Flu Shots - Austin,TX

From the Austin American Statesman today:
Doug McBride, a Texas Department of State Health Services spokesman, said 42 Texans have died so far from swine flu. Not counting Garcia's death, four of those swine flu deaths have been in those younger than 18 and at least two had underlying health problems. He says 11 Texans under 18 have died from seasonal flu since the flu season began last fall.

Read this as well:
Before everyone runs out to get the swine flu shot they should do their own research around the complications, side effects and history of past inoculation programs .
Here is one link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206807/Swine-flu...#

Not to confuse you more. I too am undecided but am leaning against it.

M.

Hi.. I also had my son vaccinated (he is 20 months now) on a regular schedule. However, I have been closely following this whole swine flu thing. I believe yes it's out there but what scares me about THIS particular vaccination is that they have absolutely no idea of what the effects will be on a fetus. It's just not something I feel good about in my gut- so therefore I am opting out of it. I should note I will be 6 weeks pregnant as of this Friday, too. I don't take this lightly and have put a lot of thought into this. But not only am I not having my son given the swine flu vaccine I am definitely not getting it. I am braced for my dr. to lecture me, not sure her response yet (my first prenatal visit is thursday) but best advice? Go with what you feel safest and comfortable with. There's plenty of ways to stay healthy, maintain your immune system and stuff like that. I'm not even getting a regular flu shot. I cannot remember the last time I had the flu though so that's relative. Good luck and be well:)

I haven't heard anything negative about the regular flu shot. And I guarantee you, your children's father is completely wrong about more people dying from the flu shot itself -- I think there were something like 30,000 people who died from the REGULAR flu last flu season. I haven't heard about anybody dying from the shots. I know there's talk about the H1N1 shot, but I think that's because it's new. They're doing trials on real humans, so I would think anything bad would show up there.

Get the flu shot. Me and my son already have (he's 16). And we'll be getting the H1N1 shot when it comes out, too, even though my son already probably had H1N1 in August. Yes, it's mostly a mild thing, but I don't want to take any chances.

HTH!

I've been contemplating the same issue. My daughter was almost a year old last year and just getting ready to start day care and I decided, based on the doctor’s recommendation to get her the flu shot. She did just fine with it however she still got sick pretty frequently. They say that’s just the exposure to daycare and all the other kids and it does build up her immune system.

Now with the swine flu I’m even more confused so I spoke to the doctor’s office (new doctor from last year) yesterday and they confirmed that the swine flu is really no worse than the regular flu. My daughter is almost two now so the doctor is offering the vaccination but is not pushing it. The new doctor I noticed is not into pushing for invasive medicine which I really like and seems to use a more level-headed approach to child care.

That being said, I’m not going to have my daughter get the shot unless there is more evidence that it is truly needed and not just another SARS or bird flu scare. I know SARS was real but they also hyped that one in the media. Instead, I’m going to do what I I’ve been doing this whole time for my daughter’s health; have her eat healthy, plenty of rest, wash her hands and take her to the doctor if she gets sick.

It really makes me wonder how on earth we’ve populated the world considering how we didn’t have all this “medicine” around when our great-grandparents, grandparent, and parents were kids. Don’t get me wrong, I do get the recommended vaccinations for my daughter but there is a part of me that wonders if it is truly needed or if it's just the pharmaceutical companies pushing a new product. I remember getting chicken pox and not feeling that bad… just itchy.

If you hear anything useful, based on fact and not fear, please repost!