With conflicting reports on the vaccine's side effects regarding Guillain-Barre Syndrome and others, I am a little skeptical and confused on whether I should take the shot for my 3 year old or not. I agree that the Guillain-Barre Syndrome side effect is more BS than real, but I am not sure if I should even take that risk. So, I am trying to find out how the population has fared on taking the shot or if they have to say more on that. I am sure there are other confused parents too. I searched the forums and all I could find was free flu shot locations. I will be talking to my pediatrician about it, but that may just be his opinion.
bharatiya said:With conflicting reports on the vaccine's side effects regarding Guillain-Barre Syndrome and others,There are NO conflicting reports AFAIK about GBS and the current H1N1 vaccine. The incident that occurred in the 70s pertained to a vaccine made in an entirely different manner.
The current H1N1 vaccine is made in the exact same manner that the regular flu shot has been made for over 10 years.
bharatiya said:I am a little skeptical and confused on whether I should take the shot for my 3 year old or not. I think the only way your 3 yr old will be immune from swine is if he takes the shot himself!
bharatiya said: I will be talking to my pediatrician about it, but that may just be his opinion.
Why would you listen to a bunch of random people on the internet with no medical training over your pediatrician? Take your concerns to him and let the expert answer them.
JorgeBurrito said:bharatiya said: I will be talking to my pediatrician about it, but that may just be his opinion.
Why would you listen to a bunch of random people on the internet with no medical training over your pediatrician? Take your concerns to him and let the expert answer them.
But if you take him to a pediatrician you're going to expose him to tons of kids with tons of viruses in the office.
handyguy said:JorgeBurrito said:bharatiya said: I will be talking to my pediatrician about it, but that may just be his opinion.
Why would you listen to a bunch of random people on the internet with no medical training over your pediatrician? Take your concerns to him and let the expert answer them.
But if you take him to a pediatrician you're going to expose him to tons of kids with tons of viruses in the office.
that is how bob and bill got sick last time. they were fine until bob went to the doctor. then, they both got horribly sick.
Not at the OP but at the misinformation or misheard/misunderstood information that's out there.
The current swine flu vaccination has NOTHING to do with the vaccine from the 1970s.
Even the vaccine from the 1970s was never really linked to the few cases of GBS.
Even if the 1970s vaccine could have been conclusively linked to GBS, the risk of contracting it was apparently miniscule - millions (about 44 million IIRC) were vaccinated and less than 40 people died of GBS. How many more would have died of swine flu that year - thousands, tens of thousands, a million? That includes not only those who were vaccinated, but those who gained herd immunity from others who did choose to be vaccinated.
There are NO cases of GBS or any other serious side effect with this current vaccine so far; any serious problem is very unlikely.
The swine flu vaccine of 2009 is just as safe as the seasonal flu vaccine. It's formulated exactly the same way. It's kind of like this - you go to a bakery and see all kinds of desserts. Cakes, pies, donuts, cookies, etc. You see some peanut butter cookies (measles vaccine) and some chocolate cake (HPV vaccine). Oh, let's look at the pies. There's a granny smith apple pie (seasonal flu vaccine) and a Jonagold apple pie (H1N1 swine flu vaccine). Guess what, they're made almost exactly the same - same crust, same preparation method, same baking temperature, but the only difference is the kind of apple (kind of flu virus). Last year's seasonal flu vaccine might have been a golden delicious apple pie (or more likely made with more than one kind of apple).
Sorry, I just don't know how to explain this in plainer terms to the general person-on-the-street. If you think the seasonal flu vaccine is safe, then the H1N1 swine flu vaccine is just as safe.
handyguy said: But if you take him to a pediatrician you're going to expose him to tons of kids with tons of viruses in the office.This reminds me....I have a medically fragile student who must get his feeding via g-tube. The only place they do this is in the nurse's office, so he goes there everyday for his 'lunch'. He has to sit in there in his wheelchair among all these booger-producing, puking kids who may/may not have soemthing catchable! I am concerned for my little guy, but the nurses are very rigid in their ways.
This is an example of a great report for getting to the nitty-gritty of the safety of the vaccine. Update on Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccines (tl;dr version: "Preliminary data indicate that the immunogenicity and safety of these vaccines are similar to those of seasonal influenza vaccines" meaning it works well and feels just like a regular flu shot in terms of side effects.)
Let's take a look at this Centers for Disease Control graph. See how the red line tracks until week 16? That's when swine flu started showing up in the US population earlier this year. From week 16 (mid April) until week 39 (now), you can assume that pretty much all flu cases above the green/blue lines are attributable to swine flu. It's pretty obvious that it's not a normal pattern, and until enough people get vaccinated, the number of cases is only going to increase.
The most up-to-date statistics can be found here. So far, confirmed cases of flu have killed 147 children in the US; I believe more than half of these are due to swine flu.
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Message edited by: ribex on 2009-10-15 12:33:22 CDT
JorgeBurrito said:bharatiya said: I will be talking to my pediatrician about it, but that may just be his opinion.
Why would you listen to a bunch of random people on the internet with no medical training over your pediatrician? Take your concerns to him and let the expert answer them. I am not listening to the random people, I am just trying to find out what other parents have done. And no better place than FW to find good and intelligent parents Like I said, I would definitely be talking to his pediatrician. I wanted to see what other parent's pediatricians have told them regarding the vaccine. Hope it makes sense.
Not at the OP but at the misinformation or misheard/misunderstood information that's out there.
The current swine flu vaccination has NOTHING to do with the vaccine from the 1970s.
Even the vaccine from the 1970s was never really linked to the few cases of GBS.
Even if the 1970s vaccine could have been conclusively linked to GBS, the risk of contracting it was apparently miniscule - millions (about 44 million IIRC) were vaccinated and less than 40 people died of GBS. How many more would have died of swine flu that year - thousands, tens of thousands, a million? That includes not only those who were vaccinated, but those who gained herd immunity from others who did choose to be vaccinated.
There are NO cases of GBS or any other serious side effect with this current vaccine so far; any serious problem is very unlikely.
The swine flu vaccine of 2009 is just as safe as the seasonal flu vaccine. It's formulated exactly the same way. It's kind of like this - you go to a bakery and see all kinds of desserts. Cakes, pies, donuts, cookies, etc. You see some peanut butter cookies (measles vaccine) and some chocolate cake (HPV vaccine). Oh, let's look at the pies. There's a granny smith apple pie (seasonal flu vaccine) and a Jonagold apple pie (H1N1 swine flu vaccine). Guess what, they're made almost exactly the same - same crust, same preparation method, same baking temperature, but the only difference is the kind of apple (kind of flu virus). Last year's seasonal flu vaccine might have been a golden delicious apple pie (or more likely made with more than one kind of apple).
Sorry, I just don't know how to explain this in plainer terms to the general person-on-the-street. If you think the seasonal flu vaccine is safe, then the H1N1 swine flu vaccine is just as safe. Thank you. Hopefully the media stresses on this too and not GBS.
shopliftinginva said:My son's pediatrition highly recommended both the regular flu shot and the H1N1 flu shot. Thank you. That is the exact information I was trying to get. Different doctors have different opinions. Have you got it for your kids then, if your pediatrician has recommended them?
pecanpie said:handyguy said:JorgeBurrito said:bharatiya said: I will be talking to my pediatrician about it, but that may just be his opinion.
Why would you listen to a bunch of random people on the internet with no medical training over your pediatrician? Take your concerns to him and let the expert answer them.
But if you take him to a pediatrician you're going to expose him to tons of kids with tons of viruses in the office.
that is how bob and bill got sick last time. they were fine until bob went to the doctor. then, they both got horribly sick.
so it sounds like his 3 year old should avoid your vet's office?
bharatiya said:shopliftinginva said:My son's pediatrition highly recommended both the regular flu shot and the H1N1 flu shot. Thank you. That is the exact information I was trying to get. Different doctors have different opinions. Have you got it for your kids then, if your pediatrician has recommended them?
My kids' pedi recommended the same aslo. But you have to wait at least a month in between getting the seasonal shot and the H1N1. If your child has never had a seasonal flu shot then they will have to get 2 seasonal shots spread out over a certain amount of time that I can not recall right now.
In my area (god knows why) "the under 3" flu shots have run out, and there hasn't been any other shipments. This seems to have been the case for about a month now, at every pedi office I have called - also the health department, which I was scared of going to. Soooo I had to take my little one to another town to get the seasonal flu shot. So now we will be waiting before we get the H1N1.
From my understand the H1N1 is only being given as a mist, the shot is not out yet. This might be just here in my area, I really do not know. But now there seems to be people who are afraid of taking the mist, because it contains a live virus. Where the shot is a dead virus...or something like that. Yes, I'm going to ask random people what they think about this.
bharatiya said:shopliftinginva said:My son's pediatrition highly recommended both the regular flu shot and the H1N1 flu shot. Thank you. That is the exact information I was trying to get. Different doctors have different opinions. Have you got it for your kids then, if your pediatrician has recommended them?
He had an appointment to get the regular flu shot this afternoon, but I got a call yesterday saying they were out. Will call next week and reschedule once they know when their next shipment will be. The H1N1 shot will be given at school in the next few weeks.
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Like I said, I would definitely be talking to his pediatrician. I wanted to see what other parent's pediatricians have told them regarding the vaccine. Hope it makes sense.
