Quick! I need to debunk a freeper!

[LibLover]

Hi! I got this by E-mail from a freeper I know. I want to tell him to remove me from his spam list, but an intelligent answer (no name calling) is more my way of behaving, at least on the first try.

I don't follow the "who/what/when/where" of politics like some people do so I can't answer this precisely enough.

Thanx! :hi:
------------------------

Flu Shot Info

How the vaccine works: Influenza vaccine is produced by growing the virus in eggs. The virus is killed and processed to create the vaccine, which is given by injection under the skin. The body then produces antibodies to the virus over the next two to four weeks. If the immunized person then comes into contact with the influenza virus, the antibodies attack and kill the virus before it has a chance to cause infection. The vaccine contains the 3 most likely strains to be active during the "flu season"

Why the shortage: Almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be delivered this year. Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine, will not be distributing any influenza vaccine this flu season. Chiron was to make 46-48 million doses vaccine for the United States. Chiron is a British company. Recently British health officials stopped Chiron from distributing and making the vaccine when inspectors found unsanitary conditions in the labs. Some lots of the vaccine were recalled and destroyed.

Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US? The major pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost 90% of the nation's flu vaccine at one time. They did this despite a very low profit margin for the product. Basically, they were doing us a favor. In the late 80's a man from North Carolina who had received the vaccine got the flu. The strain he caught was one of the strains in that year's vaccine made by a US company. What did he do? He sued and he won. He was awarded almost $5 million! After that case was appealed and lost, most US pharmaceutical companies stopped making the vaccine. The liability out weighed the profit margin. Since UK and Canadian laws prohibit such frivolous law suits, UK and Canadian companies began selling the vaccine in the US.

By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards.

[bluestateguy]

1. Here

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/flushot.asp

[Maccagirl]

4. Beautiful! Great work.

Bookmark that baby and start emailing!

[LibLover]

9. That's exactly the thing I was looking for!

Why I didn't check there first I'll never know. :eyes:

[Kierkegaard]

2. Unscrew the top of his head and drop in a couple

Alka-Seltzer tablets. That should do it.

[loveable liberal]

3. parent company of chiron is in Kalifornia.

Outsourcing to blame no doubt.

[noiretextatique]

7. chiron is based in emeryville, ca

right next door to oakland. i drive by it on my way to work everyday.

[TexasChick]

5. LibLover, some guy from DailyKOS got the same email...here's

his response back to them. Maybe you can tweek his response to suit you to reply back to the email?

==========================================================
<snip>
Somewhere along the line, I was added to an email list of friends and associates. We're all familiar with these kinds of lists. You know, those emails that forward along jokes and funny pictures. Some are great and very funny, more often than not, you read and delete, read and delete.
Well, about three months ago, the daily "locker room humor" of the content of the emails began to make a sharp right turn to engaging in "political humor". And I do mean a "right" turn. Most of it devoid of any humor whatsoever. Certainly, all the original "fun" was gone as the emails became more rabidly attack like in spewing forth lies about John Kerry, John Edwards, and their families in a seemingly never ending "Brush Lintball" mentality.

Diaries :: progressivearlingtonian's diary ::

Yesterday, after receiving this relatively mild email purporting to contain the "true story" of why there is no flu vaccine,


because In the late 80's a man from North Carolina who had received the vaccine got the flu. The strain he caught was one of the strains in that years vaccine made by a US company. What did he do? He sued and he won. He was awarded almost $5 million! After that case was appealed and lost, most US pharmaceutical companies stopped making the vaccine. The liability out weighed the profit margin. Since UK and Canadian laws prohibit such frivolous law suits UK and Canadian companies began selling the vaccine in the US.
By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards.

for some reason I just bristled. You know, one of those, "I'm not gonna take this crap anymore" moments.

In the heat of that moment, I hit "reply all" and typed this out and then punched send without even taking time to edit.


Dear Friends,
I'm an American, a conservative, and a Republican. I've voted for the Republican candidate in every Presidential election since Nixon in 1972.

This year I am joining many, many truly conservative Republicans to vote for John Kerry.

Why? Because I care a lot more about my country and its future than I do about any political party.

I won't go into all the arguments for my vote in this email, suffice it to say that in a democracy it is up to each of you to become truly informed and make your own decision about your vote. The truth is readily available to each of you should you make the effort to cut through the television news and the spin of Right Wing pundits like Limbaugh, Hannity, Scarborough, Buchanan and untruthful emails such as this one about the flu, along with the many others that seem to keep getting mindlessly forwarded along to this list.

Come on folks, do you really believe the claim here that, "the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards"? Two minutes on the "internets" and you can dismiss it for yourself as a lie. Why even do that? If this were true, don't you think the GOP campaign would have trumpeted it for all to hear? I mean if this were true, wouldn't that be devastating to the Kerry Edwards campaign? Come on, think guys! If you take the time to actually research so many of the completely misleading claims about "Kerry Voting against Intelligence", "Kerry Voting against Weapons Systems", "Kerry Voting to raise Taxes", and the ultimate one of tearing down a Veteran who served with honor on the front lines in wartime (how American is that?), you'll find that the one fact you can count on is that you're being lied to.

My question to each of you is why?

I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything with this email. Just putting forth my point of view to those I'm glad to call my friends.

Realize, I'm no "lefty" and don't think I would honestly be categorized as a "Liberal". Whatever the outcome of this election, I will continue to support and work for our Great Country.

But, I have to tell you that there's a change Blowing in the Wind and just because you may not have felt it yet doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

I'm not sure it has a name, but I like to think of it as the return of Truth, Justice, and the American way.

Dave

PS: I guess I'm off the email list for "Political emails" from here on out. Put me back on the list when you get back to real jokes and funny pictures.
==========================================================


Maybe his response will help you rebut this freeptard's email? :shrug:



Jennifer

[Rjnerd]

6. Liability isn't an issue.

Our government covers the liability for vaccine makers. Has been true for many years. (possibly in response to the suit he quotes)

The only reason that most drug companies don't make it is that it is a commodity, and thus it only earns normal chemical manufacturing profit margins, rather than the very high ones that are possible with patent protected high demand meds.

[DiverDave]

8. DING! DING! DING!!

We have a winner folks.
The EXACT reason that we don't have enough of ANY vaccine is because the fat greedy bastards don't make enough MONEY on them.
The bottom line?
Fuck people, just make more money.
I really wish there were a hell, these bastards need to be there.

[lfs5]

10. Fire Back--

Everytime I get these--or other pro-Shrub messages--I hit "Reply to All", load up and fire back with some factual, SOURCED damaging info about our leader--his refusl to go after Bin Laden at Tora Boara--his failure to take out al Zaquari (sp) when he had the chance, because he didn't want to undermine his case for war, and more recently, the concerns that seem to be cropping up everywhere re the President's mental stability!

Usually that shuts them down. I seem to magically disappear from the list of recipients for their false and misleading info campaign.

[RPM]

11. God bless Snopes

n/t