H1N1/Swine Flu Vax - September '09 - Page 17

[anewmama]

Originally Posted by cadejaxellamom

money, money, money......money!!! My 5 year old, with asthma, just got over the swine flu and, gasp, is still alive! He had a fever for not quite 3 days and the worst part was that he had a headache. It was litterally a bad cold. But his ped still thinks he should get the vaccine (the H1N1) "because there are other strains out there that he can still be protected from"....is that even true? Not that the vaccine will EVER come anywhere near any of my children....EVER!

Was swine flu confirmed by a blood test? Just curious as I think this somewhat discredits the real threat that swine flu does pose to people with compromised immune systems. Not to say it supports a vaccine but if I had a child with underlying conditions, I would be very concerned right now. There are reports of children dying within 48 hours of becoming ill. That's pretty scary.

[Carley]

There was an excellent segment on The Conversation yesterday that addressed vaccine ingredients (thimerisol), why there is a H1N1 vaccine in addition to the seasonal flu vaccine, the Canadian study that's been posted several times on this thread & answers to several callers questions.

"To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate?
Six in ten people surveyed say they don't plan to get their kids vaccinated for H1N1 swine flu. Do you? What will that mean to the public health effort? We speak with the chief of communicable disease control for King County."

The Conversation on the Swine Flu vaccine begins at 15:00 http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=18507

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by anewmama

Was swine flu confirmed by a blood test? Just curious as I think this somewhat discredits the real threat that swine flu does pose to people with compromised immune systems. Not to say it supports a vaccine but if I had a child with underlying conditions, I would be very concerned right now. There are reports of children dying within 48 hours of becoming ill. That's pretty scary.

That _is_ scary, but I'm not sure it's significantly different from seasonal flu. Some kids _do_ die every year from influenza, pregnant women too. Pregnant women are a vulnerable population. Which is a big frustration to me that CDC doesn't seem to be looking at much beyond vaccination and hand-washing, and both are more about preventing flu than reducing the severity of flu, to move more people from the severe/life-threatening/death category to the sick-but-recover-fine category.

I haven't seen anything from CDC that quantifies how much harder this flu is hitting pregnant women and kids than past seasonal influenzas. Maybe it really is more severe, but the things I've read from CDC are saying that instead of old people being worst-hit by H1N1 influenza, they're saying old folks are less susceptible, and the _most_ susceptible are pregnant women and kids. But there's always got to be some group that's _most_ susceptible.

[ema-adama]

Originally Posted by Carley

There was an excellent segment on The Conversation yesterday that addressed vaccine ingredients (thimerisol), why there is a H1N1 vaccine in addition to the seasonal flu vaccine, the Canadian study that's been posted several times on this thread & answers to several callers questions.

"To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate?
Six in ten people surveyed say they don't plan to get their kids vaccinated for H1N1 swine flu. Do you? What will that mean to the public health effort? We speak with the chief of communicable disease control for King County."

The Conversation on the Swine Flu vaccine begins at 15:00 http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=18507

I actually took the time to listen to part of this, and was quite interested to hear the answer to the question: What will that mean to the public health effort?
Dr. Jeff Duchin doesn't answer the question. He just talks about the goal to make the vaccine available to as many people as possible. And all the venues where at risk populations can go to get the vaccine. He does emphasise that it is an individual choice, not a matter of forcing vaccines.

Nothing new is really said.

[cadejaxellamom]

Originally Posted by anewmama

Was swine flu confirmed by a blood test? Just curious as I think this somewhat discredits the real threat that swine flu does pose to people with compromised immune systems. Not to say it supports a vaccine but if I had a child with underlying conditions, I would be very concerned right now. There are reports of children dying within 48 hours of becoming ill. That's pretty scary.

It wasn't actually a blood test, but the swab up his nose, not sure how accurate that is or not; I know not nearly as accurate as a blood test though. And I'm not discounting the fact that it is very dangerous to those with compromised immune systems. I work in a hospital and have been taking chest x-rays of a 17 year old extremely obese girl with down syndrome, for over a week now. Same with a 13 year old girl with cerebral palsy, and a 25 year old 31 week pregnant women...all on ventilators and not doing well (all with the swine flu). I know it can be dangerous and if I had a child with any extreme medical condition I would be a wreck right now. I am just extremely fortunate that all 3 of my kids are very healthy (we live a very healthy lifestyle and take lots of supplements) and I think could handle most viruses quite well. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply to anyone that this is something everyone should take lightly.

[amnesiac]

I just opened a fresh thread for October so this one is now closed.