People are funny.
So we have this sudden and widespread Flu pandemic called H1N1. People freak out and start wearing surgical masks in public. Probably a result of remembering that SARS outbreak a few years back and watching too many “outbreak” type movies. H1N1 is not SARS, it’s not ebola, it’s not Stephen King’s super flu or Avian (bird flu). It’s a nasty ass I-dont’-want-it flu. The deaths related to it are not a direct result of the flu but complications from previous health conditions and a weakened immune system. It targets the little people…who depend on us big people for care. Not long after this outbreak we get a vaccine developed…then it get’s tested and scrutinized probably more so than the rest of the civilized world. And then what do we do? Not get vaccinated. I’m picturing Spock’s eyebrow raising up as he says “fascinating.”
Somewhere somebody mentioned the word “Mercury” and “Government conspiracy” and now 40 percent of people polled are refusing the vaccine. Even in my circle of friends there are parents saying that they will not vaccinate their kids for fear of mercury induced autism or some other form of mercury poisoning. Even though it’s the same freaking ingredient that has been in vaccinations for the past 30 years. And now we have this vaccine in a nasal spray that doesn’t even contain this thing people are “concerned” about. People are gullible and tend to believe things they hear through the internet without looking into it’s validity. Just yesterday my sister, who is intelligent and in her 30’s forwarded me one of those emails – “send this out to everyone you know and get a free laptop” I laughed and gave her crap about it. Urban legends are fascinating to me. Personally, I’ve been trying to increase my Vitamin B* (Bacon!!) in my diet to help ward off the swine. (heh heh heh).
As a parent, my tendency is to “err on the side of caution”. We got the oldest his nose spray vaccine Monday and we’re working on getting the youngest his. So far there has been no side effect, illness or sudden onset of Autism. (Although, I swear to god, my oldest starts talking like rainman on the topics of star wars, bakugon or mario brothers.)
I couldn’t imagine what I would do if – worst case scenario: child dies from complications attributed with an illness that may have been prevented by a simple vaccination. There are more important things to stress over than a government vaccine conspiracy.
Here’s a great article debunking the latest “urban myths” regarding the H1N1 vaccine: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/opinion/12offit.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=h1n1%20vaccine&st=cse
PUBLIC health officials are now battling not only a fast-spreading influenza virus but also unfounded fears about the vaccine that can prevent it.
Since April, more than a million Americans have caught H1N1 flu, more than 10,000 have been hospitalized, and about 1,000 have died, including 76 children. And it’s only the beginning of October. Yet, in a new survey, 41 percent of adults said they will not get vaccinated.
The good news is that for the first time in more than 50 years we’ve made a vaccine against a pandemic strain of influenza before the onset of winter, when lower temperatures and humidity allow the virus to spread more easily. Distributing this vaccine to those who need it most — pregnant women, health care workers, children older than six months and people with compromised immunity — will be difficult enough. But the task is made harder by the various myths, spread on TV talk shows and Web sites, suggesting that Americans have more to fear from the vaccine than from the deadly disease it prevents. Here are some of those myths, and why they’re wrong:
SWINE FLU VACCINE IS UNSAFE The H1N1 virus revealed itself too late for it to be included in this year’s seasonal flu vaccine. But the H1N1-specific vaccine was manufactured in the same way as the regular vaccine: The shot form is made by growing the virus in hen’s eggs, purifying it and then treating it with a chemical that inactivates it. This technology has been used to make influenza vaccines for 60 years, and it has an excellent safety record. The nasal spray form is made by adapting the virus to temperatures below those typically found in the body. This allows it to reproduce in the relatively cool lining of the nose, but not in the lungs where it could cause harm. This technology has been used safely for more than 30 years. FluMist, a seasonal flu vaccine used since 2003, is made the same way.
THE VACCINE IS UNTESTED The H1N1 vaccine has already been given to thousands of volunteers to determine whether it could protect them from the virus and to make sure that it caused no adverse reactions. Only then did the Food and Drug Administration license it.
THE VACCINE CONTAINS A DANGEROUS ADJUVANT Some vaccines, like the hepatitis B and human papillomavirus vaccines, have substances called adjuvants, which are added to enhance the immune response, so that smaller quantities of vaccine can be given. Some people fear that the H1N1 vaccine contains, in particular, squalene, an adjuvant that, while included in other vaccines in Europe and Canada, has never been used in routine vaccines in the United States. But the H1N1 vaccine available in the United States has no adjuvant of any kind.
THE VACCINE HAS A DANGEROUS PRESERVATIVE Thimerosal, a preservative containing ethyl mercury that has been in vaccines since the 1930s, is used to prevent inadvertent bacterial and fungal contamination of multi-dose vials. H1N1 vaccine distributed in multi-dose vials will contain about 25 micrograms of ethyl mercury per dose. The issue of thimerosal received public attention in 1999 when the American Academy of Pediatrics and the United States Public Health Service took the precautionary step of asking that thimerosal be removed from single-dose vials of all vaccines. This was done in such a precipitous and frightening manner that it gave rise to the notion that thimerosal had led to autism or mercury poisoning. It hadn’t.
In fact, subsequent studies found that infants could safely receive eight times as much mercury as is contained in the H1N1 vaccine. But the public’s perception of thimerosal was damaged. This year, enough thimerosal-free vaccine is available to inoculate children under age 6, but that does not mean doses with thimerosal are unsafe.
New myths will inevitably arise as some of the millions of people who are inoculated against H1N1 flu suffer unrelated illnesses. Health officials will keep a close eye out for any real problems. One can only hope that the American public will understand that subsequence isn’t necessarily consequence, and not be scared away from a vaccine that can save lives.
Paul A. Offit, the chief of the infectious diseases division of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is the author of “Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine and the Search for a Cure.”
1 Comment
October 24, 2009 at 6:48 pm
This was extremely well thought out and well documented. Thank you for providing this informative blog. I sincerely hope it is attracting the readership it deserves.
For myself, thank you for vaccinating my grandsons. I will also be vaccinated as I’m in a high-risk group. As an aside, my workplace instituted mandatory pandemic flu training for all civilian managers and officers lieutenant and above. The training was an eye-opener but, rather than causing me to be alarmed, simply made me feel prepared should the “worst” come upon us.