I know it’s a kind of a scary topic, especially since I hear more and more stories of schools being shut down and entire families getting sick, but it’s an important one. The H1N1 vaccine. I’m not here to tell you that you should or should not get your family vaccinated. That’s a personal choice, and one that I’m not qualified to help anyone make. But I do want to pass along some info that I received today. It is from a family member (O,K, it’s my mom) who works for at our local hospital. She received an email at work with some info from the CDC about the vaccine. I thought I would pass it along.
H1N1 Vaccine: Myth vs. Reality
Since April, more than a million Americans have caught H1N1 flu, and thousands have been hospitalized. Yet a huge segment of out the population questions vaccination against this dangerous virus. Here are some myths about vaccines we should be able to recognize, and why they’re wrong:
MYTH: “H1N1 vaccine is unsafe and untested.” There have been no safety shortcuts. Clinical trials have shown it to be safe and effective, and the FDA has licensed it. The National Institutes of Health and vaccine manufacturers conducted more rigorous tests on the H1N1 vaccine than they do on other flu vaccines.
H1N1 is produced the same way the seasonal flu vaccine is produced every year; it is simply a new virus strain. Had H1N1 struck this country earlier than this spring, the H1N1 strain probably would have been included as part of this year’s seasonal flu shot.
MYTH: “The vaccine contains a dangerous adjuvant.” Adjuvants are substances that enhance immune response, so smaller quantities of vaccine can be given. The H1N1 vaccine available in the United States contains no adjuvant of any kind.
MYTH: “The vaccine has a dangerous preservative.” Thimerosal, a preservative containing ethyl mercury, has been in vaccines since the 1930s and is safe. H1N1 vaccine distributed in multi-dose vials will contain about 25 micrograms of ethyl mercury per dose. Studies have found that infants could safely receive eight times as much mercury as is contained in the H1N1 vaccine.
MYTH: “The federal government is running a mandatory vaccination campaign.” The vaccination program for H1N1 is voluntary. Government and independent health experts recommend vaccination as a protective measure against the flu, but it is absolutely voluntary. Some hospitals and localities have independently decided to require that health care workers get vaccinated for the flu, but that is a local decision.
Also, here’s a more indepth article from the CDC that I stumbled on in Twitter, 2009 H1N1 Flu (“Swine Flu”) and You.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I was a bit worried when I saw that you were going to do a post on vaccination. There are so many people who are spreading misinformation and lies about vaccines when science has shown them, over and over again, to be safe and effective. Even though you are just talking about the flu shot, I’d like to comment on vaccination in general. When a parent refuses to get their child vaccinated, they don’t just affect their child, that parent puts all the young children around them who aren’t old enough to be vaccinated at risk as well. Vaccines *no not* cause autism. I don’t know why the public decides to believe the fear-mongers instead of the people who work on these things every day.
Thank you so much for making this post.
.-= Tim Nowaczyk´s last blog ..Back Squats, Push Balls, and Sit-ups =-.
Thanks for your post on this. I still find it a little funny that so many people are up in arms and I can’t get anywhere near the vaccine yet. Can’t one of these freaked out anti-vaccine scare-mongers send some of their rejected vaccines my way because there don’t seem to be enough to go around!