I was asked advice whether I thought my grandkids should be vaccinated. From what I have read and heard, the area schools are trying to get a head count.
Any thoughts, since I did not feel secure in going this one alone
I've been following this one closely. They recommend the kids get a flu shot first and take the 2nd (H1) shot when it becomes available sometime in October. My kids already had the flu shot and you can have it done at the Y. If you have Blue Cross there is no fee.
We are long overdue for this type of incident and IMHO it is not something to mess around with.
I haven't decided on the H1N vaccine for the kids yet. They will most certainly not be the first in line. Three words "Guillain-Barre Syndrome".
Furthermore thanks to the 2006 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act the DHHS has the ability to wave any liability these drug companies have if they in fact do put out a bad vaccine.
This will be one of the few times I will have to tell my kids they're on their own. The last thing a grandparent wants to do is make those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" decisions. Been there, done that.
I suggested they should talk to the pediatrician, find out who is manufacturing the vaccine and what other countries are doing.
The United States is not the envy of other nations that we use to be. I would hate to think we are the laboratory for an under-tested vaccine.
I'm also unsure. My husband seems to support it, so I sent the kids in with the note that they'd have the H1N1 vaccine at school. But I am a bit hesitant because it seems like a fairly minor flu in the grand scheme of things. However, I have an extra concern because my son has asthma, which is one of the conditions that can make H1N1 worse.
This guy thinks it's a mistake to try to vaccinate against this flu because we should all be building up immunity to it. I kind of agree because it seems to be non-life-threatening for most people.
We always get the seasonal flu vaccine. I didn't used to until my son was diagnosed with asthma. Now I get the shot for his sake.
yeah....we sent the note back saying we were interested, but I think if they do end up getting it, it will be at the Doctors office.
I don't usually get the seasonal flu shot either, but I will this year, just in case I do come down with the flu, at least I will know which one I have!
This is still under review, but if correct adds a new twist. The link goes to a CBC article where doctors are discussing their findings that getting the seasonal flu vaccination could actually increase your risk of getting the swine flu, and questions the order that you should recieve the vaccinations.
Well we now have our Flu shots, just waiting for the H1 to arrive...
I was always one to skip Flu shots and often caught Bronchitis relying on the safety net of anti-biotics to tame it. In spring 2008 something new happened. I was fairly out of shape and outside coaching in the raw weather. Bronchitis came and I got my anti-biotics. Well a week later and I was still hurting. A 2nd round of stronger anti-biotics followed. Now my breathing was diminishing. I was diagnosed with Pneumonia. It scared the crap out of me. I had shots galore and had to use an emergency room breathing machine three times that spring. The only remedy was two months of staying crawled in a ball. I had never faced not being able to breath and not having a medicine to get rid of it. People tell you all the time that they have Asthma...well I tell you that you have no idea what they are going through until this happens to you.
What does this have to do with H1? The lesson I learned was that you have to stay in shape and do everything that you have to do to AVOID getting hit with one of these bugs. Once it gets into you there is little that can be done but let it run it's course. This past winter was the first one in memory where I did not develop Bronchitus. I got my shot early, I stayed in shape, and practiced defensive minded steps like avoiding a handshake or applying germ killer after one.
I share this with everyone becuase I do not want you to go through what I had too.
FYI.. the Newman Y was hosting walk-in clinics for seasonal flu shots but apparently they have run out and Sat's clinic was cancelled. Call in advance if you are planning on going there.
It might be piecemeal but some shots are becoming available. Be patient because there does not appear to be any method to the madness of the state system.
RI seems to have their act together compared to Mass on this issue.
It might be piecemeal but some shots are becoming available. Be patient because there does not appear to be any method to the madness of the state system.
RI seems to have their act together compared to Mass on this issue.
They're giving shots to kids deemed "medically fragile"--but how are they making those distinctions? How is my son, who has asthma and allergies, not medically fragile?
I understand that there's a right to privacy, but on the other hand, how can we be sure the shots are going to the truly high risk children and not to the "Goldman Sachs" members of the community?
Seriously--my son has a nebulizer at his school for asthma attacks. How is he not high risk? If there are 4 schools, that means that an average of 15 kids per school got the vaccine.
This is just crazy, if you think about it.
ETA: I'm also a bit peeved because apparently hundreds of kids in Barrington received the vaccine this week. How is this happening?
Wendy - I saw a commercial on TV Yesterday "faces of the Flu" it was an public services announcement outlining the high risk people who would need a flu vaccination. Asthma was definitely in the criteria.
However....and I thought this was odd...during the last 5 seconds of the commercial print was flashing on the bottom saying "seasonal flu only" That really did not make sense to me at all.
Then to top it off, 3 segments later on the news cycle it was reported that H1N1 deaths so far are triple what the "authorities" expected them to be. That, and CDC is saying that the seasonal flu it pretty much nonexistent so far this year, and that anyone who is displaying flu symptoms most likely has H1N1
Anyway...back to your son, it seems that H1N1 really causes respiratory problems. So I would maybe call some people and make some noise...
Like I said earlier we are a mess compared to RI. We are only getting limited amounts at a time. I can say that I am confident that the Super is taking this issue very seriously and that it is being given to the highest needs as it becomes available. I will stress that the real issue here is what is going on at the state level???
I too am stuck like most with RI Docs for my kids, but in a Mass school- so I am SOL...
And that was weird.... a little while ago, I got a call from the school letting me know E could get the vaccine on Tuesday.
So another bunch of doses have come in.
I'm not sure RI has it together much better. I've been talking to colleagues of mine from RI who've been very concerned. They too have kids with respiratory problems. However, one of them got it for her son (I forgot how) a week or so ago, and another was scheduled to get it today. She pulled her son out of school and has been homeschooling him for the past 2 weeks. (!)
My son had his physical today...and wouldn't you know it, the they H1N1 vaccines. Mind you have been calling weekly to find out when they were getting them and they have never said that they have them I guess they are keeping it under wraps. So my son got his today, and my daughter will be getting hers tomorrow.
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