This is a bit like the Balloon Game, only with much bigger numbers.
The UK government has ordered a lot of swine flu vaccine shots. They are currently considering who should receive the vaccinations as a priority. They are likely to follow other countries and start with health workers and vulnerable groups.
Now here's the game. There are enough shots to cover the priority groups and some left over but not above but not enough for the whole population. Now assume the flu virus mutates so that it turns really nasty while the vaccine is still able to stop it.
So, who would you give priority to for receiving the shots after the vulnerable groups? And who would you put at the bottom of the list, so there is no chance whatever they'll get the vaccine? The unemployed? Convicted criminals? See your inner Daily Mail reader come out!
Top of the list UKS members of course (most anyway).
Bottom of the list: Croydon Bob
Bottom of the list - people who've already had it.
Next up people who took advantage of reduced prices for an away break in Cancun
http://www.physorg.com/news160761170.html
Just in case I would put big strong men between 25 and 45 (sorry, make that 53) at the top of the list as their over-active immune systems would surely kill them. Pregnant women, babies and old people with their puny defences wouldn't wouldn't need it so they can go to the bottom.Does new swine flu virus kill by causing a 'cytokine storm'?
May 5th, 2009
The swine flu outbreak that began in Mexico and continues to spread around the globe may be particularly dangerous for young, otherwise healthy adults because it contains genetic components of the H5N1 avian influenza virus, which can induce a "cytokine storm," in which a patient's hyper-activated immune system causes potentially fatal damage to the lungs. Research studies and review articles exploring the regulation of cytokine responses in the lung and how infection-related dysregulation can cause a cytokine storm have been published in Viral Immunology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
You've excluded Polomint by insisting on big and strong.Originally Posted by chaggle
I'm tempted to put estate agents at the bottom of the list. The problem is, that could mess up the housing market and prolong the recession. Nothing is ever easy ...
No problem ... the vaccine will probably develop an immune response of its own against the estate agent.
Will the vaccine have thimarosal, because we all know how dangerious that can be?
I have heard (purely anecdotal) that some European Regulatory Authorities are not able to respond in adequate time for clinical trial authorisations because they are focused on fast tracking swine flu vaccine.
Well I am bigYou've excluded Polomint by insisting on big and strong., but strong
I'd put the over 60s at the bottom because we seem to have an inherent immunity - probably because we've encountered a similar virus in the past - and, as chaggle has already mentioned, we're less likely to suffer the deadly cytokine storm.Well I am big
We could ask for volunteers who'd rather rely on faith, chiropractors, homoeopathy, acupuncture etc?
But, let's say it turned deadly and we've done all the no brainer decisions - like make sure we have some docs and nurses still alive to look after all the soon to be dead. Then I think I'd vote for left wing eugenics (something I just invented and will claim tomorrow was the result of a late night coffee) - ie, vaccinate across the broadest genetic range of people possible, people from different families, countries, even those with disabling genetic differences - go for the maximum genetic difference potential. That's what I'd do. Apart from anything else - if one is going to have mass death and suffering, one may as well piss the Daily Mail fan club off in the process!
[OT comment] I'm *ahem* told that another good way of achieving that is to vote in the Daily Mail readers' polls, on the paper's website.
A recent one was "Should Gypsies jump the NHS waiting list?". Word of that superbly unbiased poll spread around Facebook...
The poll was deleted, late afternoon, when the 'yes' vote had reached 76%, but it was very entertaining to read the rabid comments from the bemused 'Mr Angry' readers as the vote skyrocketed.[/OT comment].
That's the chap ( except he should have a copy of the Daily Wail tightly clenched in his grumpy little fist ); "Immigrants...GRRR!!!! Single mothers... GRRR!!!! Anyone who doesn't watch Antiques Roadshow... GRRRR!!!!..." Etc..
Yes, yes, yes!
Anyone who has expressed or spread an opinion over the last few months that flu vaccines are dangerous and/or it is a Dick Cheny/Rummsfeld conspiracy is automatically at the bottom of the list.
One wonders how many anti-vaccers will be quietly sneaking into doctor's surgeries when their appointments arrive....
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