Here's a recent tabloid headline: "Thousands to Die After Swine Flu Vaccination!" We know that these tabloids have sharp lawyers to keep them out of trouble. So how do they get away with making these outrageous claims? The same way that people deceive and mislead without technically lying. John Allen Paulos explains below the swine flu ruse, and has plenty more in this article from ABC News.
The claims in this story are entirely true, but shouldn't be surprising or alarming. Annually there are approximately 1 million heart attacks and 1 million miscarriages in this country. Let's assume there will be 100 million or more people inoculated against the H1N1 flu over a six-month period.
Then, since there are almost 3,000 heart attacks and 3,000 miscarriages daily and there will be at least 200 times that many flu shots daily, it is a certainty that there will be very many people who will have a heart attack or miscarriage shortly after receiving the shot.
How many and how soon depends on further assumptions, but nobody should attribute the medical crises to the shots unless there's real evidence.
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