What I do to prevent the flu!

Hope everyone is managing to stay healthy during what is turning out to be a pretty vigorous start to the flu season! This, my friends, is going to be a nerdy/science-y post about why I will be getting the seasonal and swine-flu vaccines. I will try to debunk some myths here, but I strongly believe that you should make your own decisions about whether the risks outweigh the benefits for you and your family. My mantra is "be educated." Take the facts and make informed decisions. So, while I'd like you to feel better about taking the vaccine (if you don't currently), my goal is really to tell you why I plan to vaccinate myself and my family. And if anyone tells me that they can catch the flu from the flu shot, I will try my best not to scream, and refer them instead to this post, where I express my fairly well educated opinion on why that's horse pucky. Please remember that FoxNews wants to whip you into a frenzy and that’s why they invite the handful of doctors they can find onto their tabloid news channel to claim that the vaccine is dangerous and they wouldn’t give it to their families. If you’re worried, wait, take steps to prevent yourself from being exposed and see for yourself how the safety of the vaccine plays out. I’m all for avoiding vaccines for diseases you aren’t at risk of getting. I have been vaccinated against just about everything under the sun. Rabies? Check! Anthrax? Check! Smallpox? Check! Swine flu? Soon!

Why am I going to get the shot?
1. Because the flu sucks. Yeah, I don't like to use that word, but let me tell you that it is TRUE. If you don't know if you've had the flu in the past, you haven't. The flu will LAY YOUR BEHIND OUT for days. Ask Don. He had it once and lines up for the shot every year now.

2. If someone gets sick and I need to care for them, I'm covered. See above. I looked after Don that year that he got the flu. Having gotten the shot, I felt icky for a day or so, but did not get sick. If Kate isn't able to get the vaccine that is approved for babies because of a shortage, I want to stay well so that I: a) can't pass it on to her or b) can care for her if she does get ill. Please think beyond yourself. If someone depends on you, the responsible thing is to take care of yourself so that you can continue to take care of them.

3. I think its the socially responsible thing to do. Its called herd immunity. The theory of herd immunity is that it is more difficult for an infectious disease to spread if large numbers of the population are immune. Therefore, the higher the proportion of individuals who are immune, the lower the likelihood that a susceptible person (i.e. unvaccinated) will come into contact with an infected individual. Does this mean that I'm willing to get the vaccine to help protect people who can’t get the vaccine, are afraid to get it, or think all vaccines are evil? Yup.

4. People die from the flu. They die from seasonal flu. They die from swine flu. Healthy people. Pregnant women, moms with 3 week old babies, toddlers, babies, middle schoolers, wives, husbands, grandmas, mothers, fathers. And, here's the kicker: Swine flu has so far been a milder illness than seasonal flu. If you look at the pediatric death data from the past 4 flu seasons, more children have died in each of those seasons than in the current outbreak. And we're LOOKING HARD for it now. What if we looked equally as hard to see who died from seasonal flu? No one gets freaked out each January when flu is running rampant. But swine flu is different and therefore scary. Recent statistics show that 1 in 3 pregnant women who get the novel flu die. So, if I can contribute to not spreading it further by being vaccinated myself. I'll do it. For all those babies and moms and dads (to-be) and kids with promising futures.

So, there you go. Now you know why I am getting the swine flu vaccine as soon as I can!

Here are some other FAQ

Q: Am I scared of the vaccine? The new swine flu vaccine?
A: Nope, not scared at all. I get the seasonal flu vaccine every year. Guess what? The seasonal vaccine is different every year! They see what circulated the previous year, and what circulated in the Southern Hemisphere during their flu season (our spring and summer), and then the FDA chooses the strains to make up the vaccine for the upcoming flu season. So, every year the vaccine is "new". The swine vaccine is made the same way by the same companies in the same factories using the same methods as seasonal flu vaccine. To me, its the regular ole seasonal flu vaccine with a different flavor virus. What about for my sweet baby girl? Yeah, I get nervous too, and only want to give her what is absolutely necessary. But I also don’t want to be holding her tiny hand in the PICU, praying that she survives, like many parents do every year. Remember that 36,000 people die from the flu every year. I’m much more afraid of that than I am getting the flu shot.

Q: I mean, it hasn't been tested enough, right?
A: The seasonal vaccine is given to hundreds of millions of people in the US every year for many many years. Seems like we’d know about any serious side effects.

Q: Doesn't the vaccine contain thimerosal, which contains mercury?
A: Yes, it does. Thimerosal is a preservative that keeps bacteria from growing in vials of vaccine. If you didn't have it there, you could risk injecting people with bacteria along with their vaccine. I was born in 1974. I got a lot of vaccines that contained mercury. I've survived thus far and another small dose of mercury isn't going to hurt me. And, your body does actually have biological mechanisms for sequestering and eliminating mercury. There has been the fear that thimerosal in vaccines is linked to autism in young children. There are many reasons I don't put much stock into this, but won't go into that here. Vaccines for kids today do not contain thimerosal, with the exception of the flu shot (FYI - the FDA approved shot for kids 6 months - 3 years is preservative free). The small amount that they would be exposed to in that shot should pose no risk to their health. But again, that is a parent's choice to take a chance that the swine flu will be a mild illness in their child. Of course my goal is to give Kate all thimerosal-free vaccines for as long as possible. I will tell you that if she were over 3 years old or in school, without a question, she would get the vaccine that contained thimerosal.

Q: Do I need to get the vaccine if I’ve already had swine flu?
A: No, but be careful here. Unless you have had a test that confirms you had swine flu, you may not have had it at all. Doctors sometimes diagnose without running a test (taking a swab of your nose or throat). Sometimes they do a quicky test in the office and it is positive for flu. Chances are you had swine flu if it was positive, but sometimes those rapid tests are wrong, and some people had regular ole seasonal flu (especially back in May and June).

Q: Am I pronouncing that there will absolutely be no adverse effects of the vaccine?
A: No. But because of the scare of the swine flu vaccine of 1976, the CDC is being pro-active in determining any risks associated with taking the vaccine. There is something known as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System that allows doctors and patients to report side effects they believe are related to the vaccine. The CDC is also following news stories that report adverse events to make absolutely sure that if something is happening, the public knows about it as quickly as possible. There is a lot of background data out there for all types of diseases and conditions. That's important because in order to know if the vaccine is causing something, you have to know what is normal. So if normally you see 1 or 2 cases of Guillain Barre syndrome for every 100,000 people, and after vaccination you see 3 or 4 cases, you start to wonder if its related to the vaccine. Be warned that people will say: I got the vaccine and then X,Y,Z happened to me. To establish a correlation, there needs to be more data than that one guy. Remember that people die and have other ailments on a daily basis - unrelated to the vaccine. And just because they got the flu shot doesn't mean it caused whatever problem they had. Don't spend too much time wrapping your brain around this - the CDC has MANY people working on tracking these symptoms.

Is anyone still with me? Do you feel more informed now?! :) I hope so, and I hope you’ll make the best decision for your family. With all of the media hype, its easy to get scared. Wash your hands, cover your cough, keep your distance from sick people and get the vaccine if you can. And if you do get the flu, stay home!! I'm all for sharing in most instances, but please don't share your flu! I hope it passes quickly and you’re back to your old selves in no time!