Worried About Flu Vaccines? You're Not Alone
With flu vaccine production at full tilt, public health concerns have shifted from having enough vaccine to getting enough people to roll up their sleeves and get immunized. All vaccination programs depend on wide participation to produce so-called "herd immunity." In essence, a disease-causing germ can't spread if enough people are immune to it.
High vaccination rates also protect those who can't be vaccinated or won't respond to a vaccine. Of particular concern are babies under six months. A newborn's immune system isn't yet developed enough to respond to a flu vaccine. But that baby is at high risk of fatal complications should she catch the flu.
That said, many people have a kind of free-floating anxiety around vaccines. We got a clear snapshot of their reluctance last week with the release of a Consumer Reports poll of 1,502 adults. Only 35 percent definitely planned to get themselves and their children vaccinated against the H1N1 flu. Half remained undecided.
The No. 1 reason for opting out? "I want to build up natural immunities." (63 percent)
That drew a sharp retort from the director of Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, Dr. John Santa:
"Your body produces exactly the same antibodies, whether it's from a natural infection or from the vaccine, Santa said. "If your child is the one that dies, you've paid a very high price for natural immunity."
Santa's impatience is typical of many physicians who point to the reams of studies that show vaccines to be safe and effective. But in all honesty, citing studies that most people have never read doesn't fully dispel public hesitation.
The good news is that, in rolling out the H1N1 vaccination campaign, public health experts are directly addressing some of the top concerns people have about vaccines--even providing alternatives for people worried about specific vaccine components such as the preservative thimerosal.
In my next few posts, I'll be describing how government health experts are taking public concerns seriously. Meanwhile, if you have a concern to be addressed, please leave a comment.
--Jessica Snyder Sachs
Science journalist Jessica Snyder Sachs is the author of Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World.
Got a question or comment about swine flu? Post it here. Throughout the
flu season, Jessica will be answering your questions on all things
influenza.
That said, many people have a kind of free-floating anxiety around vaccines. We got a clear snapshot of their reluctance last week with the release of a Consumer Reports poll of 1,502 adults. Only 35 percent definitely planned to get themselves and their children vaccinated against the H1N1 flu. Half remained undecided.
The No. 1 reason for opting out? "I want to build up natural immunities." (63 percent)
That drew a sharp retort from the director of Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, Dr. John Santa:
"Your body produces exactly the same antibodies, whether it's from a natural infection or from the vaccine, Santa said. "If your child is the one that dies, you've paid a very high price for natural immunity."
Santa's impatience is typical of many physicians who point to the reams of studies that show vaccines to be safe and effective. But in all honesty, citing studies that most people have never read doesn't fully dispel public hesitation.
The good news is that, in rolling out the H1N1 vaccination campaign, public health experts are directly addressing some of the top concerns people have about vaccines--even providing alternatives for people worried about specific vaccine components such as the preservative thimerosal.
In my next few posts, I'll be describing how government health experts are taking public concerns seriously. Meanwhile, if you have a concern to be addressed, please leave a comment.
--Jessica Snyder Sachs
Science journalist Jessica Snyder Sachs is the author of Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World.
Got a question or comment about swine flu? Post it here. Throughout the
flu season, Jessica will be answering your questions on all things
influenza.
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My comment is that you get the flu shots you can get sick from it. My daughter is proof. Every time shes gets the flu shot she does get sick. Last year she didn't get the flu shot and she did not get sick. So what is the real truth behind all of this?
1. People may not read the studies, but that doesn't seem to stop most of them from going on as if they were experts. If more bloggers would simply cite their sources, that would be a great help -- not to mention a great MODEL for all the other people who keep making up stuff and see no problem with that approach. BOnus if the citations are actually from reputable sources.
2. I read somewhere --:0) -- that everyone who catches the flu passes it on to 3-4 others. That means being vaccinated is about much more than protecting ourselves: people who are vaccinated protect other people as well. The child who dies may not be your own... but YOU could be the one who caused his or her death! (BTW: here in Knoxville, TN, we just had our first child death from H1N1 yesterday. So yes, it IS a serious disease, just like the seasonal flu, and yes it CAN kill you.)
3. The MAYO CLINICadmits that some cases of Guillain-Barre have been traced to flu vaccinations.
Okay, so let's do some math:
In the United States, only about 1 in 100,000 people are affected with Guillain-Barre syndrome
each year. Further, the fatality rate of GBS is only five to ten percent of THOSE. And remember: at least some (if not most, if not ALL) of these cases CANNOT be traced back to an influenza vaccination.
Meanwhile, also in the US, 30,000 to 50,000 persons die as a result of influenza viral infection. Not the vaccination, but the INFECTION.(the fatality number is indefinite because citing influenza as cause of death is only required for children.) And about 5-10% of hospitalizations for SEASONAL influenza lead to a fatal outcome in adults -- and we already know H1N1 is much more dangerous for CHILDREN.
Which seems like the greater risk to you... Guillane-Barre or influenza (including H1N1)? And who will the person who CANNOT get innoculated because of a Guillane-Barre risk depend upon for their own protection against the flu if not you? And who will YOU depend on for your own protection, if you CHOOSE not to get vaccinated, except for all the other folks who do?
Vaccines=immunity. That's the whole idea -- get the shot, so you DON'T have to go through getting the disease. In order to be immune from... getting the disease? (tell me how that makes sense, anyway.)
As for the "I seem to have natural immunity" argument: how can that mean anything else but "I've never actually been exposed to enough virus to get sick because I depend on everyone else (and everyone else's children) getting immunized."
This is even more reason for the REST of us to get vaccinated, so that that the few people who can't will still be protected... by US. Who have been VACCINATED. So that we will not make these people SICK.
And -- Thanks! -- you helped me write my own post for tomorrow!
what about those of us who have autoimmune problems..what affect is h1N1 having on those w/ Autoimmune disease's and what affect does the vaccine have to someone with autoimmune diseases? Thank you