Wrong prognosis must be treated for what it is

Never before has the World Health Organisation (WHO) been so enthusiastic about combating a disease as it has been with measures to check the H1N1 pandemic. It is no wonder then that some cynics have lately mistaken the organisation for a mouthpiece of pharmaceutical companies.

The WHO is saying, for instance, that about six billion flu shots should be produced to vaccinate the entire global population against swine flu, a task that pharmaceutical companies themselves haven't dared to take up given that they only have time till about November-end before the advent of winter.

If taken after that period, the vaccination will in all likelihood be rendered ineffectual as the virus would have already spread worldwide. Add to that the fact that - even if the vaccines were to be ready - it would be logistically impossible to vaccinate entire populations across the world in such a short period of time.

As we all know, millions of people are living in conflict areas, and still others are crammed in refugee camps. There are millions in the grip of severe famine. How can one reach all these people? Does WHO have the medical personnel to handle the operation in a couple of weeks? Didn't it take several decades to vaccinate children the world over against polio and smallpox; even so, thousands of children have still fallen victim to polio.

It is true that H1N1 becomes more active during winter, but, as we know, winter has already passed in the southern hemisphere with no big problems to report. Add to this the fact that the WHO itself has said that the virus is not as bad as first believed and that those infected stand a good chance of recovery. So why is it still warning that over two billion people might perish if not vaccinated? Couldn't it be all about money?

By a simple calculation, we are talking here about over $50 billion (Dh183.6 billion) - that is if we pay $10 for each shot. The good news for the pharmaceutical companies is that the H1N1 virus is mutating all the time, which means we will need more than one vaccine after all.

Taking into consideration potential side-effects of the vaccines, the danger is two-fold - financial and medical - with the latter clearly of more concern. It is no wonder then that some American doctors said that "the H1N1 vaccination cures the disease, but kills the patient". This is so because the new vaccine will need at least a five-year period to go through the necessary tests. That is why many doctors and nurses the world over refused to be injected with the new vaccine before all safety concerns had been addressed.

Again, over 56 per cent of Americans refused to get their children vaccinated, according to a survey carried out by Michigan University. Most parents were extremely apprehensive of the side-effects, and not without reason.

Health workers admit that the vaccine contains a high percentage of thimerosal, which is very harmful to the nervous system, the heart and kidneys, especially in the case of young children. It is also commonly believed to be the main cause of autism. That is why, in the late nineties, experts in the US and Europe advised that children under six years of age not be administered vaccines containing thimerosal. But the WHO continues to prescribe vaccines containing the compound to Third World children because it is cheap.

The other agent included in the new swine flu vaccine is said to be squaline, which greatly facilitates the functioning of the nerves and the brain. But when this agent is added to the vaccine, it can work adversely, prompting the human body to look upon it as a foreign body. The reaction could even result in the immune system combating internally produced squaline as an adversary, which could trigger brain and nerve malfunctions.

According to medical researchers, the Gulf War Syndrome is said to be caused mainly by vaccines in which squaline was one of the components.

Hasn't a similar vaccine also killed over 25 people in the US in 1976, and cost medical companies over a billion dollars in legal compensation cases? Pharmaceutical companies might be encouraged to go ahead with this vaccine this time simply because they are legally immune. It is no longer possible to sue them, especially when they require from the countries buying their vaccine to write an undertaking stating in it that the manufacturers bear no responsibility for the side-effects that the vaccine might cause. This fact was revealed officially by the Egyptian minister of health.

All this makes one wonder why the WHO is excessively focusing on H1N1 while neglecting other more urgent problems afflicting the world. Over a billion people are suffering from hunger the world over. Every five seconds, a child under ten years of age dies of hunger. Don't these people deserve to be helped?

What about the millions of people who suffer from tuberculosis, Aids, malaria and other deadly diseases? Why then is the WHO so eager to vaccinate billions of people in a matter of weeks against a virus that is constantly evolving, and why is the enthusiasm lacking for, say, producing more vaccines for malaria?

Millions of people the world over are smelling a rat. Is the WHO hiding skeletons in the cupboard?

Dr Faisal Al Qasim is a Syrian journalist based in Doha. He is also a television presenter and producer of the Opposite Direction programme on the Al Jazeera channel.