maybe this will get you all to speak up!
do we get the h1n1 vaccine??
or not??
i'm so confused!
everyone i talk to...everything i read...says the exact opposite of the person/site i listened to/read before!
"you absolutely SHOULD..."
"you absolutely shouldn't..."
some say it's not FDA approved and they have little to no liability in it's safety...so it's not safe.
others say it's being produced the exact same way the normal flu shot is so it's fine.
i know the actual swine flu isn't as bad as people like to hype it up to be.
they say, "it's just the flu."
but...do you remember when we had the flu...twice...the winter i was pregnant with sawyer??
no, it was not life-threatening for us.
but i literally wanted to DIE.
i've never been so sick in my life.
and i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
and we've gotten flu shots ever since.
i want to do anything i can to try to prevent us getting it...wash hands, eat healthy, get rest and get the flu shot!
rebekah and joshua's school system just announced that they will be giving the vaccine IN SCHOOL.
do they get it or not?!?
i certainly don't want to do more harm than good...
oh, and can they get both? the normal flu shot and the h1n1 vaccine??
do they have to get them a certain amount of time apart?
ok.
have at it.
what are your opinions??
{sorry! still no pictures! i'm too busy thinking and filling out paperwork and doing homework and looking at cute faces and eating...i can't stop eating!}
20 comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1z7KSEnyxw
i watched this video earlier today....hmmmm. the fact that an expert on infectious diseases wouldn't give it to his kids makes me wonder, ya know?
i'm asking 3 of my doc friends today- will let you know. one's an ER doc and married to a family practice doc. and the other is a pediatrician at children's.
and come to think of it, i'll email 2 more family practice docs and see what they say. one is more por-medication and the other is more holistic. i'll get both opinions.
so, i'll give you 5 responses. tomorrow. i'm speaking on a marriage panel tonight so really i'm trying to pull off a shower AND a blow-dry this afternoon. right now i'm only so far as coffee :)
LOL. I think you're going to find that the people who answer are going to be about as opposite as all of the articles you read. :-)
That said, we'll probably get it. We already got our flu shots. When I asked about it's safety Damien mentioned the same thing you read about how it's produced exactly like the seasonal flu shot so it's not like it's not new technology. We all get the flu shot every year (including both times I was pregnant) and we have never had a problem. Of course, that's just anecdotal.
I did hear a interview on NPR from three different infectious disease guys (director of the center of infections disease research, etc.) and they were very supportive of it. One said he couldn't wait for is 26week pregnant daughter to get it. You can listen to the interview here: http://wamu.org/programs/dr/
Like you said, you're family probably isn't at risk for serious health issues (like death) but it would sure make you feel like you'd want to die. (the people I know who have had it felt that way.) I guess you have to decide if whatever "risk" there is to getting the shot is more important than how miserable you would be if you got it.
I'm so glad you wrote about this because I have been wondering the same things. It seems like a lot of the negative things I heard were a while ago and now most doctors are saying it is safe and a definite must for kids. Still... I don't think I can give it to Jacob unless I'm willing to get it myself and I'm still not 100% sure!
Honestly, I am not really a fan of the flu shot. My kids have never gotten the shot and have never gotten the flu. I believe if you have at risk children with medical issues that put them in that category you should do it. Otherwise I think commen sense and good hygiene is fine. I believe that the shot is safe but should go to the most needy people first.(young sick children and at risk adults) Just my humble opinion. :)
Eeek. Right there with you, pretty confused. I don't trust the FDA anyway! I actually do believe if it was offered at school, I would let my kids get it. Even though we didn't get regular flu shots.
I know someone whose niece just died yesterday from complications of swine flu at 17 years old. So sad....
I know people die from the flu all the time though...
It is difficult to decide what to do!
i have one unequivocal GET THE SHOTS (2 for h1n1).
she's a ped/ family practive doc. getting the shot. making her family nieces/ nephews get it. and convinced it is the same flu shot as always. made the same way.
so, there's one.
okay, me to shower...
oh, and she said,
cdc.gov
p.s. i don't usually trust the FDA, either. so, i don't buy the FDA opinion. not even close :)
but i do usually survey a bunch of doc friends, ask for explanations, and work from there. i have a child with injury from an FDA approved drug that is allowed, but Hopkins specifically warns against. I don't trust the FDA. too many things making their decisions.
Just went to the pediatrician yesterday. She is recommending that we get both the regular flu shot AND the h1n1. And she said we could get them at the same time.
one more in- ER doc says lethality of h1n1 seems to be getting sensationalized. 500K people die every year globally from flu, and this one doesn't seem more likely to kill us, but more likely to affect us because we don't have previous immunity to it. this flu is different.
the danger is that if we get it, and get knocked off our feet, we can endanger those who are more frail, and we need to be very careful of that.
okay, off to speak on marriage.
and put the proverbs 31:1-10 back into proverbs31 :)
We never get the flu shot. And we're not getting h1n1 either. Don't know if that helps. :)
i was in the same situation you are. we haven't gotten it yet but after talking to lots of people (most experts in the health care fields and dr.s and my dr and our pediatrician etc.), we are all 5 going to get the h1n1 vaccine and the regular flu shot. they wanted my girls to participate in a study for h1n1 (because they were various ages) and after they got the vaccine the girls were going to have to get their blood taken 5 TIMES!!!! over the next 6 weeks. i gave a big NO to that one! (do they really think that i want to take three girls to the dr.s office to have their blood drawn and sit in the waiting room while they are always running late - no thank you!!) anyway, we all are going to get it. partly for us but also for the people that we are around that could be in a high risk category if we were to give it to them. the thing that i find interesting is that they always say how someone who comes down with h1n1 is now at home or quarintined or something. but by the time they find out that they have h1n1, they have already exposed tons of people. anyway, i am rambling. good luck sorting through everything to figure it out. :)
We got the reg. flu shot, but as of right now we are not getting the H1N1 vaccine. McKenna is even in a high risk category, but she's not going to get it. Christian got the regular flu mist and I won't do that again either. He's getting the reg. shot next time. He got sick for over a month from Flu Mist and his doctor even said that's what it was from. And I have another friend who's son had a reaction to the Flu Mist.
my kids have gotten the flu shot every since they've been born, and none of us have ever had the flu. so they'll all be getting it again, and this year david and i are both going to get vaccinated too. it's just too risky this year. i am planning on doing the h1n1 vaccine too - have to ask the pediatrician on friday when we go for caleb's appointment as far as when they can do it.
okay, i'm 5 for 5. all five doc friends--in FL, CA, chicago, and MKE all said they highly recommend the shot. even my anti-flu shot doctor friend who barely medicates unless terribly necessary. she runs a peds clinic and has been terribly saddened to see the babies and kids coming so sick.
my doc friend from peds at a children's hospital said she is mostly concerned about healthy people getting sick and passing the illness onto people with asthma and low-immune babies. that's where she sees the deaths.
and my other family practice doc who's married to the ER doc is also emphatic that we must get them. all 3 are highly recommending getting BOTH shots, and 2 shots of h1n1 spread 3-4 weeks apart.
Cali doc says their kids get free shots from their ped docs, and they shouldn't cost more that $17/ kid. wasn't sure if that was true in other states.
okay, that's all i got. i'm glad you started the conversation because i had been meaning to ask my friends about it.
shalom-
Hi (this is Katy's friend) I had Morgan's 18 month appointment last week... the verdict: Regular flu shots for all three which they have gotten each year. Paige (pediatrician) said that if they would have started earlier the other would have been incorporated into the regular vaccine and not an issue. However she also said that by the time it is available to the masses you probably will have already been exposed to it in some form. So we are not getting the optional one. Our children's school is working with the public health office to see about offering it, but of course will have to have parental consent.
We have a personal relationship with two peds and the only reason they are getting the vaccine is it is required for their jobs. They are not giving it to their own children although they both think it is safe. I am sure you have heard there is a preservative free as well as preservative included option.
We will just have to be careful about hand washing.
On a funny note, a church in our area has suspended the "hand shake greeting" portion of their service so as not to spead germs. Next we will probably see hand sanitizer stations upon entry to the sanctuary.
All the docs I've surveyed highly recommend the H1N1 shot for our family... because of Ryan.(and I talk to a lot of docs!) BUT, that being said, the problem with H1N1 (from what I gather from CSPAN) is that it affects HEALTHY young people - kids through young adults - instead of the typical compromised and elderly. It comes on fast and attacks the respiratory system. So, as a family who has never had the flu, I am contemplating getting the H1N1 shot for all of us. I think the biggest thing to do is memorize the list of symptoms - this flu has a rapid rising temperature and can have vomiting in addition to other flu-like symptoms.
Ugh! I hate vaccinations. Thanks for bringing this up. I found Beckley's comments echoed my doctors' survey... at least they're being consistent. :)
Oh- and one comment about the (regular) flu mist - it is a live, active virus. I highly recommend the shot form (inactive virus)- and you can ask your doctor for it without thermasol. It seems the active viruses are the ones that get the kids...
Wow, was that too much info?
Thanks for bringing this up Courtney. I feel much better informed thanks to everyone's comments and the information shared.
Great job, Courtney. I really appreciated all the comments and it was very informative. Richard and I have gotten the regular flu shot and will get the H1N1 when it is available.
We aren't doing the H1N1 for the same reasons the Wiedmaiers mentioned. It takes about a week for the antibodies to build up after you get the shot. And based on the CDCs prediction for when that flu peaks (this or next week I think), you will probably already been exposed. We do regular flu shots, but never flu mist since it's a live virus. Yay! My first comment! LOL
Post a Comment