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Shot heard ’round the world
October 23rd, 2009
I have to admit, I’m kind of a little shocked at the posts/articles I’ve read over the last month or so about parents debating whether or not to get their child vaccinated against H1N1. I’ll tell you, it never once occurred to me to not get Maddie vaccinated. She’s had the regular flu shot every year since she was six months old and has had every other vaccination at the age-appropriate time. Why would H1N1 be any different?
Yeah, sure, it’s new, but if it reduces my child’s likeliness of contracting a potentially deadly virus, then sign me the hell up. If, God forbid, she were to come down with the swine flu and I hadn’t had her vaccinated, I would beat myself up over it for a very long time. It’s my job to keep her as safe as possible and I consider having her vaccinated as an essential part of that job.
I know there’s a chance that she could have an adverse reaction to the vaccine, but I consider that possibility to be far less likely than the chance of her getting the flu. Gerald works in a school environment and Maddie goes to Mother’s Day Out. They both might as well be petri dishes for all the germs she’s exposed to. To me, getting the vaccination is just another weapon in our arsenal against sickness; Washing hands, using sanitizer, staying away from people we know are sick, vaccinations.
test Filed under maddie | Comments (13)13 Responses to “Shot heard ’round the world”
To each their own! We aren’t getting it, but that’s our choice.
Amen!
I would love to feel so confident as to the right thing to do. However, I am surrounded by vaccinaters and non-vaccinaters and I just really identify with parts of both camps. We vaccinate, but not if the kid is sick, and not all shots the same day. But we don’t usually do flu shots. But sometimes we do.
I get so confused that I confuse MYSELF.
In any case, the real issue about h1n1 is a) the hype the media is making not for “public service” but for ratings/money and therefore self interest. They’ve got people scared shitless! and b) there are probably not going to be enough vaccines for everyone who wants one, or maybe not even enough for everyone who’s high risk. Or maybe there will be, and the media is making it look like a “shortage” to keep the froth going. Who knows! =)
(in any case, we’re pretty sure we’ve got h1n1 going on in our house, and so far it’s been a breeze. Like the flu, only people are waaay more wary of us, like we can give them germs through the phone or something!)
(also- the vaccine has not been available anywhere around here, and ALL the area school are seeing it. I wonder, do we still vaccinate if we’ve HAD the h1n1? Now THERE’S a question for the experts!)
Do you even have the choice right now?? Here in Oregon, there is NO vaccine. I am a front line responder (law enforcement) and Margot is under 5, and neither one of us can get a shot.
I am with you though… I think our whole family is going. Good luck!!
I’m not sure I agree. We vaccinate, but never the flu shot. I think the hype around this has scared everyone shitless. I’m a teacher, and have had a total of 9 students out with confirmed h1n1. They have all come back, they are all fine, and they will continue to be fine. I took precautions – handwashing, disinfecting, etc, – and my husband, myself, or our 2 kids (ages 3 and 3 months) are still healthy. BTW, hubby also works in a school environment.
All of this to say that h1n1 is a different strain of flu. There are flu related deaths, but they aren’t publicized. I’m starting to think the media is doing this for money… its easier to scare the public than to inform them.
Totally, totally agree. So glad you posted this.
I had a very bad reaction to the first flu shot I ever got back in my 20′s and I’m never getting one again. So I never gave my kids one either and of course now my daughter doesn’t want to give one to our 6 month old granddaughter. She’s had all the other appropriate vaccinations but…
It’s really hard if you yourself have had a bad experience or if you know someone who did.
The real ridiculousness with the fear over the “new vaccine” is that it is made the exact same way that the seasonal flu vaccine is made and would have been a part of the regular seasonal flu vaccine if doctors had just found out about H1N1 earlier. The seasonal flu vaccine is made “new” every year because every year there are different strains that are predominant. So the H1N1 vaccine is almost surely just as safe as the regular flu vaccine that I (and tons of other people) get every year.
I’m glad you posted this. I agree – why take the chance? What if MY kids or even one of them, where one of those kids on the news? Perfectly healthy 5 year old, DEAD from the swine flu. I will take the .009 (or whatever it is) chance of an adverse reaction. WHile I think the media has hyped up Swine Flu just the way they do anything else, so has the media hyped up NOT getting the shot and it makes a lot of uninformed people second guess their gut instinct.
What a bad thing to be wrong about. And people – THE FLU VACCINE DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY LIVE FLU VIRUS.
My 4.5 year old just had swine flu two weeks ago. It presented like the seasonal flu she was 75% better in 7 days and 100% better after another week.
I would have gotten her the shot, had it been available, but she got sick Tuesday before the Saturday she could have gotten it! ARG!
It’s a personal choice so I don’t judge anyone’s decision.
BTW, the nasal spray is a live vaccine and the shot is not.