Swine Flu Vaccination Controversy

Everywhere in news lately is some headline about the swine flu or the H1N1 virus, so what exactly is this virus? This particular strain of the flu was discovered in April 2009. All indications show that this flu is spread from person to person contact just like any other seasonal flu virus. This virus was dubbed swine flu because its gene make up was similar to influenzas that strike in pigs here in North America. However, further testing has revealed that the genes are not the same as those found in North American pigs. Instead, there were two genes found that are common in viruses carried by pigs in Asian and European lands. There were also genes found belonging to birds and humans. This type of virus has been named by scientists as a "quadruple reassortant" virus.

The swine flu (H1N1) virus spreads mainly from person to person. It is not contracted from eating pork, so you don't need to give up pork chops or bacon. It's very contagious and is spread through airborne means as in coughing and/or sneezing, and it can be spread from coming in contact with a surface like a desk or counter top that's been contaminated by the flu virus.

It's very difficult to discern whether or not you have the swine flu because its symptoms are very similar to normal seasonal influenza and/or plain cold symptoms. The symptoms include: coughing, sore throat, runny and/or stuffy nose, body aches, headaches, chills, and fatigue. There could be vomiting and diarrhea, plus some people have stated they had respiratory problems without any sign of a fever. Many people have probably had the swine flu and recovered without ever even knowing they had the swine flu due to the symptoms being so similar to many other non-serious colds and flu.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) there are certain categories of people who are considered "high-risk" for contracting the swine flu, as well as normal season flu strains. These groups include young children and people age 65 and over. However, the latter group is not likely to contract the virus. The reason they are put into the "high-risk" group, is if someone 65 or over contracts swine flu then they are likely to develop serious complications from their illness.

The CDC has also determined that neither young children nor people under the age of 60 have any antibodies to the 2009 H1N1 virus. It's also estimated that approximately 1/3 of adults age 60 and over may have existing antibodies to the virus. So, it's not known how much, if any, protection the antibodies would have against the H1N1 virus.

The controversy over the swine flu vaccination seems to be very polarized. There are groups both expert and non-expert that are completely against the vaccination and others who believe in getting it and all vaccinations. The groups not in favor of vaccinating say that the severity of the swine flu outbreaks are "exaggerated" and that this flu outbreak is no worse than the normal seasonal influenza outbreaks.

For whatever their reasons people are distrustful of the government and any organization affiliated with the government, including the CDC. These people will find reasons to blame the vaccination for tragedies that would have occurred with without the swine flu and its vaccination.

People die every day from all sorts of reasons: heart-attacks, strokes, even stepping off a curb at the wrong time and getting hit by a bus. Babies die from an assortment of illnesses and mothers have miscarriages. In the USA there are 1.1 million heart-attack victims. Strokes strike 795,000 people, and sadly 876,000 miscarriages. These statistics will happen whether these people have a vaccination (of any kind) or not. So, it should come as no surprise that when one of these people gets a vaccination they may short time later suffer one of the tragedies listed about. This does not necessarily mean the vaccine caused the tragic event.

People need to make informed decisions about the swine flu vaccine along with any other vaccine that's needed in one's lifetime. "Informed" decisions mean researching information from credible sources like doctors, scientists, and experts in the particular field of the disease at hand. "Informed" decision making doesn't come from listening to group of scared individuals or perhaps from a family whose loved one died and they are trying to make sense of that death. When people lose a loved one they try to place blame everywhere and anywhere to try and make sense of the tragedy that has struck them. While it's a fact of life that every living creature must eventually die, no one wants to face or truly accept this fact. For many people, unless their loved one is suffering or has no viable quality of life, death is just plain unacceptable. So, if a person has a heart-attack shortly after getting a vaccination, then "of course" it's the vaccine that caused the heart-attack and killed the person.

Here are some facts to help you decide whether or not to get your child vaccinated against the swine flu:

The US Health officials announced Friday, October 9 that child deaths are up due to the swine flu. In the past week 19 children died due to complications from the swine flu. This brings the total number of dead children to 76 since the discovery of the H1N1 virus. To give people a better frame of reference, there were between 46 and 88 children who died to complications of flu over a 3 year period. 76 children have died just from April 2009 to October 2009. There were as many deaths in 6 months as there had been in the previous 3 years.

The reported cases of swine flu amongst children had gone down in the summer as opposed to the high of the spring flu outbreak. However, swine flu amongst children is on the rise again. This should be no surprise. School is back in session and children are congregating together more than they would have over the summer.

There have been 9000 cases of hospitalization due to swine flu, and of these nearly ½ were children and teenagers. 1 out every 4 people hospitalized needed to be put into the ICU (intensive care unit) and ultimately 7% ended up dying.

The information is all factual. These are numbers that can be checked and verified. Whether you decide the vaccination is right for you or your child/children make sure you garner your research from credible sources.

Sources:

http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/qa.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/health/policy/28vaccine.html

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091009/icu_091009/20091009?hub=TopStoriesV2

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1009/p02s19-usgn.html