I would like to disagree with Dee-Ann Schwanke’s commentary on how the Internet has only unreliable sources of information regarding the H1N1 vaccine. Apparently she has not gone on the Internet to research information herself so that she could discover that there is a wide variety of reliable sources of information.
For instance, she accuses education university students of refusing the vaccine due to information found from unreliable sources like blogs and emails. Has she never looked to see that there are plenty of articles from reliable sources like newspaper and medical texts on the Internet? I think she should take a look at the articles found from newspapers regarding the huge amount of side effects related to the vaccine.
She accuses these students of disregarding research studies in favour of the vaccine, while she does the exact same thing for research for not being in favour of the vaccine. I am tired of no one stepping up and saying there are side effects from vaccines like the H1N1 because there are for many people. I speak from personal experience, as I have violent reactions to vaccines and I have every right to refuse it. I also have reliable source information to back up my decision. When anyone asks me if I have had it and I say no, I often get a very negative response. I am often treated like I’m a dangerous person and bad parent because I have refused the vaccine for my family.
Popular opinion has been shaped in a negative way due to articles like Schwanke's, who should be considered just as much of an unreliable source of sensational information as the Internet.
Trina Boyd, St. Albert
