"I wacthed and listened to the whole clip and was a bit uncertain what the take home message was meant to be. Is he in favour of mass vaccination or not?"

Thunderf00t is definitely in favor of mass vaccination. Ron Paul is not. The comparison Thunderf00t is making with the movie footage from The Deerhunter is just a way of illustrating that just because last time a mutated swine flu came through it did less harm than the vaccine did (late 1970's), that does not mean that this (or next) time we'll dodge that bullet.

"Here in Australia, the government has rolled out the vaccine - people likely to be most susceptible are to be offered it first - health workers, police etc. Unlike the normal flu vaccine, which is generally given to the elderly, this virus seems to target young fit people. Herring - you have the virus already. If you had not contracted it and had the option of having a vaccine to prevent it, would you have done?"

It's a good question. As with so many things, I am of two minds about it. On the one hand, I generally prefer to let my body develop antibodies to whatever is going around--the natural way. On the other hand, being a vector to spread the disease to others bothers me more than actually having it myself. So I guess I lean toward the shot for those who haven't had it already.

My symptoms are mild (so far) compared with what I saw others in the family go through last week. I'm keeping myself confined to the house for a couple of days at least. At some point I suppose I'll have to decide whether I'm going to get the "regular" flu shot in an attempt to avoid the next round. I doubt I'll go through with it. I never have before . . .

Herring405