The Bacon Sniffles...

My two year old is getting it this afternoon. The wife and I should get it this week as well. From what I understand it's pretty much like a regular flu vaccine.

My boss had one and said the only thing different it hurt like hell.  I didn't get the vacine, but I had a regular flu shot because they set up a mobile shot-giver-outer at my office every year.

Interesting. I had it a few days ago and it didn't hurt any more than the seasonal shot I had a few months ago. Of course, for some reason shots don't bother me much.

I'm surprised at the number of people around me that absolutely refuse to have it. Among my peer group I'm the only one that got it.

I received both shots (seasonal/H1N1). No real difference pain wise. The only problem we had in our area was that we only got the inactive (injection) and not the active (mist) which was weird. I agree with ChristopherG above, it's just another flu shot like all the others.

I'm in one of the target groups, so I got the vaccine on Wednesday from the doctor's office down the street from my job. They had the nasal spray instead of the shot, my first experience with one. Basically, they have these things that look sort of like needles that they stick up your nostril, but when they press it it releases a mist that coats the inside. Then they take another one and spray inside your other nostril, and you're all set. Nothing to it really. I've felt compltely fine since. Both the shot and the nasal spray take two weeks before you have full immunity, so the sooner you get it the better if you're thinking of getting vaccinated.

I've been wanting the vaccine, but up till this week they didn't let my age group (35 years old) since they completely botched the actual process for getting it in my province of Alberta.  I'm finally allowed to get it this week, so I plan on getting it tomorrow.

I know a bunch of people who are refusing it as well.  I usually don't get the annual flu shot since it's basically a cocktail based on trends as to what flus should hit that season, and the past 5 years in my area they simply picked the wrong strains of flu.  Not getting this one though is sort of like not getting a small pox vaccination.  Seems irresponsible not to.

My sister-in-law works for the FDA and she will not give her kids this shot, she said it was rushed through way too fast to undergo proper testing. So, I don't blame those who refuse to get the shot, I won't. Of course I never get a flu shot. This is no different then any other flu virus that comes around so I see no reason to get one.

It did get rushed through trials, but not in the way it sounds.  because of the global urgency for the vaccine, it went through a more rigorous trial series then a typical drug would.  There's no need to think it's unsafe because of this.

The virus is different then the typical flu strain as well.  Yes, more people well die from the generic "flu", but as far as strains go, this one is specific, and seems to be more deadly then the average strains that go around.  

How exactly is it more deadly? From the minor reading I've read on the CDC site the symptoms are the same for H1N1 as other flu viruses.

I think there is a large segment of the population with an attitude that if it isn't perfect, if there's any risk, it's bad.  Jeez, getting out of bed involves risk.  Staying in bed leads to a sedentary life and that involves risk too.  Not getting the seasonal flu shot or H1N1 shot involves risk too.

Parents who refuse all vaccinations put their children at risk and also put others at risk since they are raising the risk their children will contract a preventable disease and pass it on to others.

This is starting to read like a contest for how many times I can write the word risk.  I've got my seasonal flu shot and I'd get the H1N1 if I could, but I'm over 60 and not in a high risk group.  BTW, I grew up when the population was eager to get vaccinations.  Who knows, I might be dead were it not for Jonas Salk and his polio vaccine.

Now that is funny.

Everything except the virus itself is exactly the same as the seasonal flu vaccine, which is itself made with different strains every year. As Russell said, the vaccine's high profile has meant that it's been more rigorously tested than this year's seasonal flu vaccine. There is also a nasal spray version, which is how I got vaccinated. Nearly a month later, and I've yet to experience any side effects.

That being said, if you're over 24 with no underlying health problems you're not in the group being targeted for the vaccine anyway.


There's two factors that make H1N1 more of a concern than the regular flu:

1) Most people have at least partial immunity to the seasonal flu, which is likely to be a close cousin of a flu that you contracted earlier in life. Swine flu is instead related to the 1918 Spanish Influenza, which killed 50 to a 100 million people, but was almost entirely eradicated thanks to -- you guessed it -- widespread vaccination. The eradication was so successful that after 1976, people were no longer vaccinated for it. So all those vaccinated through 1976 have partial immunity to the H1N1 virus, while the vast majority of those younger have virtually no immunity to the H1N1 virus. Leading to:

2) The age groups most affected by H1N1. Between 36,000 and 52,000 people die from complications caused by the seasonal flu each year. But the vast majority of the deaths come from the elderly and chronically ill. By contrast, the H1N1 primarily targets the young and the healthy, as well as pregnant women. From the New York State Department of Health: "Young children and pregnant women are documented to be at greater risk of severe disease outcomes from influenza in general, and H1N1 influenza in particular. The epidemiology of H1N1 infections in New York State last spring showed that children under age five years had rates of confirmed H1N1 infection of about five per 100,000, which was almost twice the infection rate in persons age five to 24 years, and five times the rate for persons 25 years of age and older. Children under age five years had rates of hospitalization more than eight times that for persons age five to 24 years of age and 14-20 times higher than for older persons. Nine deaths were reported in the spring in children under age 18 years. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pregnant women are at increased risk of complications and death from H1N1 influenza. Pregnant women have experienced a four-fold higher rate of hospitalization and a six-fold higher death rate than the general population due to H1N1 infection."


Maybe, but it's also true. Think about it: the more people that are immune to the virus, the less carriers there are to spread the disease around. Widespread vaccination in the twentieth century helped wipe out many serious diseases. Parents of children too young to be vaccinated are a priority group for the H1N1 vaccine for this very reason.

Are there dangers from any vaccine? Sure. But the death rate from H1N1 far, far exceeds to the death rate for a modern vaccine. The death rate for infants that contract H1N1 is 1 in 8,400, and the death rate overall (including those outside the high-risk target groups) is 1 in 36,000. By contrast, the death rate from Guillain Barre Syndrome and other vaccine complications is about 1 in 100,000. The odds strongly favor getting vaccinated.

I wasn't intending to be funny and still don't think it is funny.  Think about it, for as long as there's been an understanding of how diseases are transmitted, preventing the transmission has been a major method of preventing spread of disease.  Quarantine is one way.  Eliminating rats that spread disease is another.  Preventing someone from contracting the disease via vaccination is another method.  If you don't contract the disease you won't spread it.

Edit:This is really a reply to Ron while using Adam's reply to bolster my position.

I ment funny on how it was worded, that's all. I know it's true, but it just read funny. And thanks for all the info, still not enough to get me in to get a shot, or my daughter.

I got the vaccine through work a few weeks ago and my son got it a couple weeks ago at school.  The wife refuses to get it.  She hates shots.

I was in the mall the other day and they were giving out free vaccines.  My girlfriend refused to let us get it though because she felt it wasn't "safe" if not at a doctors office .  I told her they re-use the same needles and just refill the syringe by dipping it in a big bowl.

You got off lucky!  I got the shot, and my arm didn't seem to hurt at all, until I tried raise my hands over my head.  Then it felt like it got hit by a baseball or something.  took a few days to get past that.  I'm told it's because the vaccination is more viscous and thick then a normal flu shot, and therefore slower to absorb into the body.  I haven't looked it up to see if it's true.