[shanpine]

My dad is a SUPER conservative physician at Emory....so I basically go with what he says because he does TONS and TONS and TONS of research before he ever reccommends anything. Thought maybe some of ya'll would like to see his opinion on the vaccines. My kids got theirs on Friday.

Shannon,
Linda and I attended two one hour presentations at Emory on “novel or pandemic or swine ” H1N1, including top government physicians advisers and CDC heads and the other more informative physicians; involving Emory pandemic H1N1 vaccine trial physicians as well as other infectious disease doctors who specialize in these types of vaccines. Unanimously all recommend that children and young adults get the vaccine. The vaccine has been prepared by the routine way and no shortcuts have been taken. All new flu vaccines each year do not undergo any other long term clinical trials prior to use (no different from this preparation). There have been no short term serious reactions in almost 10,000 trial recipients (mild injection site pain and short febrile/myalgia reactions similar to other flu shots). Since the feared late reaction like the guillain-barre neurological syndrome occurs only in about 1 in a 100,000, it probably would not show up after the 10,000 patient vaccine trials and only post vaccination follow up studies will show if it is increased. On the other hand about 60 pediatric deaths have occurred from H1N1 so far which is more than expected from the usual entire flu season. Although usually mild (similar to other flu viruses) the attack rate is higher in children and young adults thus giving a large number of illnesses and hospitalizations. Children under 9 will require two doses of vaccine and one dose should suffice in others. H1N1 flu mist should work for kids and young adults (up to age 50), although there appears to be a little better protection for the shot in adults in past routine seasonal H1N1 vaccines (this may or may not be the same for “novel H1N1”) so I would get what is available.
Love you,
Dad

[JosieWales]

Thanks for this.

[DDAmasa]

Yes, thank you.

[shelbydog]

Thank you!

[JustBarbara]

Kuddos to your Dad! Thanks for posting this - I went to an information session by one of the top docs at Harvard Medical School and it amazed me how uninformed a lot of people are. Even standing in line at our pediatrician's office two weeks ago people were hesitant about it. This H1N1 flu is inverse to the regular flu - the population most at risk from the regular flu tend to be older folks and younger children whereas in the H1N1 it is the young children/ teenager/ college age kids who are most likely to have a detrimental experience should they contract it. My peds have now stopped giving the regular flu shot to kids over 3 because they are running low. DS is going back for his second shots a month after the first ones. Thanks again!

[JoshGuat]

Not everyone agrees.......I found this and thought it would be good to take a look at. It's good to look at different opinions on the topic before making a decision.

YouTube - Doctor Admits Vaccine Is More Deadly Than Swine Flu Itself & Will Not Give It To His Kids

[JosieWales]

Originally Posted by JoshGuat

Not everyone agrees.......I found this and thought it would be good to take a look at. It's good to look at different opinions on the topic before making a decision.

YouTube - Doctor Admits Vaccine Is More Deadly Than Swine Flu Itself & Will Not Give It To His Kids

YouTube is blocked on the school server--what context is this doctor saying this in? Is it an interview on a news program, or a home video, or what? Where did he gets his stats?

[dkateriz]

Doctors have their own opinions just like anyone else. He can say what he wants but that does not make it truth. Sounds like my ex-partner in my practice....did not vaccinate his own kids for anything. Stick to the facts. The number of pediatric ICU admissions and deaths are sobering for those of us who ARE pediatricians. Stick to the facts and then make a decision. It may be too late anyway. The flu numbers are increasing faster that I can give the vaccine and kids under 10 need two.
Louise

[amyfk]

Thank you all for your help. My question is what do we do for the folks who want to get it but can't get it anywhere? Keep our kids home from school if there is an outbreak? I have looked all over and cannot obtain the H1N1 right now anywhere.
Thanks,
Amy K, NJ

[DeeVee]

OK, I've never been a flu shot person. Never had one, DH never had one, no one in my extended family ever had one. And none of us have ever had the flu.

But my pediatrician actually did convince me to have my kids get the H1N1 shot. However, her office received only 300 doses yesterday, and by first thing this morning half of those were gone. My ped's office is not advertising it and you can only get it if your regular ped calls you and says "you better come get this now while we have it" -- she did so for me because I have so many little ones, one of whom is only 7 months old and another with a compromised immune system. And who knows if even they will be able to get the second dose?

Seems to me that H1N1 is here (lots of confirmed cases in our area) but the vaccine is obviously too late.

[Juilasmom]

Please be careful, some of the shots they injecting kids with have thimarsol and mercury in them. They will tell you it is only a small amount but these are kids who have little immune systems and just a "little" is too much IMO!!

[avoel]

Re: the Fox news video---that Dr. is entitled to his opinion, but his "facts" on the H1N1 vaccine are just plain wrong. While there are some versions of the vaccine that may contain thimerosol (the multidose vials of the injection version do) there are plenty of versions of prefilled syringes for children being made as well as the Flumist version that do not contain thimerosol. But if you are concerned ask what is available, and wait for the preservative free version if you wish.

And no flu vaccine, including the H1N1 vaccine, ever distributed in the US has ever contained adjuvants---substances like squalene to allow a brisker immune response with less vaccine needed---basically a way to stretch vaccine supply in an emergency.

This pediatrician vaccinated herself and her children.

As for the second dose...my desperate hope is that the vaccine supply continues to increase so that we have plenty by the time the second dose is due for the kids I am vaccinating with the first batch of nasal spray we received this week!

[lzriggles]

Here's a question for Shannon, or anyone else who knows!

If your kids already had H1N1 flu this season do they still get vaccinated? My older daughter (who is 4 1/2 years old) had a flu test a few weeks ago (nasal swab) and the test was negative. However, the doctor said the test has a false-negative percentage of 30% and given her symptoms she felt my daughter did indeed have the flu. The doctor said it was likely H1N1 because the regular flu had not "started yet".

A week later my younger daughter came down with the same symptoms. Soooo, if they indeed had H1N1 flu are they o.k. now? Do they get the vaccine...or do they just get the regular flu vaccine?

Anyone know?

[avoel]

Yes, you should get the vaccine unless you know for sure you had the H1N1 flu...meaning you had the confirmatory test either because you were one of the first cases back in the spring when they confirmed them all or you ar sick enough to be hospitalized now.

There is no harm in being vaccinated if you already had the disease...and could be much bigger risk if you skip the vaccine and didn't have the disease.

[nhook]

Originally Posted by avoel

Yes, you should get the vaccine unless you know for sure you had the H1N1 flu...meaning you had the confirmatory test either because you were one of the first cases back in the spring when they confirmed them all or you ar sick enough to be hospitalized now.

There is no harm in being vaccinated if you already had the disease...and could be much bigger risk if you skip the vaccine and didn't have the disease.

I am not trying to minimize H1N1 but in most cases, people do not need to go to the doctor. My son had it for 7 days (I know that it was based on talking to several other people). I stayed home with him all week and checked his temp many times. When his fever went above 101, I gave him fever reducer, otherwise I let it run its course. At times, it was a little scary, because he looked so white but luckily, he was able to sleep 14 hours per day and eat 3 meals a day and he drank tons of water. For 7 days, I made him lay on the couch and watch cartoons and not play. I would have rushed him to the doctor if he had ANY symptoms of pneumonia or a high fever but luckily that wasn't the case.

It is different than regular flu in that it lasts a long time (7 to 10 days) and the fever tends to go up and down. I have talked to several parents with kids of H1N1 and most of them just rode it out and amazingly the parents including myself did not get the flu.