Bleh…I meant to say “he falls into a category of people that might have some immunity from H1N1 *because of his age*.”

As Louise says, if he is older, he is definitely in the low-risk group for H1N1. Where did you get the idea that he was a prime candidate. If you have read anything at all about this flu, you would know this. (I know I sound harsh, but it drives me nuts when people write about medicine/science without knowing the very basic facts.)

Marie – not everyone who has had this flu has had it easy. I know 2 people who had very severe cases. Of course, that is just anecdotal, but you shouldn’t judge based on the people you know. (And are you sure they actually had the H1N1, and not just a cold?)

The whole idea that getting the immunity naturally is better is just wrong. With a safe vaccine out there, why would you want to subject your kids to being sick? I just don’t understand that mentality. Same with the chicken pox. Why subject your kids to an uncomfortable to painful illness (and give them the opportunity to get shingles later in life) when there is a vaccine?

The big issue is that people can’t get the H1N1 vaccine.

I do agree that this is not a panic situation. (If you look at the CDC website, they do not come off as panicked.) But it is the flu, which we should all take more seriously. We get our flu shots every year, since I’d rather get the shot and have a lower chance at actually getting the flu. Same with H1N1.

I’m sorry, I meant October 30.

Well bless his heart. Your 90 yr old pediatrition doesn’t want it — he’s not even in one of the groups the CDC is recommending they vax. They are recommending seasonal flu vax but not h1n1 for his age group. Take a look at their web site — 65 yrs and older are not among the groups mentioned. http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/public/vaccination_qa_pub.htm

Chances are, he already has an immunity given his age the theory that he has been exposed to a similar strain and therefore immune. Take a look at the number of pediatric deaths per week this year, and you get a picture of what’s happening here. Infants and children are the ones affected here. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2009-2010/IPD43.htm also see this http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/10/why_cdc_says_this_years_flu_se.php?utm_source=nytwidget.

Maybe the stats are different in Canada, but I think this is something to take note and, depending on underlying health issues especially, is something to look at. Your Dr may have many years of experience, but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily up on all the research. Yes, he has to take continuing education but it is highly highly doubtful it had anyhting to do with h1n1.

What drives me bonkers is that so many people (and doctors) are self-diagnosing H1N1. That’s been part of the problem in tracking the virus, they abandoned swabbing for it back in the summer. Now, just about everybody who has been sick for a couple of days says, “yeah, I think I got it … no biggie.” I think the fact that they’ve been getting flu shots out to the masses — and often for free! — has been great. I hate being labeled as “panicky” for actually wanting one for me and my kids.
Also, what do doctors care if your kid gets the flu. Ask your school’s principal and see what s/he says.

I heard that the actual test to diagnose h1n1 is rather expensive. Most are working under the assumption that if it’s type A, it’s h1n1. I think it’s safe to say that all h1n1 is a type A, but not all type A is h1n1. What blows my mind are the parents, in some cases with kids w/asthma, who will give their children the seasonal shot but not the h1n1 despite the fact that this is essentially the same shot just different strain. My ped, in all seriousness, told me yesterday that she’s had to tell several parents that the vaccine is not a terrorist plot.

I went in for my annual pelvic this week and my OBGYN was beside herself that people aren’t taking it seriously. She’s had several colleagues lose pregnant patients to H1N1, and I’m in one of those counties where getting vaccinated is nigh on impossible.

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20091112/over-22-million-in-us-had-h1n1-swine-flu?page=2

There is a reason why the elderly are not in the priority group for getting the H1N1 vaccine.

I asked my pediatrician what she was personally dealing with in the practice. She said that she is seeing 2 cases a day and that the complications aren’t just lung issues, but also bacterial infections around the heart or brain! A good friend’s pediatrician is seeing 20 (!!!) cases a day in an urban setting! Of course, they aren’t testing anymore and it is suggested h1n1, but the only other virus going around here right now is strep (bacterial) so if the test comes back positive for influenza A, it’s safe to assume it’s h1n1.

I got my kid the mist b/c Kaiser had it and frankly, I don’t want to put him through the misery of this virus if I don’t have to. I also felt a civic duty to be a part of herd immunity. There is concern that the more exposure this virus gets to people, the more likely it is to mutate and the faster it can mutate!

This isn’t what I should be reading right before going to bed: Nightmare! 3 of the 4 of us got the vaccine because I was pregnant (okay, now there are 5 of us, but baby is too young), but my eldest son, 3.5 years, couldn’t get the vaccine because he was sick when we went to the free clinic to get it. And, of course, he’s the borderline asthmatic in the fam; I will die if he gets sick and something happens. I am beyond pissed, though, that this vaccine is being given away free but our doctor can’t get it, and neither can our hospital offer it. And I live in Chicago! I’m all for the free clinics, but why can’t doctors get it too? For my eldest son to get it now would mean waiting in a 4 hour long line with a 2 y/o and a 4 day old baby. Which is next to impossible. This makes me so, so angry. I’d pay thru the nose for it, too, but nobody has it. Argh!

Okay, need to go stabilize my blood pressure so I can sleep tonight.

mommiedear – you can keep your opinions that are being “thrown around”. I’ll go with the facts when I make a decision regarding my child’s health.

I want to second the comment that young people are at MORE risk from H1N1 than the elderly — and yes, that is part of the very basic information about this pandemic. There are two reasons why for H1N1 the elderly are at less risk — 1) they were probably exposed to it one of the last couple times, and 2) at least during the 1918 swine flu, it was thought to be the strong, overreacting immune systems killing young people via a “cytokine storm”. Now, I think the second point may be turning out to be less of an issue this time around, but that is a big part of the reason people are concerned, and why young people up to age 24 are part of the high-risk priority group. A 24 year-old can get the vaccine, someone over that age without other risk factors is supposed to wait.
Yeah, surely Babble could find some doctor/researcher that can vet these medicine-related posts???
And FWIW, my ped says he is seeing a TON of cases, but he also said that without other risk factors (ie, cystic fibrosis, etc.) a kid is not likely to actually die. Nevertheless, IMO pretty damn scary.

My son was supposed to get the shot today, but came down with croup and a fever, so we could not. And of course, they ran out of vaccine, so I can’t get him on the list again for two weeks. I am crossing my fingers. Not only are people ignorant of the facts, but they are sending around totally bizarro information. One earthy-crunchy woman I know sent me a missive about how the flu and the vaccine are an underground attempt by the World Health Organization, the CDC and the Obama administration to trim down the US population. That kind of bullshit makes me feel stabby.

CAtem, I won’t flame you, but I will bring your attention to all the studies which find no credible link between MMR and autism (wikipedia has a good breakdown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy#Recent_studies) and while you can say that your first hand experience of seeing it is proof that it does happen, all it really proves is that regressive autism exists and this is something people have been grappling with for centuries, long before vaccinations and the definition of autism (you cannot prove the vaccine caused your nephew’s autism, all you can prove is that your nephew’s symptoms became noticeable after the vaccine). I know a woman whose children cannot be vaccinated and when there are outbreaks of diseases, the whole family has to self-quarantine in order to protect themselves. The reason that there are now outbreaks of diseases? Because of people who just don’t want to take the tiny unknown risk that comes with vaccines, but are willing to take a huge known risk which comes from not vaccinating, not just a risk to themselves, but to everyone in the population who cannot be vaccinated or for whom the vaccine does not take (most vaccines only confer immunity in 70-85% of the people vaccinated). In terms of H1N1 and risks, we know that children and young people are dying in greater numbers from this disease than from seasonal flu. If people want to play russian roulette with their children’s lives, that is their choice, but I imagine the parents who have already lost children to this disease would have loved to have the vaccine.