Poll: Will you have your child vaccinated for H1N1?
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Last week, we asked what you think about the Department of Education’s recent bake sale ban. An overwhelming number of you — 72% — responded that you oppose the new rule.
About half of respondents said that bake sales should not be banned because they are an important way for schools to raise funds. Nine percent disagreed, voting that PA/PTAs should come up with better fundraising ideas.
The ban is just one part of a larger regulation aimed at curbing New York’s alarming student obesity rates. Twenty-one percent of you felt that bake sales are not a major contributor to this problem, while 17% felt that the last thing kids need is more junk food.
Last week, along with the bake sale ban, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the H1N1 vaccine. Parents are receiving consent forms this week to have their children vaccinated against the H1N1 virus.
In September, we reported that the DOE will provide the vaccine to elementary students in schools, and to other students at weekend clinics. This week, The New York Times addressed a number of concerns regarding these immunizations. Some parents worry that the vaccine was rushed to the public. Others feel that it could not have come a day sooner.
In this week’s poll, we’d like to know if you will have your child vaccinated. Comment below to let us know why, or why not!
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As a mother of three children, I am not going to get my children vaccinated. Why? It is a new vaccine and it may have side effects. I am going to wait until it has been fully tested. Maybe next year,
I will give them the flu vaccine though. I am not risking that one. If my children come home with the fewest of symptoms, its chicken noodle soup and medicine right away.
Please comment back.
Comment by Jaya — October 18, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
My daughter got a seasonal flu vaccine last year, for the first time. She had 2 days of side effects, then 4 months later had a horrible case of the flu with respiratory complications. Her first! This year we will rely on the best that nature has to offer in avoiding and/or treating the flu, and work on boosting her overall health and immune system, rather than straining it as the vaccine seemed to do. It just wasn’t right for her.
It’s a difficult personal decision and I think everyone should be supportive of other parents no matter which way they choose to go. I would never be critical of parents who choose to vaccinate and I hope we get the same respect.
Comment by Julie M — October 19, 2009 @ 7:36 am
no estoy de acuerdo simplemente si no funciona que va a pasar con los que sean puesto la vacuna
[I don’t agree because if it doesn’t work what’s going to happen to those who were vaccinated]
Comment by marcia — October 20, 2009 @ 9:07 pm
It is child abuse to fail to vaccinate your children. Part of responsibnle parenting is to inform yourself. A parent who fails to vaccinate believing the nonsense about this vaccine being any different than other vaccines, or, worse, believing the nonsense that vaccines are somehow inherently unsafe, is failing to exercise the intelligence and good judgment that parenting requires. If you can’t take care of your children, including vaccinating them, you really shouldn’t have them.
Even a cursory glance at the scientific literature, including the medical journals, demonstrates conclusively that these vaccines save lives, with less risk than we live with every day in our households.
Comment by Mickey Davis — October 21, 2009 @ 11:06 am
I have serious concerns about them using Flu Mist in the schools. Once ‘misted’, an individual sheds live virus cells for up to 21 days. The package insert advises that users avoid those with immune diseases during that 3 week period. How is that going to be possible? Who will be protecting those susceptible kids and the other members of the community? What is a classmate sneezes on a child who has a parent going through cancer treatment?
Comment by melissa — October 21, 2009 @ 11:23 am
Wow, Melissa…great points! More confusion!!
Comment by Lulu Bee — October 21, 2009 @ 11:35 am
I’m not sure why my earlier post was erased. I guess it had something to do with my saying I wasn’t as smart as Jenny McCarthy?
Yes, our children will get the vaccines. This is a pretty good summary of why:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience/all/1
Comment by T — October 21, 2009 @ 11:58 am
The CDC pretty clearly addresses the issue of the likelihood of the mist’s exposing other people to live virus.
“Can people receiving the nasal-spray flu vaccine LAIV (FluMist®) pass the vaccine viruses to others?
In clinical studies, transmission of vaccine viruses to close contacts has occurred only rarely. The current estimated risk of getting infected with vaccine virus after close contact with a person vaccinated with the nasal-spray flu vaccine is low (0.6%-2.4%). Because the viruses are weakened, infection is unlikely to result in influenza illness symptoms since the vaccine viruses have not been shown to mutate into typical or naturally occurring influenza viruses.
Can contacts of people with weakened immune systems get the nasal-spray flu vaccine LAIV (FluMist®)?
People who are in contact with others with severely weakened immune systems when they are being cared for in a protective environment (for example, people with hematopoietic stem cell transplants), should not get LAIV (FluMist®). People who have contact with others with lesser degrees of immunosuppression (for example, people with diabetes, people with asthma taking corticosteroids, or people infected with HIV) can get LAIV (FluMist®).”
http://www.cdc.gov/FLU/about/qa/nasalspray.htm
Comment by T — October 21, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
Mickey said, “Part of responsibnle parenting is to inform yourself.”
Which I did. And chose not to get a flu vaccine. This is with the full approval of my child’s pediatrician. Not to mention the fact that 50% of MDs in Great Britain are personally refusing the vaccine.
There are two sides to every story, and two sides to the flu vaccine research. I am completely supportive of parents who choose to vaccinate, as I give them the credit of believing they did their research and came up with the answer that was right for them.
I could believe that they fell prey to media frenzy…but I don’t.
It’s sad that some don’t give others the same credit. Medicine is not hard and fast, the answers change all the time. The very best medicine of the 60s, 70s, 80s, even 90s, has in some cases proven harmful in the long run. We all have to make our own difficult choices, and it’s quite upsetting that people cannot respect that.
Actually, it does smack of someone being insecure of their own choice, this need to denigrate those who disagree…
Comment by Julie — October 21, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
#7: Your comment wasn’t erased. Insideschools.org was down for several hours on Monday and we lost one blogpost and any comments that may have been posted just prior to the site going down. Sorry about that - and please feel free to repost!
Comment by Insideschools.org — October 21, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
By the way, Dr. Bob Sears, much beloved of the parenting community, does not get flu shots and is not getting a swine flu shot. Neither does Dr. Andrew Weil. Other doctors disagree. It’s just not a black-and-white decision.
I hope everyone will do their research, make the decision that is best for themselves, and BE SUPPORTIVE OF EVERYONE ELSE TOO.
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/flu.htm
http://www.drweil.com/drw/ecs/forums/thread.html?docid=THR51829&catid=582
http://www.garynull.com/articles/vaccines/ShamVaccine.pdf
http://www.wellsphere.com/vitamins-supplements-article/swine-flu-vaccine-dangers/786308
http://www.wellsphere.com/wellpage/flu-vaccine-pros-and-cons
http://www.examiner.com/x-6495-US-Intelligence-Examiner~y2009m7d7-Swine-flu-Vaccine-risks-and-dangers
Comment by Julie — October 21, 2009 @ 12:27 pm
In spite of what the CDC says, it is a fact that live virus cells may be shed up to 21 days after one is ‘misted’. It used to say this clearly in the package inserts but I believed they removed it this year. This spray is NOT without risk of making those with weakened immune systems very ill.
Comment by melissa — October 21, 2009 @ 12:42 pm
I don’t see why there must be no bake sales. growing children need some sweets in their system for energy. No one is saying eat lots of cakes on a daily basis and I am sure this is not happening. I think the real reason for obesity is that the children are not allowed to exercise enough in school there is no recess and during the lunch period the students are asked to sit inside most of the time to avoid student injury. Not only that, some schools don’t have enough gym for the children, especially the younger ones.
Comment by Patricia Joseph — October 21, 2009 @ 12:50 pm
I don’t think I want to give my child the Swine Flu vaccine. The tests have not been extensive enough and even the ones developing the vaccine have not taken it yet. That leaves me wondering. Why?
Comment by Patricia Joseph — October 21, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
“In spite of what the CDC says, it is a fact that live virus cells may be shed up to 21 days after one is ‘misted’. It used to say this clearly in the package inserts but I believed they removed it this year. This spray is NOT without risk of making those with weakened immune systems very ill.”
Are you a doctor, a medical researcher, an epidemiologist, etc.?
(with real credentials, not ones from the University of Google)
Comment by T — October 21, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
No but a) I’ve read it on the previously available package insert with my own college-educated eyes - both on paper and on the mfr’s website and b) my mother is cancer survivor and my son has immune issues so I have valid concerns. Perhaps you wouldn’t care if someone you loved were in that 0.6%-2.4% but I would be devastated.
Comment by melissa — October 21, 2009 @ 1:41 pm
Gotcha, Melissa. So you are taking your very atypical situation and projecting it onto others, and then as an added bonus, you’re insinuating that I’m uncaring for people in your situation.
You can’t believe that what you’re suggesting actually passes the smell test. You would honestly prefer to have 100% of the student population go unvaccinated so as to avoid the 0.6%-2.4% chance of a mist-vaccinated’s child transmitting a weakened version of the flu to a fellow student who happens to have an immuno-compromised relative?
What will most protect susceptible children and their extended communities is the highest number of people possible getting vaccinated, pure and simple.
Comment by T — October 21, 2009 @ 2:16 pm
It is not a sign of insecurity to recognize that other parents’ ignorant choices to refuse modern medical care endangers everyone else in the community. I really don’t need to have my child exposed to a fully swine flue infected child because the parents made ignorant choices. There are not, in fact, two correct sides to every question. Often there are, but in science there are more frequently not. My insecurity, however, is real: parents who disregard good practices are exposing my child to a risk that is far more often fatal with this virus than with others, and especially to young children (and pregnant mothers). This is like saying there are two sides to every highway–but when you go the wrong way down that wrong side, you are risking not just yourself, but others. This is a community we live in, people, not your own private ego.
Comment by Mickey Davis — October 21, 2009 @ 2:52 pm
This is the same vaccine as the seasonal flu vaccine. Every year the most prevalent strain is made into a *new* vaccine. This year, there are two, instead of one. Thus, discussion of how this is “untested” disregards the facts. The only new thing here is that this year, one of the circulating flus kills children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable people at a higher rate than usual. Not a lottery I will participate in with my child!
Comment by M-MML — October 21, 2009 @ 4:33 pm
No, actually, swine flu kills at a LOWER rate than others. It is LESS dangerous than seasonal flu. The fact that people here are saying otherwise, is proof that they are prey to media hype and have done zero research. Seriously, go look it up.
“other parents’ ignorant choices to refuse modern medical care endangers…”
First of all, if you and your children are vaccinated, what exactly do you have to fear from the unvaccinated?
Secondly, shall we discuss other tested, proven items of “modern medical care” in the past few decades? Thalidomide, Baycol, Zelnorm, Rezulin, the Edmonston-Zagreb measles vaccine, Posicor, Raptiva, the 1976 swine flu vaccine which caused more deaths than the flu itself…and hundreds of others. Those drugs and immunizations were the best possible medical advances of their times and weren’t pulled until long after they were in common usage–and many people died from them. Fortunately, my parents avoided them all.
That said, I understand the fears of flu, and that there is good research on both sides of the issue. All vaccinations are a CALCULATED RISK, and your personal pediatrician will tell you so (go ahead, ask). The decision is which risk is greater in your child’s case, and that’s a personal decision.
So whether or not you choose to vaccinate, it’s sad that you can’t respect those who make different decisions.
Besides, there’s nowhere near enough vaccine. Be happy we’re leaving it for you!
Comment by Julie — October 22, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
“First of all, if you and your children are vaccinated, what exactly do you have to fear from the unvaccinated?”
Look up “vaccine failure” on the University of Google.
Comment by T — October 22, 2009 @ 3:55 pm
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/06/the_ethics_of_vaccine_refusal_vaccine_re.php
“I understand that the decision not to vaccinate is often driven by concerns about what costs those who receive the vaccines might bear, and whether those costs might be worse than the benefits secured by vaccination. Set aside for the moment the issue of whether these concerns are well grounded in fact. Instead, let’s look at the parallel me might draw:
If I vaccinate my kids, no matter what your views about the etiology of autism and asthma, you are not going to claim that my kids getting their shots raise your kids’ odds of getting autism or asthma. But if you don’t vaccinate your kids, even if I vaccinate mine, your decision does raise my kids’ chance of catching preventable infectious diseases. My decision to vaccinate doesn’t hurt you (and probably helps you in the ways discussed above). Your decision not to vaccinate could well hurt me.
The asymmetry of these choices is pretty unavoidable.”
Comment by Marni Goltsman — October 22, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
I think that its good that they are making it possible for elementry kids to get the shot but I think that kids shouldn’t get it because what if there are side effects and the kids get very sick and that is putting your child at risk I think kids should just get the flue shot because we have to think about the kids but if an adult wants to get it that’s them but they are just kids come on now
Comment by Cherry — October 24, 2009 @ 6:50 pm
am I right or wrong anybody u see I read someones blog and they let there child get it and now the child has the flue and is in the hospital sick after 4months of getting the shot
Comment by Cherry — October 24, 2009 @ 6:56 pm
Excellent article on vaccines:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience
Comment by Marni Goltsman — October 26, 2009 @ 9:35 am
They are no longer vaccinating kids.
Only elementary school kids - middle and up = not getting it anymore.
Unless they are forcing all misted kids to stay home for at least a month, we are going to have one hell of an issue soon.
Comment by ta — October 29, 2009 @ 5:35 pm