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Strollerderby
Standing in line for the H1N1 shot last fall were parents, grandparents, and other caretakers of newborn infants.
Because there is no flu shot — H1N1 or seasonal — approved for infants under six months, and because infants are at high risk for complications if they do catch the flu, the next best thing is making sure that everyone around the infant is vaccinated.
But a new study out of the University of Washington, Seattle suggests that seasonal flu vaccines may be safely used in infants as young as six weeks old.
It’s always been tenuous at best, but the link between autism and vaccines has been dealt a final and devastating blow this week. The medical journal that printed the controversial study in the late nineties has fully retracted it.
In the wake of a medical panel’s announcement that the autism/MMR study’s author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, acted unethically in building the “evidence” that’s been used to support an entire crowd of anti-vaxers, the Lancet issued its announcement today. Continue reading »
Mark this one down in the “if, then” column. A new study says if you don’t get your kids the chicken pox vaccine, they are at an extremely high risk of catching the disease.
Hence the point of vaccines. Continue reading »
The American Academy of Pediatrics, along with the CDC and the AAFP, recently announced changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.
For parents who follow their pediatrician’s vaccination guidelines, not much will change. New recommendations include:
When I asked our kids’ pediatrician about the swine flu vaccine, he said that it was up to us, but that he wasn’t getting it. That’s telling, given that we figure he’s about 90 years old — he was my wife’s pediatrician too — and is thus a prime candidate. He said felt that the government and the media had made more of the disease than was appropriate. Given that he’s been practicing for more than 50 years, I tend to listen when he says something. But lest you think he’s been practicing a little too long, he is not alone in his assessment of the situation.
Continue reading »
Pregnant and still not convinced you should get a flu shot? Three new studies might just help you make up your mind. Here are the findings of each:
It started with a sore throat, a “burning hot” sore throat, my daughter called it. That’s when I knew we were probably in trouble. H1N1 is spiking in our state with over 200 school closings last week alone.
That was 4 p.m Thursday. By bedtime, her fever was 101.5. That’s when I had to break it to her that she’d miss Friday’s field trip. At that point, the disappointment was worse than the flu.
By Friday morning, she no longer cared. She was sick. Here’s our experience with the swine flu:
Lori Garcia 
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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