I just got my son vaccinated for H1N1 (swine) flu

Parent Cafe
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<p>I found out yesterday that our pediatrician had H1N1 vaccine available, and took my 15 year old son in to receive it. It was the nasal spray vaccine (Flumist). No side effects thus far. I’d already gotten him the seasonal flu vaccine and my two older kids had their seasonal flu shots before they left for college. I will encourage them to get the H1N1 vaccine as soon as their colleges have it available. I know a lot of people have concerns about the vaccine, and just wanted to share my reasons for having my kids vaccinated:
I also recommend this article from the New York Times that seemed to address some of the concerns I’ve heard about the vaccine:<br>
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/health/10primer.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/health/10primer.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Myth 1: This flu is no worse than seasonal flu – that kills 36,000/year – and this flu has killed far fewer. The concerns are overblown.</p>

<p>Reality: Although most people who develop this flu do fine, the difference is in who it is affecting and who are developing serious complications/deaths. Most of those who die from seasonal flu are the elderly – think 80 or 90 year olds in nursing homes who develop flu/pneumonia and die. While this is sad, it is not so tragic as the significantly younger people who become very ill and even die from H1N1 flu. Because this is a novel flu, most younger people have no antibodies to it (those of us born before 1957 seem to have some immunity). We have already had almost as many deaths in children from H1N1 flu this year (with the "traditional flu season just beginning) as we’ve had the entire flu season during the previous several years. 20-30% of the pediatric deaths were in kids without underlying medical conditions. </p>

<p>In addition pregnant women and those with significant obesity (which is pretty common these days) appear to be at even greater risk. Other common conditions, including asthma and diabetes, also increase risk. If you add these up, there are an awful lot of people in the US who could be considered to have “underlying medical conditions.”</p>

<p>Myth 2: The flu vaccine was rushed to market and is untested. </p>

<p>Reality: This vaccine is manufactured the same way as seasonal flu vaccines – just using a different strain of the virus. Indeed, it is my understanding that they do not do specific clinical trials on the new flu strains each year, since the manufacturing process is the same (see the NY Times link, above). The reasons for testing this novel strain was to determine appropriate dosing. While it is true that rare side effects wouldn’t show up during the testing phase, there is no reason to believe that there will be any more or different adverse effects than are seen with the seasonal flu vaccine.</p>

<p>Myth 3: The vaccine has toxic adjuvants that will cause autoimmune disease</p>

<p>Reality: In the US, none of the vaccines are using adjuvants (which boost the immunologic response to the vaccine). Although thimerosal (a preservative) is in the multidose vials, the nasal spray version does not contain thimerosal, and there will also be single dose vials available of the shot version that don’t contain thimerosal as well.</p>

<p>Anyway, just wanted to share my thinking on this – I’ll let you know if my son develops any problems from the vaccine (keeping in mind we are dealing with an n of 1)</p>

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<p>Congratulations! You’re the first person I’ve heard that has been able to get the vaccine. Where are you located? </p>

<p>Here, in our county, I believe the vaccines will be given in the schools.</p>

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<p>Please do keep us posted on whether he develops any side effects of the vaccine. I also have a 15 yr old who I am on the fence about getting vaccinated. My instinct tells me to wait a bit but I am worried that he get severely ill. Will he need a second vaccination (I had heard that it may take 2 shots to acheive immunity)?</p>

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<p>Great news! My D’s school postponed vaccinations - no vaccine available, not even the seasonal one. I’m trying to encourage her to keep on looking (CVS, etc.) for a seasonal flu shot. She might have had the swine flu, but she doesn’t know for sure since they do not test.</p>

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<p>Do you happen to know how long you have to wait between being getting the “regular” flu vaccine – which my kids got two weeks ago – and the H1N1 vaccine? I was concerned when the student health services at their colleges didn’t have flu vaccine when school started and sent them off to local pharmacies that offered flu shot clinics.</p>

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<p>I really just hope they keep it optional. People should have a choice, like all vaccines. No matter what the reason for their decision, they are entitled to it. </p>

<p>I have to ask, did your son have any obligation to the vaccine?</p>

<p>I personally would never take a vaccine, I dont have any now. MY kids would not have them either. If it was ever forced, I would leave to some place it was not. I firmly believe that vaccines are a means to some end for somebody else. I personally think the H1N1 vaccine has a lot to do with eugenics and population control.</p>

<p>This speaks enough for me, they are just taking another shot at it.<br>
<a href=“http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x9mh9f[/url]”>http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x9mh9f&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Then I am curious as to why there is concern among physicians about this vaccine. This has been my objection to it. Our doctor’s office is not going to offer it - I didn’t ask why because I was not interested in my kids getting it. I think I will ask why they are not offering it when S goes in for the regular flu shot.</p>

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<p>We are in Montgomery County MD. I just happened to stop in the pediatrician’s office to pick up a form and asked when they would have the vaccine available. They said “now” (they had just gotten it in) and made an appt for me to bring my son in the next day. </p>

<p>Children over 10 apparently only need one dose of the vaccine (whether nasal spray or shot). Those under 10 will need two. This is similar to recommendation for seasonal flu vaccine.</p>

<p>Apparently you can get two shots (seasonal flu and H1N1) at the same time with no problem, or nasal spray for one and shot for the other with no waiting period. That’s why my son could get his seasonal flu shot 2 weeks ago and swine flu nasal spray yesterday. However–if you get the nasal spray for either seasonal or H1N1 flu they recommend that you wait 4 weeks to get the nasal spray for the other type of flu. It is apparently an issue of efficacy rather than safety. Also, the nasal spray vaccine can’t be given to kids under 2, pregnant women, or those with underlying conditions, like asthma.</p>

<p>To answer two other questions – no, it was not mandated–purely voluntary. There is no plan to mandate flu vaccination for the general population that I’m aware of. There are some places that mandate vaccination for those who work in health care settings.</p>

<p>Kitty – I can’t tell you why your doctor is not offering the vaccine. I can tell you that my husband and I are both physicians, and we’re getting our kids vaccinated. But this is obviously an individual decision that each person and their health care provider need to discuss.</p>

<p>One other thing – In my previous post I said he got “FluMist.” I think that is the brand name for the seasonal nasal spray and they are calling this one H1N1 LAIV (for Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine). Both are made by the same manufacturer – I just don’t want to confuse anyone</p>

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<p>My S will be getting the vacine when it is available by innoculation. My husband has a chronic lung disease and we were advised that no member of the family should get the mist. In fact, we were told that if his iv nurse gets the mist, he should not be seen by her for at least 7 days. H and I have already gotten our seasonal flu shot and I am trying to find a time to get S in to get his.</p>

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<p>Well, my daughter probably would have gotten the Swine Flu vaccine and would undoubtedly opted for the FluMist version (needle phobic - and always gets the FluMist version of the seasonal flu vaccine.) Instead, she has Swine Flu. Yucky stuff, guys!</p>

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<p>Yeah, honestly our family was hit hard by sickness this week and my guess is it probably is H1N1 - terrible cough, fever, fatigue…my only hope is that once we all get past this, hopefully we’ll be immune…</p>

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<p>Sounds right - my daughter had the fever (103), FATIGUE (in all caps because I think she slept 16-18 hours at first), and the cough - throw in nausea and dizziness. Started out at the college health center and told to go to the ER because of the high fever. I repeat - yucky stuff!</p>

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<p>Is it common for people under 30 to get the regular flu. In all my years, Ive never had nor have had any of my friends or family members ever have it. I really don’t see a need for anybody in that age range to get the flu vaccine, seems not worth it.</p>

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<p>All three of my kids (11, 14, and 17) will get the seasonal flu shot and the H1n1 vaccine in early November. Their schools are offering clinics. I have a hard time understanding why anyone would not get vaccinated. The consequences of my senior son getting swine flu would be quite serious - he’s barely keeping up as it is. I think people have grown complacent since there hasn’t been an outbreak in so many years.</p>

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<p>They aren’t natural, have a bad track record and the consequences outweigh the benefits.</p>

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<p>back in '76, a rush to market brought us chronic Guillaume-Barre (sp?) syndrome…the feds track record with rush jobs ain’t very good, IMO.</p>

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<p>member–right. Getting polio, smallpox, and lockjaw are “natural.” I don’t suppose you have any of those innoculations either?</p>

<p>bluebayou–Guillaume-Barre syndrome was from a totally different type of vaccine. There have been no problems with the seasonal flu vaccine.</p>

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<p>I’m fairly middle of the road on this kind of stuff. My husband (in law enforcement) gets a seasonal flu shot every year. He’ll probably get the H1N1 as well this year. I (working in the public school system) have never gotten a flu shot and will probably not get any this year (neither seasonal nor H1N1). As far as I can recall, I’ve never had any type of flu in my adult life.</p>

<p>Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but I sort of figure, why start with the shots now. I’m generally a pretty healthy person, so if I do get any type of flu, I’m hopeful (very hopeful I guess) that I’ll get over it and be fine.</p>

<p>My 2 college age kids? I think I’ll leave the decision more to them. See what each of their schools is offering and how they feel about it. I have no objection to them getting it. I’m also not totally sure it’s necessary. I don’t think either one of them has ever had any type of flu either (maybe all that breastfeeding really did do some good, huh?)</p>

<p>I do think some of the hype about the swine flu is just that - hype. Yes, I know that some people have died from complications, even some people without underlying conditions. I still think that is very unusual though.</p>

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well yes, they are natural. </p>

<p>Id much rather people get smallpox or polio rather than being sterilized, dumbed down and possibly even enslaved in the long run.</p>

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<p>My son was sick from Tuesday afternoon til Friday with fever, sore throat, headache, fatigue, muscle aches. I talked to his peds office on Tuesday and they said rest and hydration, no need to test for H1N1. He was okay on Saturday, will be back in h.s. on Monday. A knowledgable member of the staff from his h.s. told me (Saturday afternoon) that there was a very good chance it had been H1N1, that if one was a sick teenager in our area now, that is the virus that is making the rounds. Hmmm! Maybe we had it in the house and didn’t know it. Husband and I have not caught whatever it was. I had planned to get him the shot when our pediatrician had it on hand, so I’ll share the “might have already had H1N1” theory with him.</p>