based Medicine articulates it quite well:

"Fear is a curious thing. It often bears no relation to the actual risk of what we fear. When swine flu first broke out in Mexico, people were understandably afraid. Travel was restricted, schools were closed, and so many people stayed home that the streets of Mexico City were empty. As the disease spread around the world, Egypt developed a paranoid fear of pigs and committed national pigicide. They ordered the slaughter of all 300,000 of their country’s innocent little porkers, ignoring the fact that the flu is spread person-to-person, not pig-to-person. Now that the disease has officially been labeled a pandemic, fears have switched from the real threat of the disease to an imagined danger from the vaccine. Some people just plain hate the idea of vaccines – to the point that they are willing to spread old falsehoods, make up new lies, distort the results of studies, misrepresent statistics, and endanger our public health. There are websites like “Operation Fax to Stop the Vax” and even anti-swine-flu-vaccine rap videos. Press releases, e-mail campaigns, talk shows, and blogs are being used to stir up irrational fears. These people are irresponsible fearmongers. They are wrong, and they are dangerous."

Source

One of the most common fears I have heard by people of all political bents is that the vaccine will be unsafe because it is being fast tracked.

"Claim: It usually takes several years to test a drug and show that it is safe, but the swine flu vaccine is going to be fast-tracked for quick approval. Fact: A new flu vaccine has to be developed every year to respond to the new strains that are constantly evolving. Time does not allow for the same kind of testing we require for approval of a new pharmaceutical. Time is even shorter for the swine flu this year. We have a lot of experience in producing new flu vaccines every year, and there is no reason to suspect that this year’s batches will be any more dangerous than usual. Because of fast-tracking, we will be monitoring very closely for side effects. We have a choice between fast-tracking and being prepared for a serious outbreak, or being slow and cautious and totally unprepared."

Source

"Will this vaccine be made differently than the seasonal influenza vaccine? No. This vaccine will be made using the same processes and facilities that are used to make the currently licensed seasonal influenza vaccines."

Source

The seasonal flu mutates and is different each year. Each year, new vaccines must be produced. They are not built from scratch and each component tested. They are in a sense fast tracked every year. If they had to go through all the approval processes that brand new drugs do, we would never get them administered in time. We'd always have really safe vaccines for last year's flu. Or more likely, for the flu virus of two or three years ago. This is a process that is well practiced and similar in most ways from year to year. It is not without risk, but nothing ever is. The fact remains that you are much safer getting the vaccine than you are not getting it. And even if you don't fear for your own safety, think of others around you who may contract it through you.

No one knows what this Swine Flu will do. It may be nothing worse than ordinary seasonal flu. But then again, it may not. And if it turns out to be the latter, then preparation is the key to avoiding a lot of unnecessary deaths. Part of that preparation involves vaccinations and planning for, when necessary, isolation and/or quarantines.

For reliable information on the H1N1 and other public health related matters, avoid emails and quacks as your source of info. Visit the CDC or the WHO websites for regularly updated information.

And above all, stay skeptical.