"The vaccine analyzed was the inactive vaccine, in years when the antigen match was very poor"
THAT is my problem with that article. I understand completely that it is an inherent risk of the flu vaccine every year that the match is a pure shot in the dark. But within a few weeks, we'll know from the reports that start circulating whether this year's vaccine is a good match or not. I want to see research done when the match is a GOOD one.
Here's my thing...I don't like the ingredients in the flu vax, I don't like that it has to be repeated every year, I don't like the number of reports of it causing flu-like symptoms despite my research that has told me that should be an impossibility. In fact, I think it's more likely that people are picking up a little bug at the dr's office when receiving the vaccine, not that they're actually getting the flu FROM the vaccine, but I can't prove that, and I can't overlook contracting mild flu as a possible side effect of the shot. I'm very concerned by some sources suggesting that repeated yearly infection may be increasing autoimmune diseases, and I've been looking for more research on that fact.
Taking all of that into account, I also can't overlook the fact that my son's airway is MALFORMED. Yes, flu scares me. It does not scare me in the slightest for Ian, myself, or my husband. If I thought that Connor's immune system would mount an appropriate immune response to the flu vaccine, and if I found out that this year's match was a good one, then I think that I just might give him the vaccine. It appears that this decision has been taken out of my hands, though, because after careful lab testing and discussion with his pulmonologist, neither of us thinks that he'd mount an immune response anyway.
We can practice flu prevention techniques at home, sure, and we can keep Connor out of large public places as much as possible. But I still have to go to work, hubby still has to go to school, Ian still has to go to preschool, and we still have to do things like grocery shop.
I don't think many of you understand how scary it is to know that something like the flu can KILL your child. Every cough, every sniffle, every fever scares me because I've been the one holding him when the ER dr says it's pneumonia and admits him, when they bring in the vent to have by his bedside, just waiting for his lungs to fail... That will sure change your perspective on things. Those of you who DO understand this, I'm sorry that you do. No mother ever should.
Peainthepod, that website RAWKS! Hard data dumbed down, exactly what I needed!
