Flu vaccines for kids

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I hate living in the age of too much information. How the heck are we supposed to know who to trust?

One thing to point out, much of the argument against vaccination goes back to the preservative, thimerisol, which the article says is immune suppressing. Not all vaccines have this. One can request a formula made without it. Do so.

i tried to track the part where he reports vaccine deaths (ref11) and i can not see this in the original report.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5839a1.htm

I hear you DW_a_mom...too much information does make you crazy! What I do normally is look for an answer from everywhere I can find the information, verify what I can and then see what is consistent among the rest. That is pretty much how I decide what to believe. It is this reason why I struggle with what to do and I'm always back and forth. None of this however mentions Gillian Barre Syndrome, which is more of a concern to me than the mercury. I'm not really a believer in vaccines causing autism without some underlying condition the vaccines bring to life.

Go with your gut.

I found this article interesting:
Some Doubt Handwashing Stops H1N1

So while handwashing is very, very important to one's health and well being, it doesn't matter how scrupulous you are about it, you could still get sick.

Also one of my sons tugs at his lips and chews his fingers when he gets stressed. We discourage this and have him wash his hands frequently, but still, there is no way we can keep him from bringing home all sorts of germs. He gets sick with viruses multiple times a year, and when he does, he gets extremely ill. His severe allergies and asthma exacerbate this as well. I am extremely worried about him getting H1N1.

My husband and I just got the shot this morning, and so far have both survived the experience...

FYI, I'm having more doubts about that last article I read. One example, it talked a lot about how crazy it was to recommend pregnant women get the shot, when we already know that doctors are recommending pregnant women NOT get the shot. I think there is better information out there that was intentionally ignored or left unreferenced to make a point.

My aunt works in a government office. She says that every co-worker that received the vaccine, immediately got sick. Anyways, it's very hard to get non-biased information about this issue.

Just to report: my son got H1N1 flu mist vaccine yesterday. So far, looks fine. A colleague tells me that her son got fever after the same vaccine but still he is fine. he is running around our work-place so nothing serious.

From my perspective, unless vaccination is contraindicated (say because of anaphalactic reaction to egg protein) it is irresponsible not to get flu innoculations ever year.

Yes, there is mercury in thimersol. But there is more mercury in a can of tuna. If you feed your family a tuna casserole, you are putting as much mercury into them as their flu shots. (And inhalation and ingestion are just as effective as vectors for mercury contamination as injection).

The seasonal flu shot (in the Northern Hemisphere) contains three strains this year: an H1N1 (different from H1N1/09), an H3N2 and a type B. Yes, it only contains three strains, but given the choice between immunity to three or immunity to none, which is the preferable course?

Yes, a healthy immune system can generate immunity to flu viruses that a person encounters--but that's precisely what flu vaccines do. Using inactive virus (protein coats with no genetic material) the body can create antibodies without the risk of illness, since the virus cannot replicate.

Influenza is potentially fatal--over 40,000 people die of flu every year in the US. While 1 in 7,500 doesn't sound like much, it doesn't include major hospitalizations, and ongoing health concerns.

Supposing that there is a 1:100,000 chance of vaccine complications (which is a very conservative estimate), are you prepared to balance that against a 1:7,500 chance or death? Children are going to be exposed to the virus--schools and other community activities are going to bring them into close proximity with others, and hygiene precautions are going to break down from time to time.

As for H1N1/09, there has been a huge amount of media hype, and public health agencies have been making policy on the back of cocktail napkins. But the fact remains that H1N1/09 is demonstrating itself to be more virulent that other flus (the spring relapse is significantly higher than with other strains), and it is demonstrating itself to be lethal in cases that are differential to other flus (e.g. young adult women, children with no underlying health issues).

At the end of the day, innoculation is a personal choice. But weighing an extremely small risk from vaccination against a much larger risk from failure to vaccinate, I think responsible parents really only have one choice.

My sister who is 4 months pregent got it no ill effect and she's had a rough time just with morning sickness this having to have an IV more then once just to stay hydrated.

My doctor's office got the vaccine (h1n1) but they were out of the thimersol-free ones (which most pregnant ladies get). This was just last week and I said I would think about it. I was leaning towards it. Then I had contractions on Saturday and went to the hospital. The RN there said, oh no you need the thimersol-free vaccine. They gave me a shot to stop labor and sent me home. That shot made me nauseated, jittery and gave me an awful headache. I am set to deliver in 2 weeks and I don't want anymore shots. My OB's office said they will give me the shot after the baby is born, but I will ask at the hospital as well after I deliver. The entire maternity floor is now off-limits to anyone under the age of 16 because of swine flu and anyone seen with any symptoms of a cold/cough etc will be asked to leave.

I'm an RN and I had swine flu about 3 months ago. We used to test every person that had flu-like symptoms (we don't do it anymore). I wasn't the only one that tested positive from the nursing staff in our ward. We were sent home for 3 days with Tamiflu. We all had blocked noses and were a bit tired, one had a bit of a cough. None of my kids got it. There was a big fuss about swine flu here in Australia 3-4 months ago but nobody talks about it anymore. I'm not going to vaccinate my kids.

Please don't take this as an advice, it's just my personal experience.