A high-level U.S. government decision in 1976 to vaccinate 43 million people against swine flu backfired -- badly.
Not only did the dreaded outbreak never materialize (illness never spread beyond 240 soldiers stationed at Fort Dix, N.J.) but some 500 Americans who did get vaccinated came down with a rare neurodegenerative condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome, which many experts believe was linked to the shot. Twenty-five of those 500 people died.
Now U.S. health officials are considering a fall immunization campaign that could involve an unprecedented 600 million doses of vaccine for the currently circulating H1N1 swine flu vaccine.
How do health experts know 2009 won't be a repeat of the 1976 fiasco? Are there any guarantees the vaccine will be safe?
The short answers to those questions, according to the experts, are "we don't know" and "no."
Isn't that scary? My main concern is that this vaccine has never been given to large quantities of people. That scares the shit out of me. However, becoming infected with the swine flu scares the shit out of me too. How do I know which option to choose?Well, I have thought about this long and hard. If I give my children the vaccine, I feel like I could be potentially causing them harm. What if the vaccine is linked with another rare disorder? What if the virus changes (just like the regular flu virus does every year), rendering the vaccine useless? And finally, what if the outbreak of the virus isn't as bad as they are predicting? Then, I just endangered my children for no fucking reason.
So, I am going to say no to the swine flu vaccine this fall. I just can't risk it. How about you? Any opinions on the topic?
12 comments:
I am also saying NO. Bleh. Particularly because my son stays HOME with myself and my husband and isn't in daycare where he would be exposed to a lot more children, families, and, (let's face it) germs. I am investing in hand sanitizer and hoping for the best.
Just another good reason not to put Porgie in preschool until next year!! :o)
I'm not doing it either. I just don't see how the benefits outweigh the risks.
No... The regular flu shot is one we dont do (and we do almost every vax) so swine flu is def out... I can understand someone like Heather above who has a preexisting condition becuase those are the people dying from it... Chances of us who are healthy dying are very slim and chances of horrible side effects are higher. Throw in the fact that the trial time is laughable at best and its def a no go here.
However, I have heard recently that they passed a law in Mass saying everyone HAS to get them... under threat of quaranteen and 1000 a day fines. Will it be carried out? Who knows.. but that's a pretty scary thought.
I live in MA, the law hasn't passed as far as I know -- went through the MA senate but hasn't gone any further yet! Thank goodness, because I'm on the fence about this. Need to do more research.
We live in a place with lots of traffic in from other places and lots of service people coming from Mexico etc., and I tend to have a lot of truth for medicine. We may do it though we don't mix with a lot of people. Our decision will be influenced by anything the Swedish embassy wants us to do to move there.
Yeah my kids and I are not getting the swine flu shot or even the flu shot. And I know I definantly wouldn't want to risk my kids health for a trial drug!
I haven't decided what I am going to do. First you have the fact that I am exposed to tons of germs daily thanks to my profession and the not-so-sanitary kids I teach. Then I have to take into account that my friend's father recently DIED from H1N1 and that made it very REAL to me. My friend is a reporter for the Washington Post and she is doing a series on this issue. I am interested to find out more about what she discovers.
yikes. ever since i read the article in time magazine about this i have been trying not to freak out.
i am torn. and honestly have no clue what i am going to do?
I just don't know what to do either. We decided to pull Ellie from preschool this year... 1 because it's expensive and she's only 3, 2 because i can do #'s and letters and activities with her and 3 because I'm paranoid about this flu and us having a baby under 6 months old in our home thru the winter months when she'd be in school. I'm not concerned that she, Greg or I couldn't fight off this flu... but a 2 week old?? I don't want to have to find out. I know people are going to think we're crazy, but I cannot vaccinate my 2 week old (and wouldn't want to anyway) and therefore he will have little to no immunity to it. Scares the crap out of me.
I don't plan on getting this vaccine. i would rather stay in all winter with the kids then expose them to something that might be harmful.
I am not willing to do the vaccine. I am lucky that Max is still at home a lot and Sam too. But still it is a growing issue. UGH!
Generally speaking, I'm not against vaccinating. My kids have all the requisite shots, and I'm happy that the kids they go to school with do, too. However, I'm not a big fan of my kids (or me, for that matter) being guinea pigs. If my kids are going to get a vaccine, that vaccine's going to have a least a respectable track record so that I have some idea of the statistics involved with side-effects (or potential fatality rates) and such. As a wide-spread vaccination, I don't have any great assurance that this will do more good than harm. (And yes, I know there's controversy surrounding lots of other vaccines, but I'm comfortable with the research and stats on those). We're passing on this one for now.
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