The Swine Flu Shot; What You Need To Know As A Vasculitis Patient

Posted by Lew on October 28, 2009

Hi and thanks so much for returning to my blog. RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Hi there everyone.

There is a lot of discussion on several sites about the Swine Flu Shot, and this information should certainly be read about if you happen to have a vascular disease, so I have included a link to an article on USA Today Online titled ” Swine flu: What you need to know “.

Is the vaccine safe? What if one child in a family is sick? What are the symptoms? When should a person go to the hospital? The man in charge answers these and other questions about this fall’s influenza pandemic.

As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci is the government’s point man for tracking flu and finding answers to it. He and his team have been monitoring the H1N1 swine flu pandemic since its early days this spring. With the flu spreading rapidly now, and a new vaccine arriving this week, Fauci met Tuesday with USA TODAY’s editorial board to address the many questions that are on people’s minds. The following Q&A is adapted from that session and edited for length and clarity.

Here is a small excerpt from the post below…

Q: Has it been tested as much as seasonal vaccines are?

A: Last year, we gave about 100 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine, so you could say, by extrapolation, that it was tested on 100 million people. It was new, but it was given to 80 million people the year before in a little different version. So in the tests that we’ve done you get a little redness and swelling. Rarely, you get a fever. But there have not been what we call serious, adverse events that are associated with the vaccine.

Q: You can safely assume that elderly people will be some of the first in line for the shot. Will they be turned away because they’re not in the top five risk groups?

A: We’re getting the message out to try to get it out to the five target groups first, and when you do that, then go and get the rest. But I have to tell you, I can’t imagine if a 75-year-old grandmother comes up to a place and says, “I’d like my vaccine,” that somebody will say, “No, go away and come back in two weeks.” Somehow I don’t see that.

Q: An otherwise healthy 14-year-old girl in Texas came down with the flu. She went to see a doctor, who citing CDC guidelines sent her home without treatment. She later died. Does this kind of case suggest that you need to revisit those guidelines?

A: The guidelines were made for the purpose of not overwhelming the system with everyone who gets a sniffle and thinks they have the flu going to the emergency room. In such cases, two bad things can happen: Many of the people in the emergency room likely have the flu, so if you didn’t have it when you went in, you’re probably going to have it when you go out. And the other is, not allowing the health care providers to really take care of the very sick person. The one accident that happens with somebody who really looks like they’re OK and then rapidly goes downhill … that’s unfortunate when that happens. But I’m not so sure that would require a changing of the recommendations and the guidelines.

Okay, now I want to point out that I am not advocating to everyone who reads my blog to go out there and get your flu shot, but what I am suggesting is that we as Vasculitis Patients should be ( if your not already ) talking with your doctor and deciding if getting the shot is the right choice for you.

And just in case your wondering, I will be getting mine, and I did get the shot last year after a bit of discussion.

I will have a bit more coming about this important and well talked about subject in a few days.

Lew

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