The theory about the vaccine would account for the missing limbs and
perhaps Locke's paralysis. It's in the thread "RX-1 I know what it is":

http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?t=39773


Locke and Walt's mother may have been unknowing guinea pigs for the anti aging serum OR the vaccine, and they eventually got ill from it because it mutated. They may have been injected years before. After becoming ill from it, Locke became paralyzed and Walt's mother died.

Maybe at St. Sebastian's hospital where Jack worked. That just dawned on me. And St. Sebastian in history is associated with the real Plague! And I swear Ana Lucia was on one of the gurneys there in the hospital! I saw a screencap that looked just like her. We know she was in a hospital after she was shot.

Shannon's dad was at that hospital where he died from an accident, wasn't he? Michael was in a hospital after his accident. Maybe the hospital is the nexus.

Maybe the people on the island have all been injected with either the anti aging serum or the vaccine before they got on the plane.

That's why the Others want to stay apart from the Lostaways. And why it's quarantined! They know they may become ill either from the mutated anti aging serum or a failed vaccine. They may have all been guinea pigs. I doubt Hanso would adhere to informed consent guidelines!

Walts mom was living in Australia, not in L.A. Michael got hurt in NY. I dont think you could place those two at St. Sebastians due to the locations

I said they may have been given the serum years before. Walt's mother lived in the states and only moved to Australia a few years before she died. The aging-serum may have mutated while she was in Australia.

St. Sebastians may have been the location for the Phase I trial. Maybe there was a Phase II trial elsewhere. Or multiple Phase I trials in different locations. That happens often in real life.

They may have been guinea pigs to see immediate reaction to the serum. Hanso may not have cared to continue giving them the serum throughout their lives. Like a Phase I trial, just for safety.

Maybe the "good people" are people on the list for the vaccine. And the Lostaways who are not GOOD, have been used as guinea pigs off the island and may become ill.

Claire was not on the list. But Ethan wanted her baby to be on the list because he's innocent so he gave the baby the vaccine.

Hanso may have rationalized that these people have done awful things, so they deserved to be guinea pigs. The good people on the list may be uninfected. They may have been chosen to get the anti-aging serum or the vaccine.

To clarify:

A part of the genome that caused the 1917 flu pandemic is similar to, or the same, as a part of the genome in the bird flu virus. So this area of the genome may be stable and won't mutate easily. If a vaccine target this area, it will work even if the virus mutates. That's the vaccine they're trying to make for bird flu, one that will work even if the bird flu mutates. They're working on a vaccine NOW, even tho it has not mutated yet to infect humans. They still expect the vaccine to work, even tho they don't know what the mutation will be.

Claire's vaccine may be similar. It may work for Aaron, even if the serum mutates.

They may be vaccinating the kids, so when they get older, they'll have long term immunity to the anti-aging serum. They may not know for sure that the current anti-aging serum is not mutagenic.

Or, maybe the kids are getting anti-aging serum now just to see how it will affect them as they mature.

wow i like this. you deff put some thought into, guess we gona have to wait and see if thats it.

This dawned on me last night. I was thinking about Claire's father and Thomas, and how I think they are involved with Dharma and set in motion events to get her to the island (pregnancy, adoptive parents: the female sure looks like Desmond's girlfriend in his photo).

Now I think that Jack's father and Sun's father may be involved, too. I think Jack's father is alive and on the island. There was no body in the coffin, right? Jack saw his dad in the forest wearing white shoes, like the surgeons were wearing in the hospital scene in the medical hatch. I think Jack's father was one of the doctors there.

I think Jack's father arranged to have Jack be on that plane so he could come to the island. So he 'died'.

Sun's father arranged for them to be on the plane by sending them on a strange trip re: a watch. The reason for their trip never made sense to me.

I think Claire, Sun, Jin and Jack are on the good list. Michael, too. Others with criminal backgrounds or those who did bad things in their lives are on the bad list and were guinea pigs for the clinical trial(s) of the early RX-1 serum, one that may have mutated and developed the ability to cause sickness at some point down the line. I think clinical trials ocurred in several different places.

Jack, Sun, or Claire may have been unwitting guineas pigs too, but maybe it was a later trial with a more stable serum.

I also think that Desmond's trip around the world was to make contact with those unwittingly involved with the trials. He gave Jack something to drink and I always wondered if something strange was in it. Remember his patient, later his wife, smelled something very strong on Jack, even though he'd showered. Maybe something he drank?

Desmond says they need to press the button to save the world. It may cloak the island from a satellite which travels around the earth every 108 minutes. It enables Dharma to conduct their experiments in secret. They can't tell the world that they mistakenly created a new pathogen. They're working in secret to stop it from causing a pandemic, and to continue their unethical experiments.

I can't figure out who is infected and who is not, who is getting or has gotten the vaccine. But I think the 'end of the world' refers to a potential pandemic. And I think the Losties were brought to the island because of Dharma's experiments with anti-aging serum and how their experiments got away from them and caused sickness.

Locke may have become paralyzed after being involved in a secret clinical trial. He may have been injected with it while he was in the hospital to give up his kidney.

Perhaps Hurley was injected while he was in the mental hospital.

I forgot the significant statement by Ethan: We are Family

It may be literally true!

You know, that makes a lot of sense.

i dig all those theories....it's great that a show can make you rack your brain so much to figure out what's going on.

BUT...everybody's got a big but...

i think all the connections are misleading and will pan out to be complete and utter coincidences. the tagline they use "everything happens for a reason" is misleading as well. i think there's so much going on (and some of it will relate) that there's no way they can tie it all together. i personally think nothing happens "for a reason" but i know a lot of people do so they play that up to draw you deeper into the story and the connections.

i think it's just a way to keep your head spinning, and mine is spinning from watching the show and reading what everyone has to say about it. all good stuff tho, so keep it up.

JR

I have been thinking along these lines for a while. I have had many a conversation with my girlfriend about the possiblity of all of the people on the island being brought their by someone involved with Dharma.

Jack's mom told him he didn't get say he can't. He HAD to go to Australia to find his father. How did she know where he was anyway?

Jin and Sun, remember were characters created for the actors, so there background story might not be as solid as others, but Jin is sent to LA to deliver a watch, which seems a bit overkill to me. The watch could have been sent via FedEx or something. I think they just needed a reason to give Jin so he wouldn't question anything. I do think Sun's Father is involved somehow.

Charlie's brother, moves to Australia to rehab, thus leaving Charlie in a downward spiral, getting more and more out of control with drugs. Charlie comes to Australia to get his brother for a comeback concert, and HAS to go to LA for the show.

I can't think of much more right now, because my brain is fried from too much Fuselage reading. If I can come up with more I will. If anyone else sees any validity in this please feel free to post your thoughts.

i didn't reallly buy Sun's father being involved but after seeing a/the island on the flat screens in his office combined with the map of the island via danielle (all compiled from an earlier post) i'm starting to think he's got something to do with it.

but then again, there's a lot of red herring's out there. i think the people who make it like it that way.

JR

Rebooper - a good point about Jack, Sun, and Claire. Ethan never made the list so our beloved group of Losties contains "both" kinds of people.

After Claire drank the canteen and said it tasted funny, I also thought of Jack going to see Sarah after his run. Maybe Desmond did slip something to him. This would certainly show that "everything happens for a reason" because our castaways were herded to the island for some purpose (yet unknown).

My opinion at the moment is that after the final episode has been aired, you'll be able to look back and see that some of ' Lost ' doesn't make any sense at all.

There could be reasons for a few of the Losties being on the plane but then you cannot use the same reason to explain why other people are on the plane.
Hurley seems to have been brought to the island as the numbers have played a big part in his life but is it coincidence ?
Jack and Desmond met each other a few years before the island but is that coincidence or fate ?
Why is Kate there ?
Ana Lucia - we've seen very little of her pre-island life compared to some of the others.
Mr Eko - why is he there ?
The plane carrying Mr Eko's brother - why did that crash on the island ? Brought there by some means or just coincidence ?
Sayid was on that plane because he chose to be..he could have taken an earlier flight. Surely that's fate ?

Destiny, fate and coincidence can look pretty similar unless you know how it ends.

I'm pretty sure that when this is all over, not much of it will make sense as the show seems to have changed direction too many times and some of the actors will become disillusioned with the way their characters are developing.

I wouldnt say i am losing faith in lost, i just think that the writers will not be able to end the show nearly as good as we have all imagined the ending to be. I think with lost, they have created something too big, bigger than themselves, and no ending will do justice to us hardcore fans.