Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Virginia Department of Health
 
Board
State Board of Health
 
chapter
Regulations for Disease Reporting and Control [12 VAC 5 ‑ 90]
Action Amendment to comply with changes in public health practice
Stage Fast-Track
Comment Period Ended on 12/11/2019
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12/11/19  2:01 pm
Commenter: Dr. Diderik Finne

People shouldn't be reported to the government for catching the flu.
 

I strongly oppose the proposed amendments. Influenza is NOT a threat to public safety. The CDC uses a fuzzy math-based statistical model which identifies influenza as the cause of death even when respiratory diseases like pneumonia, or circulatory causes like cardiac arrest, are officially reported to have been the cause of death. This is all the more suspect when no virus testing is required to be performed in the majority of these cases. Absurdly, the CDC's own resource page on pneumonia states that, "Viruses, bacteria, and fungi can all cause pneumonia." Clearly, therefore, influenza alone can not be said to be the cause of all pneumonia deaths.

CDC's strategy to use fear to ramp up flu vaccine sales ­­­­requires the agency to exaggerate both flu risks and vaccine efficacy. Pharmaceutical companies and public health officials vastly overstate flu cases and deaths in order to market influenza "as a threat of great proportions." Simple fact-checking shows that since October 2017, only 14.7% of the almost 447,000 "flu" specimens tested by clinical laboratories working with CDC have tested positive for influenza. This proportion has remained relatively constant for the past two decades.

CommentID: 78141