Speak Out: Good for horses & humans
September 12, 2012 8:12PM
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Updated: October 14, 2012 1:37PM
Good for horses & humans: Someone answer this question for me. For many years, we’ve been vaccinating our horses for West Nile disease every year or twice a year in the South, but they’ve never come up with a West Nile vaccination for humans. I’d like to know how this is possible with all the publicity about deaths from West Nile. We are vaccinating our horses, so what’s wrong with having a vaccine for humans?
Editor’s note: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says: “This vaccine has not been studied in humans and could be harmful. The effectiveness of this vaccine in preventing West Nile virus infections in horses has yet to be fully evaluated, and its effectiveness in humans is completely unknown. Veterinary vaccines are not manufactured with the same rigorous quality and purity standards required of human vaccines, nor are they required to undergo the extensive field testing required of human vaccines before they are licensed. For these reasons, veterinary vaccines and other veterinary drugs should never be used in humans.”
Ghastly gas prices: I just got back from visiting friends in Iowa where I really got an idea of how horrible our gas prices are here. I filled up at a Shell station in Davenport for $3.65 a gallon. There were off-brands selling for $3.59 a gallon. As soon as I crossed the border into Illinois, the same brand of gas was $3.95 a gallon. When I got home, it was $4.19 a gallon. We’re really being played for suckers around here, but what choice do we have?
