If a vaccine were available for the H1N1 virus, would you get innoculated?

Absolutely. They say it WILL return in the fall and some people are at higher risk of complications if they get it (I fall into that category).

Nope I don’t like needles, but they would probably make me get one

No more than I’d get any other flu shot. I’m an otherwise healthy adult with a functioning immune system, so I’m not terribly concerned.

Yes, but getting my daughter vaccinated would be my priority.

No. I never get the regular one…and I never get the flu. And I could have been exposed to it at work this week!

I don’t usually do flu vaccines, but if they had one for the specific strain going around, I might consider it.
Actually, I doubt they’d let me get it because of my “condition” because they wouldn’t be able to study it long enough. I’m not sure.

No, I won’t because I cannot safely get a flu vaccine, due to other medical issues.

Probably not.

Um, no.

Thanks to shilolo my opinions on flu shots have been changed and I support them more now, but for h1n1 – seems a tiny bit alarmist to me.

I probably would if it was widely available and my getting it wouldn’t prevent someone else from getting it who might need it more than I do.

No, my fiance’s younger brother and sister both had it and I didn’t get it.

Absolutely NOT. I’d probably end up getting it if I did

No, I don’t like flu vaccines because they generally make me sick. I’m very sensitive to that sort of thing. I don’t often catch the flu, so I am not worried about it.

Absolutely not. I’d prefer to live. (People have died before from a swine flu vaccination!)

”However, that may have not been the best idea – while the flu itself only killed one person, the vaccine killed more than 30. Within two months after the mass inoculations began, 500 people came down with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a paralyzing nerve disease.” source

@StephK: Yeah, well that article also says that 40 million Americans got the vaccine and only 500 got the flu. I think you can do the math on that one. Give me a break.

@La_chica_gomela Actually, the 500 you’re referring too were the ones who got Guillain-Barré syndrome, presumably a reaction to the vaccine. The quote clearly states that one person died from the actual flu, and 30 died from the vaccine. _You_do the math.

I was referring to the 500 soldiers on the military base in Fort Dix, New Jersey, actually.

“An autopsy revealed that the young soldier had contracted swine flu; shortly after, other soldiers were admitted to the hospital with the same symptoms and officials soon found that 500 people at the base were infected with the virus, though they hadn’t become ill.”

Innoculations in Germany will start in September. There’s a plan and it defines the group of people eligible first like doctors, nurses, people with chronic illnesses. See

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4496394,00.html

German mass swine flu vaccinations start in September

22.5 million people can be vaccinated in the first stage of a massive anti-swine flu scheme that starts in September. Health and public workers, as well as chronically ill people will get the flu shots first. The German health ministry announced on Friday that an estimated quarter of Germany’s population will be eligible to receive the flu shots. This confirms reports earlier this week that the government had plans to order 50 million vaccine units against swine flu. The vaccines will be available from September, to coincide with an expected surge in flu cases.

What is the point? if swine flu is as mild as they say, and if the vaccine is useless against other strains of flu, then I would get the vaccine only if I were in a risk group (which I am not).

@La_chica_gomela I think there’s been a slight commmunication break-down. I’m measuring deaths against deaths. You seem to be measuring cases of flu against deaths.

No, I’m measuring deaths from being affected by one thing, to deaths by being affected by the other thing. It’s stupid to just measure deaths. For example: not that many people die each year from being shot in the head, but a large percentage of the people who are shot in the head die. If you just say, “Oh, well in 1976 only one person died from being shot in the head, so I’m going to go ahead and shoot myself in the head now,” you’re being an idiot.

Put another way, I’m talking about your chances of dying from the vaccine if you get the vaccine versus your chances of dying from H1N1 if you get H1N1, which is the issue that’s actually important.

@bea2345 – The grave risk is related to a potentially mutating swine flu virus. The more people are vaccinated the fewer virus-friendly hosts are available as a ‘breeding ground’ for mutation. The immune systems of vaccinated people are prepared for this strain of H1N1 killing it quickly. When they sneeze in the direction of other people there’s no virus in all the little droplets.

Thank you, @mattbrowne . It was never clear to me exactly why the WHO was so interested in what is supposed to be a relatively mild form of the flu. Now I understand.

As I understand it, too, the fear was not so much that H1N1 was fatal so much as that it was very contagious and that it could be more severe than regular flu. If the flu goes around and 10% of the people are out of commission for a day, that’s not bad—there’s enough redundancy in critical areas like the police force and hospital staffing to cover that. If the H1N1 flu goes around, and 60% of the people are out of commission for a week, even if nobody dies from it, that’s a hell of a logistical problem for an area to have—and there’s not enough redundancy in critical areas to cover it.

The swine flu is considered more dangerous for people in risk groups – such as people with immune deficiencies, pregnant women, etc. Most people who get the flu will simply experience symptoms like a regular flu BUT people in risk groups can develop severe respiratory problems and deaths that are not normally seen a s a result from the flu have been seen. Young, otherwise, healthy individuals have gotten very ill and some have died. That being said most people will be just fine.

However, the reason vaccines are advocated are not for ‘most people’. They are to help those in risk groups whose bodies will have a hard time fighting off the disease and those who for some reason can not handle the vaccine. So I will most certainly get the shot so I do not transmit the virus to people who can not handle it just like I will be damn sure to make sure my kids get all their shots. Anything else I consider selfish and irresponsible and most of all ignorant.
After all we are not all at Jenny MacCarthy’s level… thank god.

No, I don’t get the normal flu vaccine and, as far as I can tell from otherwise healthy friends that have had swine flu, it is no worse than the flu we are used to. I can’t remember the last time I had any kind of flu. I get the common cold about once a year but that seems to be it she says, touching wood. I can understand why the elderly, very young, pregnant or people with other health problems may feel the need for it though.

Yes