It’s flu season and as predicted and anticipated, H1N1 is back and stronger than before.\u00c2\u00a0 This extra nuisance gives little indication over who it will strike down and who it will simply inconvenience… but it does seem to have a particularly strong affinity for children.\u00c2\u00a0 And one way or another, every single one of us is going to be exposed to it.\u00c2\u00a0 We are all potential host of this virus and we all will have the opportunity to unknowingly passing it along until the virus has neutralized itself within our collective systems.<\/p>\n
Sound scary?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, it should.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s say that 25% of us come down with those uncomfortable flu systems.\u00c2\u00a0 And let’s say that of those 25%, half will need IVs for dehydration, a common side effect of flu.\u00c2\u00a0 What would happen in your city’s hospital system if more than 10% of the total population needed some sort of medical assistance?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s a 10% excess rate — a percentage of people needing services over the usual load of illnesses and injuries.\u00c2\u00a0 And what if your child is the one of the ones who becomes REALLY ill?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What will it be like to get them care within a system that is that overburdened?\u00c2\u00a0 If the situation turns life-threatening, does your medical facility have the resources, equipment, and experience to handle advanced flu-related symptoms and infections?\u00c2\u00a0 And can they carry all of that out with a significant increase in patient demands on the system?<\/p>\n
But good news!\u00c2\u00a0 WE HAVE A VACCINES!\u00c2\u00a0 One for seasonal flu and (impressively!) one specific to H1N1.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s effective.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s safe.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s being made in large numbers and supplies are available or en route to your city!\u00c2\u00a0 WOW.<\/p>\n
So seriously.\u00c2\u00a0 I respect individual rights to make decisions.\u00c2\u00a0 I do.\u00c2\u00a0 Truly and honestly.\u00c2\u00a0 And while there ARE good reasons for a few people to think about passing up a life-saving vaccine that not only protects them, but everyone around them — for the vast majority of us hemming and hawing and doubting and worrying, the decision is a really easy one to make.<\/p>\n
You get the damn shot.<\/p>\n
I’m not your doctor and I’m not open to any liability, so I’m not going to sugar-coat it.\u00c2\u00a0 Here is the advice from the Center for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics.\u00c2\u00a0 Here is what your doctor would say if they weren’t obligated to neutral, open, and supportive bedside manner:<\/p>\n
Get the damn shot.<\/p>\n
Okay, okay, there IS a caveat.\u00c2\u00a0 Some people are considered priority in the vaccination recommendations<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re young and not around kids and don’t work in medicine and have no other health issues and have little history of getting seasonal flu ever… well, maybe y’all could hang out for awhile.\u00c2\u00a0 Just until we use our supplies to those more likely than you to get sick and pass it around.\u00c2\u00a0 But the rest of us?\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s get in line.<\/p>\n But let me back up a bit.\u00c2\u00a0 This is NOT judgmental or crazy or blaming.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m a straight up person and I’m calling the spade a spade.<\/p>\n I understand that it is hard to make a choice about things like vaccines and viruses and strains all over an illness that we’ve all had, or we think we’ve had, at one time or another.\u00c2\u00a0 The fact that it is so familiar (what’s a little flu?) minimizes it’s importance in our minds.\u00c2\u00a0 When faced with a “choice” to vaccinate, we take on the responsibilities that come with it whatever we decide.\u00c2\u00a0 We must weigh the cost of the inconvenience, the fee, the appointment… and any risk, no matter how minuscule.\u00c2\u00a0 The perceived risk of flu seems less innocuous than the unidentified maybes and pseudo-scientific rumors of getting a shot.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, we’ve all had flu risk in the past.\u00c2\u00a0 Why not just take flu risk again?\u00c2\u00a0 Save myself the hassle?<\/p>\n The “decision” of whether or not to get a flu shot, particularly with a novel virus spreading, is not just a personal decision.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not just about you.\u00c2\u00a0 The decision, your decision, impacts not only you and your family — it impacts EVERYONE AROUND YOU.\u00c2\u00a0 Personally, I feel that part of considering the responsibility of whether or not to vaccinate includes considering the responsibility we have to our communities, friends, neighbors, and relatives.\u00c2\u00a0 The plain and simple reality is that vaccines save lives.<\/p>\n An excerpt from Slate:<\/p>\n One of those who died in Colorado was 8-year-old Joseph Williams. He had been perfectly healthy before the sudden onset of a stomach ache and high fever. His parents took him to the emergency room, believing they would bring him home quickly, but a brain inflammation brought on by the influenza killed him in hours.<\/p>\n The day after Joseph’s death, his parents held a tearful news conference to beg everyone in the community to get flu shots. If more people had been vaccinated, they argued, their child might have never contracted the infection in this first place.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Damn straight.<\/p>\n One of us — you, me, my kid, your kid, the woman at the deli, the UPS delivery guy, your newborn niece — anyone of us could be the next one who falls suddenly and irreversibly ill.\u00c2\u00a0 And the risk of that happening is much, much greater than any risk from a vaccine.<\/p>\n To address some common concerns:<\/p>\n Worried about thimerosal<\/a>?\u00c2\u00a0 Read this<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 There are different kinds of flu vaccine<\/a>, some without preservative.\u00c2\u00a0 Vaccine for children under age 2 is preservative-free — just as all routine vaccines have been since 2001.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re concerned, find out which vaccines are being given, to whom, and at which locations.\u00c2\u00a0 Ask questions.<\/p>\n Have a homeopathic treatment?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If it makes you feel better, great.\u00c2\u00a0 Just don’t think you’re protected, or that you’re protecting anyone else.<\/p>\n