New Netflix series, 'Pandemic', now streaming.

[kenny]

Timely.
Just finished it.

Watch it.
You'll get a much better education than you'll get from the media.

Netflix series Pandemic’s dire warning about viral outbreaks

Documentary series airing as China battles coronavirus outbreak warns a new flu pandemic is inevitable, and points out it is the country where ‘virtually all of the deadly influenza viruses’ of past 50 years have emerged.

www.scmp.com

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Its on my list of things im too scared to watch !

 

[kenny]

Its on my list of things im too scared to watch !

That's exactly why I watched it.
Fear is often mostly ignorance.
Well-researched and well-rounded information has mostly displaced my anxiety.

The series also, IMO, fairly gives voice to the perspective of anti-vaxers.

It follows the human and professional stories in several locations, among them ...
Jaipur India.
Cutting edge Gates Foundation-funded scientists in San Francisco developing a one-shot for life flu vaccine by testing pigs in Guatemala.

An immigrant center Tucson AZ showing the human effect of Trump shutting down a vaccination program for new immigrants.
A struggling one-doctor rural hospital in Oklahoma.
The Ebola challenge in DRoCongo.

It's like little soap operas that combine to give you a well rounded understanding of our most formidable opponent, the flu virus - which has killed more people than all wars combined.

 

[redwood66]

People at work were just talking about this series. I will put it in my list. Thanks!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

That's exactly why I watched it.
Fear is often mostly ignorance.
Well researched and well-rounded information has mostly dissolved my fear.

The series also, IMO, fairly gives voice to anti-vaxers.

Thanks Kenny
Ill take it off that list and put it on the list for when i can't sleep

The anti vax view point will be interesting if its more fact based compaired to their usual hysteria

 

[kenny]

I'll say this, there are some wonderful people working in this field.

They could have cut the series in half by just reporting facts, but their approach really puts a human face on the many aspects of this important subject.

 

[arkieb1]

We have the triple DTaP this year and I have had to write all over the forms do NOT give this to my son at school. I'm not an anti vaccination nutball, quite the contrary, my son had a flu shot this past Aussie winter and I take him to the doctor to get the shots he can have safely separately....

But what the anti vaccination warriors have done is make it seem to the schools that give the shots for free, that every parent who has a child that actually really has a reaction to one of these vaccines must somehow be a nut case. I have to show evidence of medical records and doctors records to prove I'm not one of them.

When my son was a baby he had the triple DTaP which is Whooping Cough (Pertussis), Tetanus and Diphtheria. He became listless, had a severe fever, and it seemed like he lost his vision for 2 days I panicked and took him to a Paediatrician who said it's a one in a million chance to have a reaction to that vaccine, it's almost always the Whooping Cough component of it and children can have a reaction so severe their brain swells up which is what they believe happened to my son. He advised to never give him that vaccine again, because for him it is possible it could cause lasting effects like brain damage and loss of sight.

Since then, every time one of these is due I have to fight to prove I'm not an anti vaccination parent. I go and get my son a Tetanus shot and everything else (which I pay for myself) except for the Whooping Cough component which I will not risk again, because the reaction to it he had was so severe..... most children that have a reaction have a slight fever and a mild reaction but there are documented cases of the 1 in a million kids that do have a severe reaction to it like my son....

So the sad thing is that I get put into the same basket as the anti vax people when I am not and have never been anti vaccination and I have to prove this every time the free clinics that do them as school occur. And the irony is I take him to have vaccinations for everything else......

 

[lyra]

It's a good documentary. Thanks Kenny! I love this subject in general.

 

[kenny]

Arkieb1, edjumakated people know that a true medical exception is legit.
Just tell people that.
If they still look at you with scorn tell 'em to F the F off and die.

But IMO the vast majority of anit-vaxers really should STFU, and get their kids vaxed because overall it is best for society AND THEIR kids!
A virus that's extinct can't harm their kid.

I guess I could say I'm anti-vax, because I get vaccinated to help drive those pathogens into extinction ... when they're extinct there'll be no need for anyone to get vaccinated ever again.

Not vaxing keeps virus factories up and running.
Like, uh, DUH!

 

[Matata]

I guess I could say I'm anti-vax, because I get vaccinated to help drive those pathogens into extinction ... when they're extinct there'll be no need for anyone to get vaccinated ever again.

Not vaxing keeps virus factories up and running.
Like, uh, DUH!

In the long run, mother nature is going to win regardless of our ability to meet the immediate threat of emerging viruses. Too many people living in too many places where the environment is out of balance and where said people can travel via global access = pandemic and a major diminishment of homo sapiens and that, imo, is not a bad thing if it contributes to the continuity of humanity and I'm not even sure that our continuity in our present form is a good thing.

 

[arkieb1]

Actually edjumakated people are the people that disbelieve what happened the most, for example I rang the Government Health department that gives the free shots to children told them what happened, and they referred me to the head of Children's Immunology in the city I live in. He is the be all and end all apparently in his field of study. We couldn't get an appointment with the specialist who thought he is a God for two months by then my son had fully recovered.

To cut a long story short the top doctor in his field basically gets hundreds of nut cases claiming their children are impacted by vaccines every week. So he assumed I must be one of them and that I, my family doctor, and the Paediatrician who saw my son must also be making all of it up.

So I said to him but there are documented cases of children having severe reactions to that particular vaccine. He said that if two or three children in 1 million died because of reactions to the vaccines and saved the rest then basically those children are collateral.... vaccines save millions of children world wide and that was all he cared about.

Then he insisted the only way he would believe that it happened was if I booked my son into his hospital into his care, so he could give him another vaccine and record what happened. I asked what were the chances of him dying, being left permanently brain damaged or vision impaired for life were and he said oh probably minimal.....

We then went back to the Paediatrician who btw was and is a lovely guy and asked him the same questions I said if it was one of your kids would you do it and he said off record because he didn't want to be hounded by any of his medical peers no he would not agree to it.

I only have one child, my brother died in hospital when he was 6 from a Golden Staff infection he got in hospital while he had pneumonia.....

Because I wasn't willing to agree play Russian Vaccination Roulette for the Immunologist who had no kids himself and was an arrogant A-hole he basically disbelieved the whole thing occurred. It was documented by me, by my family doctor and by the Paediatrician...

Since then I've had doctors, teachers, and other seemingly intelligent people suggest to me that somehow what occurred could not have been that bad....

Anti Vaxers that make this stuff up have a lot IMHO to answer for, because as one parent who can 100% say I had a kid that did have a severe reaction to a vaccination all it's done is make people who should believe me be distrustful and suspicious of my motivations.

 

[msop04]

Timely.
Just finished it.

Watch it.
You'll get a much better education than you'll get from the media.

Netflix series Pandemic’s dire warning about viral outbreaks

Documentary series airing as China battles coronavirus outbreak warns a new flu pandemic is inevitable, and points out it is the country where ‘virtually all of the deadly influenza viruses’ of past 50 years have emerged.

www.scmp.com

Oooohhhhh... this is right up my alley! This and zombie apocalypse. I’m on it!!

 

[kenny]

In the long run, mother nature is going to win regardless of our ability to meet the immediate threat of emerging viruses. Too many people living in too many places where the environment is out of balance and where said people can travel via global access = pandemic and a major diminishment of homo sapiens and that, imo, is not a bad thing if it contributes to the continuity of humanity and I'm not even sure that our continuity in our present form is a good thing.

I agree.
There are too many people, and pandemics could be seen as nature self-correcting things.

Just so I don't die, it's all good.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

We have the triple DTaP this year and I have had to write all over the forms do NOT give this to my son at school. I'm not an anti vaccination nutball, quite the contrary, my son had a flu shot this past Aussie winter and I take him to the doctor to get the shots he can have safely separately....

But what the anti vaccination warriors have done is make it seem to the schools that give the shots for free, that every parent who has a child that actually really has a reaction to one of these vaccines must somehow be a nut case. I have to show evidence of medical records and doctors records to prove I'm not one of them.

When my son was a baby he had the triple DTaP which is Whooping Cough (Pertussis), Tetanus and Diphtheria. He became listless, had a severe fever, and it seemed like he lost his vision for 2 days I panicked and took him to a Paediatrician who said it's a one in a million chance to have a reaction to that vaccine, it's almost always the Whooping Cough component of it and children can have a reaction so severe their brain swells up which is what they believe happened to my son. He advised to never give him that vaccine again, because for him it is possible it could cause lasting effects like brain damage and loss of sight.

Since then, every time one of these is due I have to fight to prove I'm not an anti vaccination parent. I go and get my son a Tetanus shot and everything else (which I pay for myself) except for the Whooping Cough component which I will not risk again, because the reaction to it he had was so severe..... most children that have a reaction have a slight fever and a mild reaction but there are documented cases of the 1 in a million kids that do have a severe reaction to it like my son....

So the sad thing is that I get put into the same basket as the anti vax people when I am not and have never been anti vaccination and I have to prove this every time the free clinics that do them as school occur. And the irony is I take him to have vaccinations for everything else......

Your a good mum
My friend has a son who became autistic......after the MMR
There was never a link proven, for the first two years the GP wrote off the mother's concerns as her being neurotic
its just a really sad case on so many levels
They are not anti vaxers in any way shape or form
She still got her younger son fully vaccinated and he has grown into a fine strapping lad but they are careful what Ben gets
Ben is now all grown up living in a group home but he's always going to be majorly dependent on others for his most basic needs

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Actually edjumakated people are the people that disbelieve what happened the most, for example I rang the Government Health department that gives the free shots to children told them what happened, and they referred me to the head of Children's Immunology in the city I live in. He is the be all and end all apparently in his field of study. We couldn't get an appointment with the specialist who thought he is a God for two months by then my son had fully recovered.

To cut a long story short the top doctor in his field basically gets hundreds of nut cases claiming their children are impacted by vaccines every week. So he assumed I must be one of them and that I, my family doctor, and the Paediatrician who saw my son must also be making all of it up.

So I said to him but there are documented cases of children having severe reactions to that particular vaccine. He said that if two or three children in 1 million died because of reactions to the vaccines and saved the rest then basically those children are collateral.... vaccines save millions of children world wide and that was all he cared about.

Then he insisted the only way he would believe that it happened was if I booked my son into his hospital into his care, so he could give him another vaccine and record what happened. I asked what were the chances of him dying, being left permanently brain damaged or vision impaired for life were and he said oh probably minimal.....

We then went back to the Paediatrician who btw was and is a lovely guy and asked him the same questions I said if it was one of your kids would you do it and he said off record because he didn't want to be hounded by any of his medical peers no he would not agree to it.

I only have one child, my brother died in hospital when he was 6 from a Golden Staff infection he got in hospital while he had pneumonia.....

Because I wasn't willing to agree play Russian Vaccination Roulette for the Immunologist who had no kids himself and was an arrogant A-hole he basically disbelieved the whole thing occurred. It was documented by me, by my family doctor and by the Paediatrician...

Since then I've had doctors, teachers, and other seemingly intelligent people suggest to me that somehow what occurred could not have been that bad....

Anti Vaxers that make this stuff up have a lot IMHO to answer for, because as one parent who can 100% say I had a kid that did have a severe reaction to a vaccination all it's done is make people who should believe me be distrustful and suspicious of my motivations.

Oh how horrible
I hope in today's medical schools more emphasis is put on bedside manner
Where was the compassion and empathy

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I agree.
There are too many people, and pandemics could be seen as nature self-correcting things.

Just so I don't die, it's all good.

I think this too

 

[lyra]

Wow at thinking a pandemic is a great way to reduce population. Really? Nature does not have an agenda. We need to look at solutions to problems, not just give up. Also easy to say when those of us in North America have it pretty easy.

 

[kenny]

Wow at thinking a pandemic is a great way to reduce population. Really? Nature does not have an agenda. We need to look at solutions to problems, not just give up. Also easy to say when those of us in North America have it pretty easy.

Lyra, excellent observation!
You wrote, "Nature does not have an agenda."
You are of course right.
As with gods, outside of the human mind, nature does not even exist.
Things just are.
Lots of stuff is simply beyond understanding of our tiny human pea-brained minds.
But we are too arrogant to admit that.

Nature is just another handy-dandy lazy shortcut or copout, as are gods.

I hear that nature abhors a vacuum.
Humans do too. Oh My! , what a coincidence.

Hence, humans invent shrewd ideas, like nature and gods.
Those feel so comfy compared to, "I don't know".
To hell with what's provable ... aka truth.
Arrogant insecure humans try to use these lazy placeholders as answers for questions that they don't know and can never know.

Glob forbid we'd ever have to answer a child's question with, "Sorry Jonny sweetheart, but we just don't know".

 

[arkieb1]

I think gun deaths are a pandemic in the US all of their own but I'll probably be heavily criticised by saying that......

 

[Matata]

Wow at thinking a pandemic is a great way to reduce population. Really? Nature does not have an agenda. We need to look at solutions to problems, not just give up. Also easy to say when those of us in North America have it pretty easy.

Natural systems survive by maintaining a balance. Survival and reproduction are major drivers of natural systems -- the agenda so to speak. Population crashes of species occur when the population outstrips the resources upon which it relies for survival. When balance is achieved, the population may recover until it once again diminishes it resources. If the population goes extinct, something else will take its place. Basic science proved repeatedly over eons. Sometimes surprises happen, like pesky meteors, but usually extinctions occur according to the natural law of supply and demand.

We haven't done well at seeking and implementing solutions to the problems we're facing right now which were predicted by scientists for decades. Our oceans are in peril, some fishery systems are dead; weather patterns are changing and affecting not only where people will be able to live in the next decade, but where agriculture will be feasible. In addition to the global impacts of humanity's actions, our current administration has destroyed nearly every safety measure put in place to protect air, water, and general safety in the US.

We are the least important species on this planet. If all humans ceased to exist tomorrow, other species would survive (perhaps with the exception of domesticated animals which might have a tougher time adapting). Yet, for example, when insect or bird populations go extinct, the effect on humans and other species will be catastrophic.

Humans are currently the major drivers of extinction on the planet and we are not immune from ourselves.

 

[missy]

My dh and I are watching the series and we are finding it fascinating. I did know much of this info (so far) but still learning more. Always more to learn. Hoping they come up with a universal pandemic flu vaccination soon....maybe as soon as 2025 though that may not be soon enough to save hundreds of millions of people depending on when we get (or has it already arrived with Coronavirus) the next pandemic flu outbreak.

 

[missy]

Natural systems survive by maintaining a balance. Survival and reproduction are major drivers of natural systems -- the agenda so to speak. Population crashes of species occur when the population outstrips the resources upon which it relies for survival. When balance is achieved, the population may recover until it once again diminishes it resources. If the population goes extinct, something else will take its place. Basic science proved repeatedly over eons. Sometimes surprises happen, like pesky meteors, but usually extinctions occur according to the natural law of supply and demand.

We haven't done well at seeking and implementing solutions to the problems we're facing right now which were predicted by scientists for decades. Our oceans are in peril, some fishery systems are dead; weather patterns are changing and affecting not only where people will be able to live in the next decade, but where agriculture will be feasible. In addition to the global impacts of humanity's actions, our current administration has destroyed nearly every safety measure put in place to protect air, water, and general safety in the US.

We are the least important species on this planet. If all humans ceased to exist tomorrow, other species would survive (perhaps with the exception of domesticated animals which might have a tougher time adapting). Yet, for example, when insect or bird populations go extinct, the effect on humans and other species will be catastrophic.

Humans are currently the major drivers of extinction on the planet and we are not immune from ourselves.

I have said it before and will say it again. Our planet will long survive after humans are extinct IMO. We are killing so many species and causing them to go extinct and our turn will come. But the earth will survive.

An interesting opinion piece from the NY Times.

Opinion | Would Human Extinction Be a Tragedy? (Published 2018)

Our species possesses inherent value, but we are devastating the earth and causing unimaginable animal suffering.

www.nytimes.com

 

[telephone89]

I watched the first episode yesterday.

Can I just say, I was SO ANNOYED that the NY womans husband did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING?! Shes saving the world, driving the kids around, playing with the kids, picking their boogers (ewww), cooking dinner, feeding them dinner, reading them a bed time story, and then you see dad sitting on the sofa on his phone. Ugh.

Besides that random side rant, I found it very interesting! Will probably watch another episode tonight. They are pretty heavy for me, so its not a binge show lol.

 

[missy]

I watched the first episode yesterday.

Can I just say, I was SO ANNOYED that the NY womans husband did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING?! Shes saving the world, driving the kids around, playing with the kids, picking their boogers (ewww), cooking dinner, feeding them dinner, reading them a bed time story, and then you see dad sitting on the sofa on his phone. Ugh.

Besides that random side rant, I found it very interesting! Will probably watch another episode tonight. They are pretty heavy for me, so its not a binge show lol.

Oh my yes me too! That was my thought as well. What a lazy bum lol. And I agree with you re not being able to binge watch this show. We watched the first 2 episodes and then started watching “Life Itself” as a break. (Not that that is a light movie). Definitely not binging Pandemic.

 

[lyra]

I could not stand the anti-vax woman with the 5 kids. "I'm raising my kids to be the 10% of the world, not the 90%." Then she goes on to tell her oldest daughter that unfortunately she'll have to give up her passion for basketball, because they don't allow non-vaccinated kids to participate. The look on the daughter's face was heartbreaking. She is going to grow up to hate her mother, and will likely just get herself vaccinated as soon as she is able. It's ironic that the mother is saying no one has the right to decide what you do with your body, including doctors, yet she is deciding for her kids and making it clear there is only 1 right answer. /rant

 

[msop04]

I could not stand the anti-vax woman with the 5 kids. "I'm raising my kids to be the 10% of the world, not the 90%." Then she goes on to tell her oldest daughter that unfortunately she'll have to give up her passion for basketball, because they don't allow non-vaccinated kids to participate. The look on the daughter's face was heartbreaking. She is going to grow up to hate her mother, and will likely just get herself vaccinated as soon as she is able. It's ironic that the mother is saying no one has the right to decide what you do with your body, including doctors, yet she is deciding for her kids and making it clear there is only 1 right answer. /rant

This really ticked me off too... she's not raising her kids to be the 10% of anything other than the 10% who will RUIN herd immunity for the rest of us, including putting others at risk for infection... especially the young, old, and immunocompromised. What a whack job.

 

[missy]

I could not stand the anti-vax woman with the 5 kids. "I'm raising my kids to be the 10% of the world, not the 90%." Then she goes on to tell her oldest daughter that unfortunately she'll have to give up her passion for basketball, because they don't allow non-vaccinated kids to participate. The look on the daughter's face was heartbreaking. She is going to grow up to hate her mother, and will likely just get herself vaccinated as soon as she is able. It's ironic that the mother is saying no one has the right to decide what you do with your body, including doctors, yet she is deciding for her kids and making it clear there is only 1 right answer. /rant

This really ticked me off too... she's not raising her kids to be the 10% of anything other than the 10% who will RUIN herd immunity for the rest of us, including putting others at risk for infection... especially the young, old, and immunocompromised. What a whack job.

Yes she aggravated me too. I get that there are special cases and circumstances (@arkieb1 I respect your special circumstance completely) but OMG the rhetoric she spouted made me feel ill. Brainwashing her kids too.

And putting others at great risk. Not to mention bringing back diseases that were long gone.

 

[kenny]

Yes, anti-vaxers (without legit medical reasons) really piss me off.
I see them as selfish, ignorant and doing serious harm to society!

There should be strict federal laws, jail terms, and CPS confiscation of these abused children.
Just because they aren't allowed admission into pubic school doesn't mean these kids can't spread deadly pathogens at your supermarket, movie theater, parks, and playgrounds.

But IMO the series did a fair job of giving them voice, though quickly presenting the science that proves them wrong.

 

[arkieb1]

The thing that pisses me off is that the astounding majority of anti-vaxers have never given their kids any vaccinations, so when they claim their kids can get a wide variety of things from them how would they know. Just about all of the vaccines are safe for the majority of the human population it is only small numbers of people that are actually really allergic to them.

I am allergic to penicillin, apparently lots of people say they are allergic to that too but really are not. I get a rash and go into anaphylaxis, but my son who is allergic to one vaccine isn't allergic to penicillin at all. So the fact the nut job anti vaxers assume all their kids must someone be allergic to these things just simply isn't true all of us are very different.... there is a 1 in a million chance your kid would have a mild to medium reaction to a vaccine and a 1 in several million chance that they would have a severe reaction. That chance is multiplied that every kid in your family would have a reaction so the likelihood of that would be near to impossible.